[Per Hansson]

Hi, I have a 06 BMW 325i E90
The car drives well for a small distance, sometimes it can go a kilometre and others it can go almost 10 kilometres.
But what happens is that suddenly the engine runs very roughly, the whole engine shakes very hard at idle.
If I don't stop driving but continue another 100 meters with it like this it dies when I press down the clutch.
But if I press down the clutch immediately it does not die directly, but as said the engine runs very very poorly, at higher RPM's it stabilizes slightly compared to idle RPM's while parked.
When the car dies or I turn it off it can then be restarted in a matter of seconds and there is no issue, the motor then runs well. (For another kilometre or five)
This problem has actually been occurring very infrequently over atleast 6 months. But it has been ca 2 months between it occurring in the past.
And back then there where no errors logged.
Now it happens every 2 minutes instead of 2 months

The slightly good part is that now I do have faults logged, and the yellow check engine light is permanently lit.
I had these faults:

Intake VANOS
Crank shaft - inlet camshaft, correlation
There was also a misfire logged on one cylinder.
(I think the corresponding BMW fault codes are: 2A82 & 2A98 respectively but this is translated from Swedish so I'm not 100% sure!)

I took out both VANOS Solenoids and cleaned them per this excellent guide. (I also swapped their positions & had the logged errors cleared.)
After this the VANOS fault code did not come back, however the actual issue I had remained.

I drove the car and the yellow engine light came on again, this time with another OBDII reader I had these faults logged:
P0012 "A" Camshaft Position - Timing Over-Retarded (Bank 1)
P0016 Crankshaft Position - Camshaft Position Correlation (Bank 1 Sensor A)

At this stage I bought a new camshaft sensor, I replaced one of them and there was no change, so the old sensor I had just taken out I swapped for the remaining sensor in the car since I figured this sensor is probably ok.
There was no difference.

However so far the only error I have logged with the new camshaft sensor is:
P0016 Crankshaft Position - Camshaft Position Correlation

I don't know what to try next, I'll probably take it to a BMW service point but if there is anybody that has some advice that might save me the visit I am all ears! (I'm afraid it might become a very expensive visit)

Here is a movie, it starts as the car is already running poorly: http://hem.spray.se/hanzzzon/BMWe90-P0016.mp4

[Per Hansson]

I should also mention that the car has not run perfectly while coasting for a long while.
But it has been creeping up so slowly that I have barely noticed it.
Say I'm coasting downhill and applying just so much gas that I match the coasting speed with the engine speed.
Then there have been a slight jerk felt, I'm not sure if this is just due to my VANOS solenoids or something else...
For whatever it's worth I managed to drive to work today without issue, it's about a 7km drive and it was raining, no issues at all...
(But yesterday when testing the new camshaft sensor I did not get 1km in nice weather before the engine started running roughly)

[Per Hansson]

Today I replaced the second camshaft sensor, it did not help.
The old error P0012 also came back a few days ago.

Next up I replaced the crankshaft sensor aswell, I also cleared the fault codes before starting it up again...
After this I drove the car and it was going well, I first started off easily and there where no problems.
After about 15KM I gave it some WOT on all gears and the car was really going perfectly as it should.
Then I finished off with some mixed driving, no problems at all, car ran great!

I had it parked for about 2 hours before going off again and I guess I must have jinxed it when telling a friend I was hopeful that I fixed it, because I did not get 100 meters before it started to run poorly
This time it first raised error code P0012
After driving some more the car also raised error P0016 again.

But now tonight it got even stranger, it was a bit cold, ca 5°C and the car was parked outside for ca 6 hours.
The car cranked for almost 10 seconds; fired and ran for a second and then died.
On the second try it started more quickly but ran poorly and died again.
On the third try I got it to run, but after less than a kilometer it was running poorly again.
I'm starting to suspect the fuel pump now, but I'm not sure if a malfunctioning fuel pump could trigger these errors to be logged?

[kar40980]

Ya it doesn't sound like a fuel issue.
More ignition and timing specific.
How many kilometers are on vehicle?

[kar40980]

Try this thread
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=662689

[Per Hansson]

Thanks kar40980
My BMW has ticked over to 122000KM

I have already read that thread and I'm hoping the issue will not be the camshaft bearing ledges, this site here has the same info but with pictures.
After I cleaned and swapped positions of my VANOS Solenoids the error "Intake VANOS" has not come back, and since I swapped their positions it should now be "Exhaust VANOS" instead if one of them where faulty.

I am a little unsure about what the manual means with step 2: "If the oil filter cap insert is found to be missing, the entire oil filter housing cap must be replaced (refer to the EPC)."
Are they talking about the whole oil filter missing?
I had the car in for oil change 8000KM ago, I have not checked to verify but it sounds like a really strange thing to miss for any workshop?
This tidbit I find very interesting aswell "Note: Repairs related to step 2 are not considered a defect in materials or workmanship."

[Per Hansson]

Originally Posted by Per Hansson

When the car dies or I turn it off it can then be restarted in a matter of seconds and there is no issue, the motor then runs well. (For another kilometre or five)

I should clarify this better.
I need to take out and insert the key again, then it always starts and runs well.
If I don't take out the key but just press the start button then it will start but run poorly every time as it starts.

I have taken out the backseat so I can listen on the fuel pump as I drive and it seems to sound ok, there is some variance in the sound it creates as I drive but I guess that is just because the fuel pressure drops as I accelerate etc.
When the car runs poorly (misfires) then there is allot of variance in the fuel pumps noise, but then again that would be expected too I guess due to how unevenly the engine runs.

I tried to disconnect the left fuel pump but there was no difference in the cars behavior. (This was with an almost full tank).