[deropke]

The car is: E92 330i N52

The full error codes:

• 2A82 Digital Motor Electronics(DME): VANOS (Variable Camshaft Timing) Intake
  Absent
• 2A87 Digital Motor Electronics(DME): exhaust VANOS (Variable Camshaft Timing) Mechanism
• Absent
  
• 2A98 Digital Motor Electronics(DME): crankshaft - intake camshaft, reference
• Absent
  
• 2A99 Digital Motor Electronics(DME): crankshaft - exhaust camshaft, reference
• Absent
  
• 2E84 BSD (Bit-Serial Data Interface), message: electric coolant pump: missing
• Present

About the car:

• The engine is very dirty, I did an oil flush, and 1000 miles later, oil is already dirty.
  
• Rough idle when cold, but sometimes when warm or at least not as rough.
  
• Slow engine start
  
• Bad mpg, 19MPG (imperial) or 14.75L per 100km (40% town, 40% a-b roads, 20% highway)
  
• Car stutters sometimes, but not often

Things I Tried:

Cleaned VANOS solenoids, no difference


Things that worry me:

When I did first oil change and unscrewed oil cap, the oil filter was completely detached from oil cap (the spool or tube, the one with the small 0-ring), I managed to securely lock it in place, but decided to check it again, if its still intact, it was a bit loose, could this be an issue or is this normal, I know bad o-ring could throw these codes due to low oil pressure.


The garage thinks:
Its due to dirty engine and said keep doing oil flushes until its clean (I will), if it doesn't fix then its time to change timing chain, but I read where most people claimed timing chain is extremely rare for n52, and never seen anyone saying anything about dirty engine throwing such codes.

The question is what do I try before committing of doing timing chain, which I got quoted £1500 plus VAT

[Joebie]

First thing I would do is check your eccentric shaft sensor for oil ingress, and replace if necessary.

I'd also replace the entire plastic oil filter cap, if that's messed up you might have low oil pressure which won't allow vanos to function properly, which may result in those codes. Cheap and easy, so might as well.

If neither of those fix it, you might need new vanos solenoids (sometimes cleaning doesnt fix them)

Another thing that pops into my head because of the dirty oil you described is the camshaft bearing ledge wear issues that can occur when the engine's oil is not changed often enough. Essentially if the camshaft bearing area wears too much it can "bleed off" oil pressure before the oil makes it to the vanos adjuster units and therefore cause issues with vanos.

Listen and learn about this issue here, skip to ~10:00 to learn about the issue im talking about.

Good luck!

[Andystobbs]

Timing chain

[Andystobbs]

£1800 is a bit expensive. We just did an N46 timing chain and oil pump chain, all genuine parts with guides, full set. Sump gasket etc for under £1k for a customer. Including the oil even.

[Andystobbs]

Just re read your post with fresh eyes, will you be repairing the water pump? I hadn't noticed last night that all of the other codes were absent. Was the engine running at the time of the scan?

[deropke]

Originally Posted by Andystobbs

Just re read your post with fresh eyes, will you be repairing the water pump? I hadn't noticed last night that all of the other codes were absent. Was the engine running at the time of the scan?

The water pump is working so the garage must have done the codes while the car is turned off I assume

[Andystobbs]

The waterpump can still run in emergency mode if it was an issue with the BSI signal.
If it wasn't running that could be why all your vanos codes are absent. They may become present on a running engine once its established its not happy with the timing.

[deropke]

Originally Posted by Andystobbs

The waterpump can still run in emergency mode if it was an issue with the BSI signal.
If it wasn't running that could be why all your vanos codes are absent. They may become present on a running engine once its established its not happy with the timing.

Could you elaborate more on this. I'm struggling to understand what you trying to tell me ( what I should do). I don't even understand what present and absent means in fault codes

[Andystobbs]

Fault codes can be defined as present which means that at the time of the scan the ECU has it logged as a currently active issue. For instance a missfire on 1 cylinder would be a good example of a fault code that'd be present when the engine is running, but once the engine is turned off it cannot have a missfire if its not running so the fault could then be turned Absent - ie. Stored in the ECU but not an active fault at the time of the scan.

Your timing issue is similar, the engine when not running cannot identify timing faults because its not rotating, but once turning it can compare relative positions and establish the timing is incorrect.

The waterpump is always powered electrically but is commanded to run and speed varied by a communication with the ECU. Your fault code suggests that there is an issue with signaling between the ECU and waterpump. Which could be the pump itself (most likely) or wiring.

[deropke]

Originally Posted by Andystobbs

Fault codes can be defined as present which means that at the time of the scan the ECU has it logged as a currently active issue. For instance a missfire on 1 cylinder would be a good example of a fault code that'd be present when the engine is running, but once the engine is turned off it cannot have a missfire if its not running so the fault could then be turned Absent - ie. Stored in the ECU but not an active fault at the time of the scan.

Your timing issue is similar, the engine when not running cannot identify timing faults because its not rotating, but once turning it can compare relative positions and establish the timing is incorrect.

The waterpump is always powered electrically but is commanded to run and speed varied by a communication with the ECU. Your fault code suggests that there is an issue with signaling between the ECU and waterpump. Which could be the pump itself (most likely) or wiring.

The water pump worked without engine turned on when I bleed coolant.

[Andystobbs]

It'll run in emergency mode if there is a signal issue. Which is full time flat out running.

[deropke]

Originally Posted by Andystobbs

It'll run in emergency mode if there is a signal issue. Which is full time flat out running.

That one time I used it with engine turned off, after 10mins of bleeding, car battery died, if it would be always running , my battery would be dead every morning.

[Andystobbs]

It isn't running 24/7 just when the ignition is on and car is awake.

Best of luck with the repair.

[deropke]

Originally Posted by Andystobbs

It isn't running 24/7 just when the ignition is on and car is awake.

Best of luck with the repair.

Oh right, thanks for all the replies btw.

[deropke]

Update, after cleaning solenoids, 2a98 and 2a82 disappeared on its own, I also cleared the codes and yet 2a87 and 2a99 havent came back, but i need to drive more to know for real

[Red_Bean_Bun]

Are you able to read the camshaft angles using a livestream ?

[deropke]

Originally Posted by Red_Bean_Bun

Are you able to read the camshaft angles using a livestream ?

You mean read camshaft position with obd scanner ?

also 2a87 came back, but 2a99 still gone.