[OneMoreAlex]

I had a local performance shop change my valve cover with a brand new OEM one only two days ago. Everything seemed okay until this morning. Check engine light came on and The car started backfiring and sputtering like no tomorrow. Unfortunately I had to limp the car a few miles until I got to my work parking lot. When I checked the codes here is what I got:

2DD6 - valvetronic servomotor position sensors: short circuit or line break
2DE3 - valvetronic servomotor activation
2E4C - exhaust gas flap
2EE0 - combustion misfiring several cylinders, fuel injection deactivation
2EE2 - combustion misfiring several cylinders, damaging exhaust gas after start sequence
2EF4 - combustion misfiring cylinder 6, fuel injection deactivation
2EF6 - combustion misfiring cylinder 6, damaging exhaust gas after start sequence
2EFE - misfire several cylinders, damaging to catalytic converter or damaging exhaust gas
2F04 - misfire cylinder 6, damaging to catalytic converter or damaging exhaust gas


I reached out to the owner of the shop. Sounds like he's trying to make it right by having the car towed back to him. I'm hoping that he doesn't try to charge me for their mistake. I never had any misfire or injector issues prior to their shop working on the car and suspect they are to blame for this. My question is what kind of damage am I looking at after driving a few miles with these codes? And also, what other potential problems am I looking at going forward? Is it possible that this could effect something else besides the valvetronic servomotor and fuel injector on cylinder 6?

[bbnks2]

Originally Posted by OneMoreAlex

I had a local performance shop change my valve cover with a brand new OEM one only two days ago. Everything seemed okay until this morning. Check engine light came on and The car started backfiring and sputtering like no tomorrow. Unfortunately I had to limp the car a few miles until I got to my work parking lot. When I checked the codes here is what I got:

2DD6 - valvetronic servomotor position sensors: short circuit or line break
2DE3 - valvetronic servomotor activation
2E4C - exhaust gas flap
2EE0 - combustion misfiring several cylinders, fuel injection deactivation
2EE2 - combustion misfiring several cylinders, damaging exhaust gas after start sequence
2EF4 - combustion misfiring cylinder 6, fuel injection deactivation
2EF6 - combustion misfiring cylinder 6, damaging exhaust gas after start sequence
2EFE - misfire several cylinders, damaging to catalytic converter or damaging exhaust gas
2F04 - misfire cylinder 6, damaging to catalytic converter or damaging exhaust gas


I reached out to the owner of the shop. Sounds like he's trying to make it right by having the car towed back to him. I'm hoping that he doesn't try to charge me for their mistake. I never had any misfire or injector issues prior to their shop working on the car and suspect they are to blame for this. My question is what kind of damage am I looking at after driving a few miles with these codes? And also, what other potential problems am I looking at going forward? Is it possible that this could effect something else besides the valvetronic servomotor and fuel injector on cylinder 6?

Servo motor could have been left unplugged? coil pack and/or injector could have been left unplugged? Vacumm line on the passenger side of the valve cover could have been left unplugged? Check all three.

Could be related, or, could be completely unrelated... All three of those things are unplugged to get the valve cover off.

[OneMoreAlex]

Originally Posted by bbnks2

Servo motor could have been left unplugged? coil pack and/or injector could have been left unplugged? Vacumm line on the passenger side of the valve cover could have been left unplugged? Check all three.

Could be related, or, could be completely unrelated... All three of those things are unplugged to get the valve cover off.

Unfortunately I didnt have time to check and see what actually caused the failure. The shop arranged to have the car towed back to them this morning from my work parking lot.

I'm more concerned, given the lengthy list of codes, for potentially what internal damage to the engine could have occurred. Also, down the line what may have deteriorated due to this issue.

[OneMoreAlex]

I just got off the phone with the shop. The shop manager said the tow truck driver told him it was misfiring when he put it on the truck but it stopped misiring when he dropped it off at their shop.

This all sounds suspicious to me. I think the shop is trying to cover their own ass. Sounds to me like they probably replaced something or maybe something was disconnected and they don't want to admit guilt.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by OneMoreAlex

I just got off the phone with the shop. The shop manager said the tow truck driver told him it was misfiring when he put it on the truck but it stopped misiring when he dropped it off at their shop.

This all sounds suspicious to me. I think the shop is trying to cover their own ass. Sounds to me like they probably replaced something or maybe something was disconnected and they don't want to admit guilt.

Your exhaust gas flap code I don't see how it can be related. Did you unplug your exhaust valve?

For the other codes, if it stopped misfiring then I agree maybe they forgot to plug something. You should ask them just to be real with you and say error happens and it's fine, maybe they'll admit they just had forgotten to plug something.

Do you have the car now? Does it drive normally?

[OneMoreAlex]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

Your exhaust gas flap code I don't see how it can be related. Did you unplug your exhaust valve?

For the other codes, if it stopped misfiring then I agree maybe they forgot to plug something. You should ask them just to be real with you and say error happens and it's fine, maybe they'll admit they just had forgotten to plug something.

Do you have the car now? Does it drive normally?

Yeah, the exhaust valve code I wasn't concerned about, been unplugged for ages now.

The shop was being super shady about it. They wouldn't admit anything to me as hard as I tried to get the answer out of them. All they said was that it stopped misfiring when it arrived at their shop and it's back to normal. Luckily they didn't try to charge me for the tow truck. Another red flag for me, if the work they did had nothing wrong with it, then why would they pay for that on their own dime?

When I got back into the car I noticed the heat was cranked to max temperature. Now, from what I could tell this could mean one of two things:

1) they are not competent enough to understand how a thermostat works
2) they were running the coolant bleeding procedure

I got the car back yesterday and everything seems back to normal. I knew I made a mistake bringing the car back to them. In the event another misfire or code pops up resulting from their work, I will bring the car to BMW to diagnose and take the shop to small claims court. Then file a complaint with the BBB as well as give negative feedback on their google page.

[ckanderson]

Originally Posted by OneMoreAlex

Yeah, the exhaust valve code I wasn't concerned about, been unplugged for ages now.

The shop was being super shady about it. They wouldn't admit anything to me as hard as I tried to get the answer out of them. All they said was that it stopped misfiring when it arrived at their shop and it's back to normal. Luckily they didn't try to charge me for the tow truck. Another red flag for me, if the work they did had nothing wrong with it, then why would they pay for that on their own dime?

When I got back into the car I noticed the heat was cranked to max temperature. Now, from what I could tell this could mean one of two things:

1) they are not competent enough to understand how a thermostat works
2) they were running the coolant bleeding procedure

I got the car back yesterday and everything seems back to normal. I knew I made a mistake bringing the car back to them. In the event another misfire or code pops up resulting from their work, I will bring the car to BMW to diagnose and take the shop to small claims court. Then file a complaint with the BBB as well as give negative feedback on their google page.

Instead of trying to throw them under the bus for a mistake they MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE ACTUALLY CAUSED, how about you give them a chance to make it right?

Cars fuck up, people make mistakes, parts intermittently fail.

Be a better person then that.

[weehe126]

Sounds like they forgot to tighten the nuts for the ground wires. When they got the car they probably spent the 2 seconds it takes to look at the connections and found it.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by ckanderson

Instead of trying to throw them under the bus for a mistake they MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE ACTUALLY CAUSED, how about you give them a chance to make it right?

Cars fuck up, people make mistakes, parts intermittently fail.

Be a better person then that.

Tbh he has given them a chance to make it right and they kept telling they didn't do nothing. If what happened is they forgot to do something, and then they would tell him I would say yeah ok don't leave any negatives feedback but the fact they say nothing was wrong and now it works is just... no.

How could getting the car towed and moved fix all these misfires. Something is missing between both.

[ckanderson]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

Tbh he has given them a chance to make it right and they kept telling they didn't do nothing.

How could getting the car towed and moved fix all these misfires. Something is missing between both.

Correct, and now it's working properly.

Maybe it's an intermittent problem?

As someone who has worked in multiple independent shops and dealerships, admitting fault is no big deal. Just part of life.

And if some reason they fixed it and won't admit it, either way it's fixed. And yet you still wouldn't have proof that they fixed their mistake.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by ckanderson

Correct, and now it's working properly.

Maybe it's an intermittent problem?

As someone who has worked in multiple independent shops and dealerships, admitting fault is no big deal. Just part of life.

And if some reason they fixed it and won't admit it, either way it's fixed. And yet you still wouldn't have proof that they fixed their mistake.

You're right it could be intermittent and OP may find it comes back in the next weeks.

[ckanderson]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

You're right it could be intermittent and OP may find it comes back in the next weeks.

I just find it unreasonable to slam a shop or try to sue someone for something they may or may not have done. It's their livelihood, and shitty shops will weed themselves out because people won't go back.

People make mistakes, no ones perfect. Cars aren't perfect. Just keep that in mind.

[OneMoreAlex]

Originally Posted by ckanderson

I just find it unreasonable to slam a shop or try to sue someone for something they may or may not have done. It's their livelihood, and shitty shops will weed themselves out because people won't go back.

People make mistakes, no ones perfect. Cars aren't perfect. Just keep that in mind.

There's more to it then just that. The shop owner was a nice guy, hence why I didn't bash the shop or if you maybe noticed, haven't mentioned the shop by name here. He did everything he could to make it right.

The shop "manager" on the other hand is a con-artist. He quoted me double the price the owner did for the repair. Then, he called me a day later and asked if I wanted to replace my OFHG because it was "leaking" ...(replaced it myself 2 months ago, I check 1-2x per week...it's not leaking). He says they're going to clean around it "real good" and I probably won't see where it's leaking from.....Also, when I picked the car up originally I had paid in cash. I was supposed to get $5 back in return, the manager looks at me and says "Sorry, I don't have any change." (Please, insert your thoughts about this guy here...)

I get your point, and it may sound like I'm acting unreasonable.. But I've given them more credit than they deserve at this point. The fact that there was also something blatantly wrong with their repair and mysteriously "fixed" itself was another one of his bogus lies that was just uncalled for.

Also, you're not factoring in how I had to leave work (lost wages) and get a rental car (which i wasn't refunded for) to make commitments I had promised at work. This left me additionally ~$600 in the hole, not including the price I had originally paid to have the work done. All because of a silly mistake that could have been avoided? You may not understand my frustration level, and I do not expect you to, but there was much more going on then the outside point of view.