[empty]

Hi guys this is my first post here.. never really had the need to post cause honestly never had any major problems with my 330i until recently.

So earlier in the week everything is going fine and I'm waiting at a red light. The light turns green and suddenly no throttle, engine is just idling and just rolls forward a bit. Managed to get it pushed to a small parking lot where just checking over some basics I still get no throttle response. It reversed fine so first thoughts were possibly transmission but the car barely has over 67k km on it which is extremely low. The entire time the car was able to start and do just about everything you would need it to do but move forward so I had it towed to the dealer to have it checked out. There were no warning lights at all.

After initial diagnostic the dealer tells me it's just a burned out relay which I had them replace. However the day after they call back telling me they've replaced the relay and turns out there are multiple problems. First being the eccentric shaft sensor which after doing some research explains the rough cold idles I've noticed every once in a while and the extremely poor fuel economy. But then I'm told this problem led to oil climbing up the engine harness and into the DME and both of those would have to be replaced as well for a grand total of over $5k all while not being able to say for sure if other problems can be identified further down the line at additional cost!

The dealership insists on having all the work done while I'm more interested in getting it back on the road and potentially dumping it. I've tried some other indies without much success, they all want to see the car in person or won't touch E90's. I haven't seen the extent of the damage in person but I have my doubts that the DME and engine harness are completely destroyed if the car still does everything it does but move forward but I honestly don't know enough about the problem so I'm hoping to get some opinions from the masses or any master techs out there who have seen anything similar to this before I cave and foot the bill..

[avocet]

Where in canada are you? If you are in vancouver and your car is at B.J. Bmw, get your car and run. Fast.

As for the prob... I really really can't see oil migrating into the DME. The DME is located up at the base of the windshield on the passenger side under that plastic lid.

So the throttle works in reverse but not forward? Can you rev in neutral?

And multiple problems... Is your car still undrivable? If the relay fixed your throttle problem, get your car and run. Then either research your problems online or find a good bmw indie in your area.

[avocet]

PS I had a similar issue where a relay caused a crank but no start issue. I was told, once the relay was changed, that I needed my ess. Shaft relay solenoid changed in order for it to be fixed. The reality was my car drove just fine after the relay was changed, but they didn't really tell me that at first because they wanted me to authorize the work.

[X_Drive]

Hi there.

avocet is correct in the fact that there is very high unlikely chance of oil intrusion from the eccentric shaft sensor all the way to the DME. Actually, none. I have seen ecc.shaft sensors filled to the point where it was leaking down the side of the valve cover. Simply replaced the sensor and cleaned the connector with alcohol and contact spray. It took a while to de-saturate the connector pins, however they got clean and the vehicle is still running strong.

The only time I have ever had to replace engine harnesses were due to mechanical/water damage or rodent infestations. (For some reason, rodents love the taste of german engineering.) And I have replaced DME's due to multiple reasons, however never to oil intrusion from the shaft sensor.

As for your vehicle not moving. Please tell us a little more. If the car moves in reverse, however does not engage the forward gears, you are more likely looking at a shift selector valve in your mechatronics that has snapped not allowing the trans fluid to go where it needs to go. Since you don't have any warnings for the transmission you can breath a little relief that your transmission/mechatronics may not be not busted.
If it is a shift selector valve, it is a pretty decent sized job. Transmission oil pan and Mechatronics have to come down in order to replace it. So it will also equate to a fairly large bill, however not 5K if I am doing my math correctly. I am not saying that this is the issue, however from what you have described, I have dealt with this issues on multiple occasions.

I am saddened that the people that you are dealing with, sound like they are shotgunning parts at your vehicle and are not doing their diagnosis properly.

[empty]

Originally Posted by avocet

Where in canada are you? If you are in vancouver and your car is at B.J. Bmw, get your car and run. Fast.

As for the prob... I really really can't see oil migrating into the DME. The DME is located up at the base of the windshield on the passenger side under that plastic lid.

So the throttle works in reverse but not forward? Can you rev in neutral?

And multiple problems... Is your car still undrivable? If the relay fixed your throttle problem, get your car and run. Then either research your problems online or find a good bmw indie in your area.

I was able to throw it into reverse and move normally but while in drive or semi manual there would be no throttle response at all, engine would just sit there idling the whole time. I can't recall if there was any engine response when in neutral..

Come to think of it in my conversations with the dealership they never mentioned if it fixed the problem but rather stressed the importance of replacing all the other things on their checklist. I may have to go in and see the damage they claim in person.

I'm in Ottawa and the car is sitting at Ottos which has been good to me in the past but this is absolutely ridiculous and completely out of left field.

[empty]

Originally Posted by X_Drive

Hi there.

avocet is correct in the fact that there is very high unlikely chance of oil intrusion from the eccentric shaft sensor all the way to the DME. Actually, none. I have seen ecc.shaft sensors filled to the point where it was leaking down the side of the valve cover. Simply replaced the sensor and cleaned the connector with alcohol and contact spray. It took a while to de-saturate the connector pins, however they got clean and the vehicle is still running strong.

The only time I have ever had to replace engine harnesses were due to mechanical/water damage or rodent infestations. (For some reason, rodents love the taste of german engineering.) And I have replaced DME's due to multiple reasons, however never to oil intrusion from the shaft sensor.

As for your vehicle not moving. Please tell us a little more. If the car moves in reverse, however does not engage the forward gears, you are more likely looking at a shift selector valve in your mechatronics that has snapped not allowing the trans fluid to go where it needs to go. Since you don't have any warnings for the transmission you can breath a little relief that your transmission/mechatronics may not be not busted.
If it is a shift selector valve, it is a pretty decent sized job. Transmission oil pan and Mechatronics have to come down in order to replace it. So it will also equate to a fairly large bill, however not 5K if I am doing my math correctly. I am not saying that this is the issue, however from what you have described, I have dealt with this issues on multiple occasions.

I am saddened that the people that you are dealing with, sound like they are shotgunning parts at your vehicle and are not doing their diagnosis properly.

Would any snapping make a loud sound while it happened? There were no odd noises when it stopped responding. The bulk of the cost is from the DME and harness but as avocet brought up the dealership wasn't even clear on whether or not the replaced relay did anything. I know the car will run without a working eccentric shaft sensor and I'm no mechanic but the engine shouldn't start with a dead DME. I've never dealt with harnesses in cars but I have in may other applications and you are right, they would only be replaced due to mechanical/water damage or rodent infestations.

[X_Drive]

Originally Posted by empty

Would any snapping make a loud sound while it happened? There were no odd noises when it stopped responding. The bulk of the cost is from the DME and harness but as avocet brought up the dealership wasn't even clear on whether or not the replaced relay did anything. I know the car will run without a working eccentric shaft sensor and I'm no mechanic but the engine shouldn't start with a dead DME. I've never dealt with harnesses in cars but I have in may other applications and you are right, they would only be replaced due to mechanical/water damage or rodent infestations.

Since the shift selector valve is within the transmission oil pan and mechatronics, no sound of breakage would be heard. As for the car running without the Ecc. Shaft sensor. It's a yes, no or maybe answer. I have seen cars run relatively fine with a defective one, however I also have seen cars stall, run rough and have intermittent no start conditions.

Perhaps I was too harsh in my closing statement regarding the techs at Otto's. They are indeed a good bunch of guys from what I have heard. I think they maybe thinking too much outside of the box. Every tech has a job that goes sideways due to over analysis. Also, as unusual as it seems, they could very well be correct in their diagnosis.

I would love to recommend for you to ask them if they can drop the pan and verify the selector valve is intact, however due to me not being able to physically touch and see your vehicle, I do not want you to spend unnecessary funds to do this if I am incorrect. That's not my style.

Perhaps you can speak to the Service Manager and plead a case that you are a returning loyal customer and if they can help you out in anyway to keep your costs to a minimum and keep you going to Otto's in the future.(All dealers are trying to compete for peoples business) During your conversation, you can perhaps mention that a "friend in Vancouver" has gone through a similar experience and the end result was a broken shift selector valve. If it is a broken valve, you can replace the mechatronics seals to the transmission that also tends to crack and cause transmission issues as well, since the mechatronics would have to be lowered.

Unfortunately, diagnosing through my computer screen lessens my success rate in properly finding a helpful solution to problems that people are having.

***Edit*** Please take a look at this. It explains that fault codes were present on this vehicle. The ones I have repaired did not have these codes or codes at all. https://wiki.bentleypublishers.com/d...rod,+replacing