[ShereKhan]

Here's the supplement. Sorry about the orientation. I can't figure out how to save it with orientation correct.

I happened to be googling N45B20S (the 320si engine code) and came across a LinkedIn profile for a BMW guy at the factory who was responsible for quality!!

[Tommi]

Originally Posted by ShereKhan

They are looking at stripping and rebuilding engine again!!

Well that sucks!

You really have had bad luck with your car.

Actually, my car had some issues in cylinder 3 and they changed and fixed it just two weeks ago! Hopefully it´s nothing more serious in a long run...

Originally Posted by ShereKhan

Here's the supplement.

Thanks a lot for this!

It says under Maintenance: check valve clearance and adjust if necessary.

Does it mean that both valve clearance and adjust would be done only if necessary?

/ Tommi

[ShereKhan]

Well I have had some real hassle, luckily i've not paid a penny as my company and lease comany have had the stress of the cost.

I was initially told that they were going to write off my car and just send it to auction house as is. But they are investigating possible repair at the moment. Apparently the compression tests revealed poor compression on all four cylinders!

The important bit is that inspection must be done! Adjustment is only needed to put it back to correct tolerance.

When you go for next stealer visit ask them to read the key fob and for them to print off what they see. They should always be able to do this. Use another stealer if they won't.

This shows what services are due and when. The valve clearance service appears on here. It will not show on the OBC! The stealer should know what to do. If they don't go to another stealer.

Tommi how long did they take to replace cyl no3?

[Tommi]

ShereKhan, i know what services are due and when, i just check my iDrive. Of course valve clearance aren´t there, but the stealer said every other oil change.

Originally Posted by ShereKhan

Tommi how long did they take to replace cyl no3?

I dont really know since i left it there in the morning and they did some other stuff too, like vehicle check, oil change, valve clearance and brake fluids. Then i got my car around four a clock.

Everything else seems to be ok and now i just want to figure out why is this car eating so much fuel...

[ShereKhan]

Originally Posted by Tommi

Everything else seems to be ok and now i just want to figure out why is this car eating so much fuel...

I get 22mpg Urban and 26mpg Motorway. What do you get?
It has normally worse when the service is due. It tends to get better after the service.

That's quite quick to change a cylinder! My garage always ask I drop my car off in evening then collect next day as the engine will be cold when they work on it first thing. Or they insist on having car for two day period.
On my engine rebuild they changed pistons, engine block etc took seven weeks.

[Tommi]

Originally Posted by ShereKhan

I get 22mpg Urban and 26mpg Motorway. What do you get?

Well, we have litres per kilometer so i dont really know.

Dont know if this is correct: http://www.onlineconversion.com/fuel_consumption.htm

If that´s correct, i get around 15 liters/100 km = 18.8320624 miles/gallon(UK) urban and almost the same than you in motorway.

[ShereKhan]

Originally Posted by Tommi

Well, we have litres per kilometer so i dont really know.

Dont know if this is correct: http://www.onlineconversion.com/fuel_consumption.htm

If that´s correct, i get around 15 liters/100 km = 18.8320624 miles/gallon(UK) urban and almost the same than you in motorway.

Yep thats correct - I use V Power 99 octane fuel to get the extra omph and smoother running around town. Whats your odometer mileage? Low high?
Mines 96K miles - about 155,000 km's

[Tommi]

Originally Posted by Tommi

<...i get around 15 liters/100 km = 18.8320624 miles/gallon(UK) urban...>

Do you think that it´s suspiciously high like something´s wrong with the car or...it is what it is and i just have to live with it?

My odometer mileage is quite low, around 21750 miles / 35 000 km´s. I just bought it in april. I almost bought the le-mans blue (i love the colour! I see your car is just like it), but then i saw this one and i gotta to have it ´cause of the low mileage.

[ShereKhan]

Originally Posted by Tommi

Do you think that it´s suspiciously high like something´s wrong with the car or...it is what it is and i just have to live with it?

My odometer mileage is quite low, around 21750 miles / 35 000 km´s. I just bought it in april. I almost bought the le-mans blue (i love the colour! I see your car is just like it), but then i saw this one and i gotta to have it ´cause of the low mileage.

I think you have bought with right mileage. I'm afraid you will have to live with economy it sounds about right. My father has managed to get 32mpg (that was him driving very lightly). I've never got anywhere near that; 30mpg is my best and I was driving very smoothly at 80mph (120km/h) with cruise on for two hours or so.

Yep mine is Le Mans blue, would have loved carbon black but didn't want to pay extra money for it at the time. I just wish I had Xenon's the lights are rubbish on the E90 pre-LCI.

[JonnySi]

Hi, I am a Technician at my local BMW dealership. I own a 320si with 26k on the clock. My car had an engine change at 14k due to irratic starting andd misfires. It would appear that the bore liners are not up to the job. I have timed numerous si's for the same fault, only for them to come back. It ould seem this is common.

[ShereKhan]

Originally Posted by JonnySi

Hi, I am a Technician at my local BMW dealership. I own a 320si with 26k on the clock. My car had an engine change at 14k due to irratic starting andd misfires. It would appear that the bore liners are not up to the job. I have timed numerous si's for the same fault, only for them to come back. It ould seem this is common.

Hi JonnySi

Shame about the duff bore liners.
I've had erratic idling on and off - usually around service time.

Do you reckon its the old "Nikasil style liner" issue again? I'm suprised to hear a engine change at so low miles on yours.
Mine got changed at 44k miles. I think the service intervals are too long for such a unique engine. It should have had intervals like a M car.
My car has now been scrapped (yes you did read that right).

See the pics of the car in its current state.
It's going to be sold off at BCA auction on 26th Aug at Walsall.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=418981

[JonnySi]

Hi, i believe the service intervals are too long. I change the oil and filter every 10k and am doing the valve clearances next week. Mine is quit whiney when its cold as the revs increase to about 3000rpm. Is this normal?

I know it seems stupid me asking if its normal, but they are so rare we never see them in the dealers anymore.

[ShereKhan]

Originally Posted by JonnySi

when its cold as the revs increase to about 3000rpm. Is this normal?

Nope this is not normal!! Something isn't quite right there I had that when the first engine was on its way out. There was a s/w fix I think Nikos found the fix - see this thread.

I used to get weird stuff like that very close to valve calibration service.

[Nikos120i]

Originally Posted by JonnySi

Hi, i believe the service intervals are too long. I change the oil and filter every 10k and am doing the valve clearances next week. Mine is quit whiney when its cold as the revs increase to about 3000rpm. Is this normal?

I know it seems stupid me asking if its normal, but they are so rare we never see them in the dealers anymore.

Although I have low milage (only 22.000 km)...I haven't had another starting problem, the engine runs a bit smoother, it pulls now from around 2.5K rpm and I saw a decrease in fuel consuption of about 1lt/100km after the s/w update.

I was at 14.2lt/100km and now I am at 13.1lt/100km.

It now starts from cold with no rattles and sounds healthy according to my opinion. I'll try to record a video and upload it on youtube so you guys can tell me what you think.

Also, checked with my dealer and said that there is no need to check the valve clearance that often. E46 M3s are checked every 50K km...so I'll check it then. They told me that there is NO NEED to actually open the valve cover to check. A proper engineer can hear if the valves are ticking and need adjustment.

Also...as usual, remember to check and replace faulty distributor caps. It's usually a number one fault at BMWs lately.

[Nikos120i]

As promised...here's a video starting my 320si from cold:

And another one at my garage with my idle sound:

Starts with no problems at all!

[JonnySi]

Hi, I have to say that i know it is hard to gain an accurate sound on a video, mine is much less tapperty than yours. checked the clearances this week and they didn't even need any adjustment. Dropped the oil again and a new filter and its as smooth as silk. 3k to its spark plug service now, probably do them next week just as a precaution. I rarely drive it hard but i do stretch its legs on a weekly basis. I have removed the VANOS solenoids and cleaned those of any swarf which can cause hesitation. All these little things help.

[Nikos120i]

A few questions.

What do you mean by tapperty? Although on the video it sounds like a diesel on idle...in reality it doesn't sound at all like that.

Also, what do you mean by removing VANOS solenoids? What are those?

[hemal]

hi,
read ur posts and find myself in the same situation as you!
i run a garage and have rebuilt an engine for an e90 320si le manns.
the reason for my email is that im still having a few problems with the idling!
i wanted tofind out what symtoms did ur vehicle have b4 ending up in the auction.
i would be delighted to hear from you.



thanks

hemal
07949123097

[JonnySi]

By "tapperty" i mean the engine has a light tap from the tappets in the cylinder head. The VANOS solenoids are in the front of the cylinder head and control the VANOS adjustment. These have small filters in them which block with swarf.

If you look at the front of the cylinder head you can see 2 metal brackets holding in 2 black plastic units. These can be removed by pulling them out gently.

[JonnySi]

[QUOTE=hemal;7911382]hi,
read ur posts and find myself in the same situation as you!
i run a garage and have rebuilt an engine for an e90 320si le manns.
the reason for my email is that im still having a few problems with the idling!
i wanted tofind out what symtoms did ur vehicle have b4 ending up in the auction.
i would be delighted to hear from you.


Hi, on these engines something as simple as the oil cap slightly leaking can cause misfires. Check the colis as these are very common on 4 cyl BMW's.

[ShereKhan]

[QUOTE=JonnySi;7912075]

Originally Posted by hemal

hi,
read ur posts and find myself in the same situation as you!
i run a garage and have rebuilt an engine for an e90 320si le manns.
the reason for my email is that im still having a few problems with the idling!
i wanted tofind out what symtoms did ur vehicle have b4 ending up in the auction.
i would be delighted to hear from you.


Hi, on these engines something as simple as the oil cap slightly leaking can cause misfires. Check the colis as these are very common on 4 cyl BMW's.

Never had any probs with oil leaks on my car. Filler cap was good.
Never had any coil pack issues.

Hemal have you by any chance come across my car....! PM me if you have.

My car had rough idling and poor power delivery when in low revs.
The spark plug was found to be gapped wrong (bent) on cyl 3.
The head was removed for examination as there was poor compression on all four cylinders.

The car went to auction as my lease would have ended by the time I'd got the car repaired.
So it was going to cost me money when I wouldn't have been able to drive it.

[Nikos120i]

@ShereKhan how do you find my start?