[e46reg]

Posting this here as it may help other e90 sulev owners.

Some background: I purchased a used e90 328i a few years ago for daily use knowing that the vehicle had issues and intended to work on it gradually replacing what is needed to be done. Some of the components were already replaced by the previous owner as I know the indy mechanic she was taking the car to.

Thanks to forum members and their posts, over these couple of years I replaced the valve cover gasket and the ofhg, belt tensioner, idler pulley and the starter myself. However, there was an issue that for the life of me couldnt figure it out - it was a code for the secondary air pump. Note that I've already replaced the check valve and the air pump but still the issue remains. It's coming close to smog time and I had to address this issue.

Thanks again to these forums, I discovered the sulev warranty that's available so I decided to take it to my local bmw dealership, have the recalls performed and of course to diagnose the secondary air pump issue.

It was a bit of a struggle to finally get it fixed but here's what happened:

First time I took it to the dealership, they diagnosed the issue, and charged me a diagnostic fee. $179. Diagnostics recommended to re-code the vehicle for the vanos solenoids. The SA informed me that in order for them to cover any warranty work, I would need to pay a re-coding fee of $180, if the code comes back, they would replace the vanos solenoids (intake and exhaust) so I said yes.

Next day, picked up the car and of course the following day the code comes back. They recommended replacing the negative battery cable for $600 as it was causing some electrical issues. I said don't worry I will replace it myself.

I replaced the negative battery cable and I returned it to the dealership the following day. The dealership replaced the two solenoids and after a day, the SA said it would have cost $1400 without the sulev warranty and I pick up the vehicle again.

The next day, of course the code comes back again. So I called my SA and she said to take it back for another check.

This time, I told them to focus on the secondary air pump codes and to actually test drive the car after fixing whatever they needed to fix. A few days pass by and no word from the SA. 4 days after taking it there, the SA said she is trying to have BMW NA approve a cylinder head replacement (she mentioned it was $8-10k worth of work). I was stunned to hear this but ok, as long as it fixes the issue and I have no more out of pocket costs, I'm willing to wait.

A few days after, the SA informs me that it was approved and they actually finished the work. Apparently, they did focus on the SAP issue, replaced the air pump, exhaust solenoid (again?) and the issue remained and had to replace the cylinder head with valves, bolts etc.

I inspected the car after driving it home and so far no SES light yet and it does look like a new cylinder head was installed.

I'm still unsure if a "clogged" cylinder head would cause a blockage for the SAP to work? In any case, I will post once again if any issues come back.


a) issue diagnosed
SAP codes, Vanos codes.

b) total cost of repair
$179 diagnostic fee + $180 re-coding fee.

c) if SULEV covered initially or you had to be reimbursed
I have not asked for any reimbursement, should I?

d) if your dealer gave you a hard time
Kind of, because they in my opinion couldn't diagnose the issue properly initially.

e) if BMW NA had to be involved
Yes, per my SA they needed approval for the cylinder head replacement, the other parts replaced should not have been an issue.

Hope this helps others and let me know if you have any questions.