New (to me) car time

[mr angry]

IMG-20190219-WA0015.jpg (297.41 KiB) Viewed 2359 times

This was before I drove it up the road, its filthy now. The car drove fine with no real issues apart from the front ns tyre is really badly tracked on the outer edge. Looking at the rest of the tread it doesnt appear very old. That and the edges of the rims are kerbed badly.

I did notice when flooring it briefly there was a bit of black smoke indicating unburnt fuel. Is this normal on these or should I investigate further?

According to the idrive it returned 36mpg on the motorway journey home.

[Waka]

Very nice.

Re. the smoking my E53 used to smoke on kickdown. A full tank of Shell V Power and it never did again.

[Leslie]

They have a particulate filter so there shouldn't be any black smoke, are the insides of the tail pipes black ? if they are they then the Dpf isn't working . Looks good in grey and tyres don't have to be expensive depends what you want

[mr angry]

I have no experince of dpfs so getting worried now. As for the tyres any recommendations?

[Leslie]

Just check the exhaust pipes they should be clean inside easiest way to check if the DPF is working , on a high mileage car it may have given issues (they block) and been gutted and mapped out as replacement is very expensive.
Original tyres were runflat and star marked (and expensive) which means Bmw approved these are recommended but much more critical is the variation in tread depth over the 4 wheels as a difference of more than 3mm can cause 4wd problems .
Mine came on ordinary tyres non runflat (cheap brand) and were nearly new so just running these for now as I will fit winters on the 20's when they are worn out and run 21's in summer.

[mr angry]

The inside of the exhausts do appear sooty suggesting the dpf isnt working.....oh dear. Is there any way of testing this?

[Graeme]

Just a couple of points that may help.

First, regarding the sooty exhausts. On older cars a failing thermostat prevent the engine temperature reaching 90 and the DPF won't regenerate leading to soot that will eventually block the filter. Ultimately there will be an error message on the screen which comes on almost exactly after 10 minutes running. A forced regeneration is not possible if the temperature is too low. I'd suggest getting the temperature checked whilst the car is being driven (they soon cool down when switched off) and well and truly warmed up - and take it from there.

Secondly, tyres. There are many threads about them. BMW fit RFTs that are * marked. The * marking is meant to ensure that the rolling circumference is about the same when fronts and rears are a different size. None * makes may be quite different and this leads to wind-up in the transfer box and eventually its failure, with replacement being exceptionally expensive. Signs are a grumbling clicking noise when manoevering at full lock, such as in a car park. The moral is get the tracking checked to prevent undue wear on the outsides of the front and insides of the rears, then stick with * marked tyres running at no more than the recommended pressures. I've looked and can't find any * marked non-runflats. I've done 163000 in mine now on Continentals, Bridgestone and Goodyear. Bridgestone gave the best mileage by far.

Hope this helps,

Graeme

[Leslie]

The inside of the exhausts do appear sooty suggesting the dpf isnt working.....oh dear. Is there any way of testing this?

You don't need to test it as it isn't working ,what you need to try and find out is why it isn't working. Access the hidden menu on the speedo cluster ,there are little how to quides on you tube . basically you hold the trip button in till it opens up then go it menu 19 and unlock it (you need to find the last 5 numbers of your vin and add them together and this will give an unlock code to enter put it in) then go to menu 7 which is engine temp then start the car the temp will stay and you can see what it gets too. Watch the guide as its a bit of a faff to do I did it this morn but it still took me about 5 goes
My temp only gets to low 70s and it should go to 88c but mine still regens at present, there are 2 stats main and egr I changed the egr this morn took about 20 mins as its the easiest and no coolant loss but still only getting temps in 70's so need to fit the main one which is a much bigger job to fit and you need to drain coolant.
Getting your codes checked next would be a good idea .

[mr angry]

Thats great thanks but can I ask how do you if/when it regens?

[Leslie]

I think its around every 300 mile or so ,I still can't tell when it happens but the engine fan being on as the temp rises during a regen is a clue and some report a burning /hot smell at the back of the car if just parked up due to the huge heat of a regen .

[mr angry]

Some great help so far guys, keep it coming.

I have now noticed another issue, which to be honest I expected with such a high mileage and low price. When starting the car from cold it starts very lumpy and emits quite a bit of greyish smoke, this lasts about 10 seconds and then clears. There is also a noticeable diesel knock heard. Would I be right in thinking this could be symptomatic of a leaky injector as it only does it after being left for a couple of hours and hot starts are fine. I have also noticed that the idrive shows engine oil overfilled, and checking the dipstick it is very slightly over the max. Could this be due to fuel contaminating the engine oil also?

I have been working the last few days so not had the chance to check any stored codes but hope to tomorrow.

[Leslie]

When its cold ( below say 2c ) mine will feel rough like its off a cylinder, when its -4c it will catch /stall and restart itself , below that I suspect it will struggle to start . I haven't an codes read but certain its glow plugs as otherwise its fine and after 3 secs its running fine. If its 10 secs though it could be a bigger issue so best to get codes checked and see if there are any pointers.
Id take the excess oil out and see what the level sensor then says , it might be faulty but as long as you have a dipstick it doesn't matter so much.

[mr angry]

Yes I have read that heater plugs and controllers are a weak point but when I say starting from cold, I mean after being left for a couple of hours. It was 14 degrees today and it still does it.

Given that I have doubts about the DPF operating I think my best bet first may be as mentioned earlier to check that the thermostats arent preventing the car reaching operating temperature. It would seem that the egr thermostat is a common failure on these. I have had a look on eurocarparts and cannot see anything listed for the egr thermostat only the main engine one. Is this a dealer part only?

The other thing confusing me is that there are no warning lamps illuminated suggesting clogged dpf?

[Leslie]

Its not going to be heater plugs at 14c for sure ,mine starts as normal at those temps.
I got my stats of ebay , genuine parts from cotswoldbmwmini £88 delivered ,you can get cheaper parts but I think you are probably better of with genuine for these
I think by the time you get a dpf warning the filter is pretty much blocked solid and the car will struggle to run , another possibility is its been remapped out which is very common (The case will still be there but the centre honeycomb has been knocked out of it and welded back up again to fool the mot man as it will fail mot if missing)

[mr angry]

I hadnt considered thet to be honest. I did look and the casing is still there but whether internals are im not sure. There are a few bmw independant garages around the Glasgow area so I will maybe just let them diagnose and take it from there. I will try my scanner in the morning and see what I can get from that though first.