Newbie - Needs Advice/Help!!!

[mizzevil]

Update 4-28

After all the reading here and I replaced everything including DISA valve, Vanos line, oil filter housing gasket, valve cover gasket, lower & upper radiator hoses, alternator belt, ac belt, whole new water pump, changed oil, replaced oil filter, lower radiator hose thermostat, thermostat, battery was replaced a few days prior to this. After replacing everything all the service lights were gone, car ran fabulous, had it smogged (it passed). Have been driving the car for about a week or so since all of this was replaced. Yesterday, driving home, after was driving about 10 minutes air bag light came on (never has come on before) along with ABS and Brake lights (yellow). A few minutes later the gear with the ! (transmission) light came on. A few minutes later they all went off. Got home, shut off the car and this morning it started fine, no lights, running great. 10 minutes later power to radio goes out, every light in the car goes crazy and the car just completely loses power and dies. Wait for a tow truck, had them tow it to my house and now turning over the key nothing will come on. Can't even get the windows to go up.

Have no clue what the heck is wrong with this car. I've never had any problems til recently. Car has 91k miles. Anyone have a place in San Diego area they recommend?

Hello!

I'm new to these forums, found the other day searching google, and need some serious advice/help.

My car: 2005 330i e46 zhp. I purchased the car brand new and love it. I've had my car serviced/repaired at the dealership and up until recently nothing major has been wrong with the car. I've had a few belts and hoses repaired here and there but nothing else really. After I found this site I regret to say I had the alcantara steering wheel taken out and replaced under warranty for a leather one only because if they replaced the original and it went to crap again they said they wouldn't replace it again.

Last week took my car in to the dealership because I noticed I was leaking coolant and the service light was on. I have my first smog due in a few weeks so thought I better take it in. They gave me a loaner car and a few days later called and said repairs would be $5,200!!! (now that my extended warranty is expired, of course!) They pissed me off saying that the battery needed to be replaced and that would run me "around 500 bucks", please. So I declined all the service and picked my car up yesterday drove down the street to a battery place and had the same battery installed for $135. The other repairs they stated I need (alternator belt, water pump, radiator hose) I've ordered and will have them replaced (not through the dealership) when they come.

The 2 questions I have (pardon my ignorance in advance) are listed on the dealership list as:

From the VANOS line, the oil filter housing gasket and the valve cover gasket are leaking oil - I ordered the both gaskets but am unsure what exactly the VANOS line is?

Performed test of vehicle to determine that DISA valve is leaking air causing mixture fault - What exactly is a DISA valve and are they cost effective to have replaced?

Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated!

[kayger12]

Hello!

I'm new to these forums, found the other day searching google, and need some serious advice/help.

My car: 2005 330i e46 zhp. I purchased the car brand new and love it. I've had my car serviced/repaired at the dealership and up until recently nothing major has been wrong with the car. I've had a few belts and hoses repaired here and there but nothing else really. After I found this site I regret to say I had the alcantara steering wheel taken out and replaced under warranty for a leather one only because if they replaced the original and it went to crap again they said they wouldn't replace it again.

Last week took my car in to the dealership because I noticed I was leaking coolant and the service light was on. I have my first smog due in a few weeks so thought I better take it in. They gave me a loaner car and a few days later called and said repairs would be $5,200!!! (now that my extended warranty is expired, of course!) They pissed me off saying that the battery needed to be replaced and that would run me "around 500 bucks", please. So I declined all the service and picked my car up yesterday drove down the street to a battery place and had the same battery installed for $135. The other repairs they stated I need (alternator belt, water pump, radiator hose) I've ordered and will have them replaced (not through the dealership) when they come.

The 2 questions I have (pardon my ignorance in advance) are listed on the dealership list as:

From the VANOS line, the oil filter housing gasket and the valve cover gasket are leaking oil - I ordered the both gaskets but am unsure what exactly the VANOS line is?

Performed test of vehicle to determine that DISA valve is leaking air causing mixture fault - What exactly is a DISA valve and are they cost effective to have replaced?

Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated!

First off- don't panic, you'll get your baby ship shape for way less than $5k.

The cooling system is your priority if it's leaking as overheating can do a lot of damage. A full cooling system overhaul can be done for $300 in parts if you are willing to do it yourself. There are plenty of DIY guides available, and plenty of capable people here who are willing to help you out.

If not, look for a local indy mechanic which will be way cheaper than the dealer.

The valve cover gasket is less than $40 in parts, and the oil filter housing gasket is a whopping $5 part. Again, if you are at all comfortable turning a wrench, these are fairly simple DIYs.

I'll look into the vanos line as I haven't changed one if them yet.

As for the disa valve leaking, that can most likely be solved with a cheap tube of rtv sealant.

Droid X. Forum Runner. Use it.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

^^listen to this man. You'll be fine. Welcome to the site.

[bcleaver]

Here are a few DIY links on fixing the oil filter housing gasket. I have that on my to-do list so did some research on it already. Hopefully this will save you some time:

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=657887
http://www.bmwtips.com/tipsntricks/oil/housing.htm
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1070662
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=422843&highlight=torque+values

The VANOS line if it needs repalcing will be taken off during the replacement of the oil filter housing itself so should be a simple fix. Here are the part numbers you'll need:

Part name Part Number
Oil line vanos 11 36 1 705 532
Aluminum Seal Ring (14 x 20 x 1.5) 32 41 1 093 596
Banjo Bolt 32 41 6 783 886
Oil housing gasket 11421719855

It's about $40 in parts for the vanos line, gasket and new banjo bolts/washers. Read all the DIY's there and good luck.

[kayger12]

^^^
Good looking out.

[Oli77]

There are plenty of DISA DIYs out there. This one shows you how to test if the DISA valve is making a bad noise and hence, bad, or going bad.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s82CIF28zhU&feature=related

[danewilson77]

DISA = 15 minutes and about $250 new.

Coolant overhaul....depends on what you do.

Droid + Tapatalk = FTW!

[billschusteriv]

Hi! Welcome to the site!

The dealership is occasionally referred to as the stealership for a reason. Unfortunately you found one of those dealers. Those repairs can definately be had for way less than $5k.

Lots of good advice above. If you have a minute, what's the mileage on your car? I can only assume that you have some miles if the warranty has expired and you have some coolant leaks.

The coolant system on these cars have many parts that are known failure points over time. Therefore, it has become a preventative maintenance for e46 owners to perform coolant system overhauls periodically. Periodicity is a varying school of thought. Some systems fail at 40k... some fail at 100k. I've heard some people replace the vulnerable system components every 50k, 60k, 75k, 80k, 100k miles. If you don't know the driving conditions your car has been exposed to, sooner is usually a good idea.

Don't be overwhelmed!

Depending on where you are - there may be Mafia members around that are willing to help. Here on ZHPMafia.com, we're all here to help.

[mizzevil]

First off- don't panic, you'll get your baby ship shape for way less than $5k.

The cooling system is your priority if it's leaking as overheating can do a lot of damage. A full cooling system overhaul can be done for $300 in parts if you are willing to do it yourself. There are plenty of DIY guides available, and plenty of capable people here who are willing to help you out.

If not, look for a local indy mechanic which will be way cheaper than the dealer.

The valve cover gasket is less than $40 in parts, and the oil filter housing gasket is a whopping $5 part. Again, if you are at all comfortable turning a wrench, these are fairly simple DIYs.

I'll look into the vanos line as I haven't changed one if them yet.

As for the disa valve leaking, that can most likely be solved with a cheap tube of rtv sealant.

Droid X. Forum Runner. Use it.

Thanks, I ordered the valve cover gasket and oil filter housing gasket along with quite a few hoses. Good information on the disa valve! Thanks again.

[mizzevil]

Here are a few DIY links on fixing the oil filter housing gasket. I have that on my to-do list so did some research on it already. Hopefully this will save you some time:

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=657887
http://www.bmwtips.com/tipsntricks/oil/housing.htm
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1070662
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=422843&highlight=torque+values

The VANOS line if it needs repalcing will be taken off during the replacement of the oil filter housing itself so should be a simple fix. Here are the part numbers you'll need:

Part name Part Number
Oil line vanos 11 36 1 705 532
Aluminum Seal Ring (14 x 20 x 1.5) 32 41 1 093 596
Banjo Bolt 32 41 6 783 886
Oil housing gasket 11421719855

It's about $40 in parts for the vanos line, gasket and new banjo bolts/washers. Read all the DIY's there and good luck.

Thanks a million - I'm ordering the vanos line today. This really helps - I had no clue.

[mizzevil]

Hi! Welcome to the site!

The dealership is occasionally referred to as the stealership for a reason. Unfortunately you found one of those dealers. Those repairs can definately be had for way less than $5k.

Lots of good advice above. If you have a minute, what's the mileage on your car? I can only assume that you have some miles if the warranty has expired and you have some coolant leaks.

The coolant system on these cars have many parts that are known failure points over time. Therefore, it has become a preventative maintenance for e46 owners to perform coolant system overhauls periodically. Periodicity is a varying school of thought. Some systems fail at 40k... some fail at 100k. I've heard some people replace the vulnerable system components every 50k, 60k, 75k, 80k, 100k miles. If you don't know the driving conditions your car has been exposed to, sooner is usually a good idea.

Don't be overwhelmed!

Depending on where you are - there may be Mafia members around that are willing to help. Here on ZHPMafia.com, we're all here to help.

Thanks for the information and to answer your question I'm the original owner of the vehicle, I purchased it brand new from the dealership. So the 90k miles the car has have all been put on by me I'm guessing it's just that time to replace all the coolant system stuff. Depressing only because I had the car serviced, new tires, new belts a few months ago (when my warranty was still good to go) and now everything decides to go to crap.

Thanks again!

[aurelius]

There are plenty of DISA DIYs out there. This one shows you how to test if the DISA valve is making a bad noise and hence, bad, or going bad.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s82CIF28zhU&feature=related

There are 2 follow-up videos to this one, showing how to disassemble and repair (http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=748124). Also be aware that even if your little flap is still ok, the DISA housing can have a vacuum leak. I'm sure the procedure for sealing it with electrical tape has been posted elsewhere on this forum but if not, let me know and I'll paste it in a separate post.

[aurelius]

DISA = 15 minutes and about $250 new.

Coolant overhaul....depends on what you do.

The redesigned DISA part number is 11617544805 and Tischer BMW sells it for $180 (getbmwparts.com).

As for overhauling the cooling system, don't ignore the pulleys (idler & tensioner) on the alternator/serpentine belt. A family member's E46 325i experienced idler pulley seizure this past weekend. The belt snapped, leading to immediate loss of coolant flow, power steering, and alternator power. Collateral damage was a ruined belt tensioner unit.

NOTE: all E46 with M54 motors use the same idler pulley but you will have to determine whether your tensioner unit is the mechanical or hydraulic version. This will dictate which pulley you need, tho you can upgrade the mechanical unit to the hydraulic for about $100 in parts. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to which cars got which tensioner. There are plenty of DIY threads on this. PM me if you need a link to one or more info on the parts mentioned here.

[danewilson77]

Redesigned? Details please....

[mizzevil]

Redesigned? Details please....

I don't know if this answers it but found the part number described as:

BMW part 11617544805 - DISA Valve / Adjuster Unit
Supersedes expired part numbers: 11617502275

[danewilson77]

Mmm...so that means it may not have changed at all. I wish I could do a side by side to see if they redesigned the butterfly valve...

[mizzevil]

See update to original post.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

I use Euro Auto Spot (http://www.euroautospot.com/). I've been taking my cars to Shane Nguyen, the owner of the shop, for 11 years.

[ZSP-Mafia]

Mmm...so that means it may not have changed at all. I wish I could do a side by side to see if they redesigned the butterfly valve...

I'm getting the redesigned one today and I will compare them for you.

[aurelius]

Update 4-28

After all the reading here and I replaced everything including DISA valve, Vanos line, oil filter housing gasket, valve cover gasket, lower & upper radiator hoses, alternator belt, ac belt, whole new water pump, changed oil, replaced oil filter, lower radiator hose thermostat, thermostat, battery was replaced a few days prior to this. After replacing everything all the service lights were gone, car ran fabulous, had it smogged (it passed). Have been driving the car for about a week or so since all of this was replaced. Yesterday, driving home, after was driving about 10 minutes air bag light came on (never has come on before) along with ABS and Brake lights (yellow). A few minutes later the gear with the ! (transmission) light came on. A few minutes later they all went off. Got home, shut off the car and this morning it started fine, no lights, running great. 10 minutes later power to radio goes out, every light in the car goes crazy and the car just completely loses power and dies. Wait for a tow truck, had them tow it to my house and now turning over the key nothing will come on. Can't even get the windows to go up.

Have no clue what the heck is wrong with this car. I've never had any problems til recently. Car has 91k miles. Anyone have a place in San Diego area they recommend?


Before you run around replacing batteries and alternators, replace the voltage regulator. Part number depends upon which alternator your car has. As for how I went about determining which alternator my car has -- see post #66 here:

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=583423&page=4

Also, at your mileage and since it seems you've done belts twice in recent months, check your service records and be SURE the pulleys on the serpentine belt were replaced. See my post #13 here within this very thread. Same goes for the coolant expansion tank, which is not mentioned in your parts list above -- it is an infamous weak point in the cooling system. ECStuning sells a good one (Meyle brand) for $50.

Old School BMW maintenance routines would also suggest you replace the radiator prior to 100k mis.

[mizzevil]

Before you run around replacing batteries and alternators, replace the voltage regulator. Part number depends upon which alternator your car has. As for how I went about determining which alternator my car has -- see post #66 here:

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=583423&page=4

Also, at your mileage and since it seems you've done belts twice in recent months, check your service records and be SURE the pulleys on the serpentine belt were replaced. See my post #13 here within this very thread. Same goes for the coolant expansion tank, which is not mentioned in your parts list above -- it is an infamous weak point in the cooling system. ECStuning sells a good one (Meyle brand) for $50.

Old School BMW maintenance routines would also suggest you replace the radiator prior to 100k mis.

Thanks, I will dig out all my old service records from BMW to see what they replaced prior to all this stuff I replaced. I'm almost wondering if the new battery is the cause. Had the new battery put in the day I picked it up from BMW. Just tried to turn over the key not a click, not a light, not a single thing happens. My car that I love so much is turning into the death of me!

[aurelius]

Did you still have power steering during all of this and did the temp gauge stay in the normal zone? If not, see pulley seizure/disintegration but it sounds more like a voltage issue.

Take the air box off in order to see the sticker on the alternator. It's easy to do -- I used a flashlight and a telescoping mirror (see e46fanatics DIY quoted above). Once you have the new voltage regulator and if you're doing it yourself or with a friend, be sure to disconnect battery power when replacing the VR.

http://i1125.photobucket.com/albums/l584/aurelius3/Random%20BMW%20Pics/E46_VR.jpg

[ZSP-Mafia]

Mmm...so that means it may not have changed at all. I wish I could do a side by side to see if they redesigned the butterfly valve...

Just checked. No visible difference.

[aurelius]

Thanks, I will dig out all my old service records from BMW to see what they replaced prior to all this stuff I replaced. I'm almost wondering if the new battery is the cause. Had the new battery put in the day I picked it up from BMW. Just tried to turn over the key not a click, not a light, not a single thing happens. My car that I love so much is turning into the death of me!

Did you figure it out? If so, let us know. Curious over here...

[aurelius]

I don't know if this answers it but found the part number described as:

BMW part 11617544805 - DISA Valve / Adjuster Unit
Supersedes expired part numbers: 11617502275

FWIW re whether the DISA was redesigned at some point:

Service Measure
Engine Electrical B12 209 05 04/06/2005
Subject
M54B30 MS45.1; Engine Power Drops at 4000 RPM

Vehicle
E46, E60 with M54B30 and manual transmission.

Complaint
Customer may complain of an engine power drop at approximately 4000 rpm during aggressive acceleration.

Cause
Ignition timing retardation due to unfavorable tolerances of DISA valve flap shaft. Vibrations of a DISA valve are interpreted by the knock sensor system as detonation combustion.

Measure
On a customer complaint basis, replace DISA valve with the improved part (PN 11 61 7 544 805).
After DISA replacement, connect vehicle to DIS/GT1 and from DME identification page retrieve the programmed and basic DME part numbers.
Reprogram DME with the latest available DTS CD! SSS CIP software version. DME programming should last for at least 20 minutes and should result in both programmed and basic control unit number changes. Reprogramming of DME clears the long-term knock sensors adaptations. If the knock adaptation values are not cleared, the vehicle will still exhibit the power lack complaint, even with the improved DISA valve installed.

Important:
In the event the DME programming takes only a short period of time (approximately 5 minutes), and the basic control unit part number has not been changed, the adaptation clearing process has not been accomplished.

In such a case, contact Technical Hotline — Drive train via a PuMA case, requesting authorization for DME shipment to Engineering Department for reprogramming. For the PuMA case title use the following: MS45.1 DME KNOCK ADAPTATION RESET”.