[gIzzE]

I have had a few 2 litre BMW diesels and I always got between 29-36mpg from them, round town and short (sub 15 mile trips) and long motorways runs sat at around 80mph, the only exception to this was the 177bhp one which returned 39.7mpg.

Yeah I could reset them and get them to show 45mpg, but if I left it over a few tanks it would be back to 33.6mpg doing he driving/trips I do.
The exception to this is on holidays, especially in Scotland, used to go up at Easter and take the dog and I always used to reset it when we arrived, by the end of the week it was always around 45mpg.
However within a fortnight of being back home it was in the 30's, a couple of weeks later and it would be back at around 33/24mpg.

I personally don't find there is much in it between 320d, 330d and 335d, always pretty much the same MPG for me, maybe 2mpg between each.



Have you timed your 0-60mph sprint??

[jinjur]

"Sprint"......................rofl

Sorry

No, haven't timed that mate. The car is infinitely smoother (with regards to keeping miss 10 month old in the back happier) since the map is off though. It just highlights how aggressiev teh map was.....i loved it like, but it was bloody on/off harsh.........the standard map is smooooooooooth all the way.

I am seriously hoping that the map has not damaged the car....

I am not sure if its just that i have got used to it but it definately seems more diesel soundy if you know what i mean. I dont recall much noise form teh donkey when we got it a year ago.

The turbo is a clean sounding noise when on boost so i dont think the turbine is sick.

Its also as lumpy as sh1t for 10-20 seconds at startup in the morning with a notable puff of smoke but i am hoping that is going to be glow plugs.

We will soon know as i ordered a set and will be plumbing them in next week

Any thoughts on the noise?

[gIzzE]

Do you get an almost tappety noise from it?? Like it is pinking under a heavy load??

How long has the map been off??

I picked up my 320d touring from Belfast, got it Friday afternoon and travelled around a bit over the next 2 days and have to say I never managed over 30mpg and was a bit gutted. But then realised that although light in traffic over there you also have a lot of stop start journeys because there are not many stretches of road where you just sit there for 50 or 100 miles, you get a couple of miles down the road and there is another roundabout or junction, constant braking and accelerating again.


I am in a 123d at the moment and an A6 3.2 litre petrol estate that is 4WD, weighs over 2 tonnnes and has a tiptronic gearbox, now round town on short journeys while the temperature is cold at around 3ºc I am getting 24mpg from the Audi and 29mpg from the 123d, however, take them on a long run and the Audi is seeing 30mpg and the 123d is seeing 49mpg.

This is where diesels start to make sense, they need 10 miles or 20 minutes to get to temperature and then they need to just sit at a constant speed, they are then extremely economical, especially these direct injection diesels.

[Ti Rich]

Originally Posted by jinjur

"....i loved it like, but it was bloody on/off harsh.........the standard map is smooooooooooth all the way.

On/Off boost is a sympton of a faulty MAF to be honest. I still still think this is where i would start. I will say it again, at 80K miles the original MAF is well past it's best!

[jinjur]

Originally Posted by gIzzE

Do you get an almost tappety noise from it?? Like it is pinking under a heavy load??

How long has the map been off??

yes, that sounds about right.....slightly harsh rattle at idle too though.

Map has been off for about a week now chap.

I am going to do that rich, it was peaky moreso because of the aggressive map, very linear now though boosting from around maybe 1500-1600rpm.


A

[gIzzE]

I found my 320d was tappety sounding, like it was pinking when I first put my spider box on, had to knock the setting back, then as it got used to it I could up the settings.

Then when I took it off again before selling the car it came back again, but after a couple of hundred miles it disappeared. Problem is you are now looking/listening out for problems and probably hearing things that have always been there.

[jinjur]

agreed Gizze..................I think i will still get everything i can checked.

i hoep to replace the MAF and pull the injectors myself and get them checked/matched.

Not sure what sort of a job that is but ill give it a wee go



A

[jinjur]

Has anyone performed a leak off test themselves on the injectors?

Had a wee read at another board (cant remember which) where a member with an older 320d did just that and noted a poor performing injector.

The symptoms he described were notably poor startup, poor mpg, clattery ide and rough through the revs etc.......pretty much, all my problems.

I think i want to do this, I dont want to pay 50 odd quid for a one use test kit though......so I may ghetto it myself.

Given that the car has 80000 probable sales rep / poor quality diesel miles on it, i wouldnt be surprised if an injector (please just one) is gone or was going and the remap just pushed it over the edge.

Thoughts?


A

[jinjur]

HOLY PIG SHIT


Injector £294.00 +vat

MAF sensor £ 234.00 +vat






Thanks for scaring the cock off me Bavarian BMW.

These buckets of turd are expensive


Andy

[jinjur]

Here....I mailed a decent chap at airmassmeters.com with regard to my MAF

He advised that he can supply a Bosch item as a direct replacement for mine requiring absolutely no coding to the car for £150 all in.

I have noted that the one on the bimmer is in fact a bosch item so i am assuming that this is a brand new OEM part without bimmertax applied.

Anyone imagine that this would just, you know.....WORK?

Anyone have experiences with these?

Regards
Andy

[DazJ]

Maybe it would be useful to provide average speed, along with average mpg to give a better understanding of how people are achieving higher or lower mpg figures.. I'll kick it off....

On my first 119 miles I have averaged 20.1 mph and 32.4 mpg.

I've only had mine a few days now, and I am still getting used to driving it. I'm sure once I have, things will be a bit better. I keep finding myself in the wrong gear..

[David330iSE]

Gee it's just not right. I think you need a full professional diagnostic on the car or you might just be replacing stuff that's fine. Bottom line I get better mpg from a 330i so your car CANT be right. MAF known weak area but it's guess work remotely.... Spending money at a good dealer with good diagnostic may be cheaper than the fuel you are using. Driven with some care your car should be capable of 50mpg once warm. It's not like your mileage is 'starship' so would hope cure won't break the bank.

[jinjur]

The problem is that the MAF wont throw a code....

I know quite a few people who have had problems (not necessarily the same as mine) and have forked out the 150+ quid that Bavarian want for "diagnostics" only to be told that it MIGHT be this or that.....obviously the computer has given no definitive answers and they are stumped, so they go with the catch all's.

I mean, they told my mates mum that she need 4 new injectors and she spunked the 1600 odd quid for that.

As far as I can remember, she ended up replacing some other things afterwards that EVENTUALLY fixed it.

I seriously doubt that any car with like 65K on it would need ALL of the injectors replaced.

Its very VERY hard to have any faith in an outfit like that.




For 150, I want answers.

Surely an Indy can tell me EXACTLY what BMW can......no?





Regards
Andy

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by jinjur

...For 150, I want answers.

Surely an Indy can tell me EXACTLY what BMW can......no?

A decent specialist Indy should be as good as a BMW outfit. Best if you can go to someone on recommendation.

Have you thought of visiting a decent Bosch Diesel Service centre for an opinion. (Verbal first). These guys usually know more about diagnosing Diesel issues than many dealers.

HighlandPete

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by DazJ

Maybe it would be useful to provide average speed, along with average mpg to give a better understanding of how people are achieving higher or lower mpg figures...

Still a difficult thing to get a true picture from, too many variables.

As an example, driving a sensible steady speed on the motorway will give a high mph average and good mpg, same as light mixed driving will give a good mpg at an average of around 40mph. But a 40mph average on mixed, but including a bit of heavy urban driving will be poor mpg.

HighlandPete

[jinjur]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

A decent specialist Indy should be as good as a BMW outfit. Best if you can go to someone on recommendation.

Have you thought of visiting a decent Bosch Diesel Service centre for an opinion. (Verbal first). These guys usually know more about diagnosing Diesel issues than many dealers.

HighlandPete

Hi mate,

Well....I did speak to a Bosch specialist ( 1 of 3 in Northern Ireland :| ) and he gave me a load of "well you know, its a heavy car and BMW's focus was on refinement" etc etc.

Dont get me wrong, he was a nice chap but he told me that if BMW diagnostics didnt show anything, there probably wasnt much wrong.......we know thats not really true.

I spoke to another diesel injection guy and he reckoned that there would be nowt wrong with the glow plugs for a start and said MAF immediately about the poor MPG.

When i advised of the lumpy start he mentioned injectors and it is this guy that i hope to leave mine to for testing......i wont recondition, i will only replace from BMW and he was clear on this so he isnt set to make a quick buck.....i had heard previously that injectors can cause the rattley engine i have noted and the crap startup.

Does anyone know of any really good Indy's in NI?

I will drive a bit to get to one

Regards
Andy

[NiBimmer]

Yeah i had a similar problem with my old golf the MAF wouldn't throw a code but was able to confirm the operation of the MAF with VAG-COM.

I travel from Belfast to Larne everyday in my 320d 163 and get around 42MPG, this should give you a good reference.

There is an ex bavarian guy located in banbridge, the garage is called German Motor Works he is pretty good i would say.

[bungee]

Any resolution on the OPs problems ?

I have a similar problem with an E93 163PS 320D Steptronic with 20k (kms) on the clock. Dealer finds no fault but it's using 10-12l/100km under very light urban driving vs. 8-9l/100km for exactly the same route in my 2ton 2001 VW Camper with 2.5TDi. The Beemer got used about 7l/100km for the same route when it was new (1 year ago).

Extra-urban is around 6-7l/100km vs 4-5l/100km when new (at constant 125km/h). The car is also rough at idle

Around town I am extremely light-footed and usually drive like a granny. I rarely touch the brakes and drive to the fuel economy gauge which, unfortunately, dives into the extreme right with any acceleration. That's not to say I don't have a blast now and then if I take the car somewhere nice and give it some curry.

The other thing I noticed is the gearbox is keeping the revs much higher - seems to loathe anything below 2500rpm under even the lightest accelaration, even at highway speeds, so the bottom of the rev range just doesn't exist. I wonder how this may affect the mpg ? Certainly there is no torque converter lock up at any speed. The rpm and speed only correlate in excess of 200km/h (some autobahn driving)

1st dealer check (Nov 2009) - we are getting a code we don't understand and will contact Germany.
2nd dealer check - (Feb 2010). Still no idea what the code was. "Nothing's wrong anyway. You must drive more smoothly"

[jinjur]

Hi,

Unfortunately nothing has been done to my car yet. Its just taking time to arrange things, replacement car etc.

Bear in mind that my car has much higher mileage than yours Bungee so wear and tear is much more a factor with me.

I have been speaking to a BMW specialist (used to work in our local BMW) who has listened to my symptoms and has stated that there will be nothing wrong with my glow plugs for a start.

I mentioned the MAF sensor to him and he reckons this is not the cause.
He doesnt believe that it has any relevance if it has no effect when unplugged.

He did focus on my poor starting which might I add is getting worse.

This morning it was brutally lumpy with a ton of smoke at startup.

When i told him this he immediately said "injector/s". He is thinking that an injector is leaking into the cylinder etc causing the crap start and if it is out of spec it may be flowing too much blitzing economy (not my thought as i have no exhaust smoke now) and it may not be doing the whole "pre injection squirts" that dampen the diesel knock causing my rattly engine.

He has proposed leaving my car to him on a morning so he can hook it up to a comp and see what cylinder looks crap at startup. Not sure if this is a "Smooth Runnng" test or not....BMW babbled on about this for a bit.

Either way after this, i will be getting the injectors all checked (leak off and flow tests etc) to see how they ALL look.

He also reckons that i should be seeing 40-43 mpg but absolutely no more with this engine / car combo.

He insists that this is a relatively heavy car, with heavy wheels and a small engine (within the diesel range so to speak) and that a larger engines, say 325d and above would have much less work to do to lug this about.

If i see 40 or above mpg......i would be chuffed. The car will make sense then.

If i see under 40 after all of the work.....the car is going down the line.




Andy

[bungee]

Thanks Andy. Keep us posted.

I find that fuel economy is generally still quite good on the open road as long as I maintain a constant throttle. The merest hint of acceleration chews the fuel.

Interestingly I decided to thrash the living daylights out of the car for the last day. Constantly in sports mode (auto), savage downshifts, mashing the pedal, redlining (actually I'm fitting right in in Belgium). The suprise was no difference to fuel economy. I returned 11l/100km (27 mpg). Pretty much exactly the same as I got for driving as a total granny.

That's great news for lead-foots but given I average 34 mpg (urban) driving my big VW camper in my granny style it defeats the purpose (for me) of owning a diesel. I bought this car for fuel economy first and foremost with power on tap when I needed it.

[ElegantSpoon]

I drove to bristol and back doing 80-90 mph and got 47mpg. Happy with that

[zltm089]

sometimes i wish i had diesel ....lol