BMW320D - Smoke on hard acceleration significantly reduced.

Back in August I upgraded the crankcase filter to a vortex type on my 320D to try and reduce exhaust smoke. In the post I said I would report back after testing. Well, several thousand miles later, I can report it was an important job done. By no means difficult and it has significantly reduced the smoking.

BMW 320D - Excessive smoke on hard acceleration. The cause.

Recent posts have documented my concern regarding heavy smoke from the exhaust of my 2005 BMW320D under hard acceleration. After research it seemed it could have been resulting from a blocked crankcase filter but I was waiting for a long journey  before pronouncing on the results of replacing it. Well, I'm pleased to say it worked! It still smokes at times but only under very heavy acceleration. I was fortunate to be followed by a friend on my trip who confirmed the result. However, the turbo still whines!

Making connections to wiring connectors.

Just a quick post to share another bit of hard won experience. Do you sometimes want to make temporary connections to the modular connector plugs and sensors that festoon the modern car? If so you've probably found it's not so easy. The pins and sockets in the connectors are often well shielded and difficult to access. Well I've found on my BMW that they conform to a standard size for electronic components and a trip to Maplin or similar outlet may be useful. What you're looking for are 0.1in crimp pins such as these and their female counterparts. With these you can attach to individual connections on the plugs and sockets.

BMW 320D - Save money on your parts by buying from Germany!

Inflated UK prices

We seem to pay seemingly inflated prices for many things in the UK. Interestingly, and puzzlingly,  I've found German suppliers very competitive for both home electronic goods and especially BMW parts.

In fact I made substantial savings at www.buycarparts.co.uk which is the UK site for a Berlin based company Autodoc. If you can plan your work and afford to wait a few days for delivery then check them out. I saved £'s even over the local motor factors.

Some examples are

Oil Trap - Local motor factor £30.53, Buycarparts £14.98
Vacuum Control Valve - Local motor factor £34.22, Buycarparts £18.32

And yes, they are from reputable manufacturers like Pierburg and Febi Bilstein

BMW 320D - Excessive smoke on hard acceleration.

Excessive smoke on hard acceleration

This blog started out on the trials and tribulations of car electronics but I've decided to also include my hard won experience learnt from faults on my ageing cars. So this blog post is an 'old chestnut', about excessive smoke from my diesel BMW on hard acceleration.

It's been leaving a smoke screen for some time now but it's been getting worse of late so I decided it needed investigation. Especially since the turbo has developed a whine at low revs that sounds like there is an ambulance with it's siren on following behind.

Blocked crankcase breather a possible reason

As usual I consulted the forums but I've found it's wise to read the contributions with care as they can cause panic and are often ill informed. However, I couldn't help but notice a recurring topic on the subject of BMW crankcase breathers and turbo failure. The engine that my 2005 320D originally used included a filter in the crankcase breather.

Crankcase breather unit

Apparently, this gets blocked (and certainly was) and causes excessive crankcase pressure that causes the turbo bearings to fail, as well as other potential catastrophic dangers such as engine destruction. (The latter is due to oil entering the engine as fuel via the turbo which is then burnt like fuel. As there is no control over it's supply the engine, if in neutral, will rev to destruction! Well that's the story I heard from a couple of sources).

Obviously a known problem. The breather design has been changed.

The car used to be serviced at the dealers and should have been changed previously but advice of some mechanics suggested that this often gets 'overlooked'. Therefore, not wanting to prolong the risk of damage any longer I've just replaced the filter. Importantly the breather design has now been modified to replace the paper filter with a vortex mechanism.

BMW Vortex Filter

It's an intreagueing  design but an easy swap. The breather unit is to be found on the top of the engine just above the air filter.

Hopefully, a long run in the coming week will determine that the problem of smoking has been cured. Fingers crossed! (Unfortunately, the whine is still evident).

Busy life. Car things still happening. Time for a catchup.

Renovating a house takes a lot of time and leaves little time for a blog. However, here are a few moments of reflection over what appears to be a year of no posts!

Peugeot 206

OK. talked about that in the previous post. Rear suspension failure.

Clio 2 

Quite a few things happened to our 2001 Clio 2. Mostly electrical which seems to be the Achilles heal of the Clio. Learnt that damp is the enemy. They begin to leak water a bit and get wet inside.

ECU suffers from damp

This affects the rather basic ECU causing corrosion. If you get weird faults then take this apart and clean off any corrosion on the circuit board. Our fault was hazard warning lights coming on randomly. Even at night which flattened the battery. The corrosion might seem insignificant but it's not. And fix the leaks and then the Va Va Voom will return!

Fan motor stopped

The Clio also suffered from another water related problem. The fan stopped working. The problem was the engine compartment drainage hole located beneath the fan motor had become blocked by leaves and the motor was sitting in a pool of water. Some corrosion damage had occured but a good clean got it working again!

BMW320D

The BMW 320D soldiers on. A great car and still going without the swirl flaps.

Radiator flaps not working

The venetian blind flaps that regulate the air flow through the radiator have now stopped working. This uses the same type of electronic vacuum valve (Part no 11747810831) that the swirl flaps use so it's more or less answered my question on the swirl flaps. That is, is it the swirl flap valve or actuator that has failed? It looks like the electronic vacuum valve that is the culprit so I need to buy 2.

Air bag seat sensor failure and work around

Another problem was the air bag warning light which was coming on causing a potential problem for the MOT (not to mention safety!). Thanks to a fantastic forum post (sorry didn't save it but a search for seat sensor problems should find it) I found a solution for the MOT saving loads of money by avoiding specialist help. The problem was caused by the seat occupancy sensor which fail. The temporary fix for the MOT is to replace the occupancy sensor with  two simple electrical components obtained from Maplin! It tricks the ECU into thinking the sensor is working. It also enables the fault to be confirmed as the problem without the use of an expensive diagnostic tool or specialist. However, it is only a temporary fix since the seat sensor is there for a reason!

Peugeot 206 sadly gone. Hello Mazda MX5!

Does a database of car faults exist?

The interest in the post featuring the 206 cooling fan proved very popular. I find it fascinating that there are thousands of cars failing in the same way all over the world! Wouldn't it be great to have a database of faults to know what to expect next for your car. Or perhaps it exists and I haven't found it yet.

Peugeot 206 gone. Rear suspension failure! 

Anyway there wont be any more 206 related post because it succumbed to another common 206 fault! The rear axle bushes went resulting in too much play for the MOT tester's liking. So if you've got a 206 with

• squeaky rear suspension 
• negative camber 

BEWARE! It will be your turn next!

Hello Mazda MX5!

So my BMW 320D has become my mover and shifter of stuff and the 206 has given way to a little fun in the shape of an Mazda MX5. What delights will this have in store?  Well I didn't have long to wait but nothing more serious than a wet boot.

Mazda MX5 blocked drain pipes

Again it's a common fault caused by blocked drain pipes. When looking for an MX5 to buy we encountered the wet boot syndrome a few times and it dissuaded us from buying.  Little did we know at the time but the remedy is relatively easy and will need doing occasionally especially if you live in a leafy area.

Water run off from the convertible top collects in gutters tucked behind the seats and just visible. Unfortunately, the water drain holes in these gutters aren't easy to see but a length of flexible hosing can be pushed up the pipe exit found underneath the car. These exit points are just behind and in front of the rear wheels. I did read that there is a flap mechanism in the pipe that can hurt the unwary fingers. So be cautious.

Having found the quite well hidden exit hole and inserted the pipe a gush of water confirmed there had been a blockage.