2.0 eccentric camshaft wear

T

tiglon

Senior member
 South West
Bought a 2005 2.0 Z4 earlier this year. It had a rough idle and misfire, so replaced plugs and coils which made things a lot better. Still a bit rough though so took it to my local BMW specialist who said it was due to a worn eccentric camshaft. Gave me 2 options - unplug the sensor or replace the shaft at a cost of about £1,000. I took the first option, as it's a cheap old car with 80k miles. After unplugging the sensor it runs fine.

It's now gone in for mot and failed on emissions - they reckon it's due to the worn shaft. I've done a lot of searches and can't find anything online about anyone else needing to replace the shaft itself, just loads of problems with the sensor. Is it possible it could just be the sensor that's the problem? Has anyone else had to replace the shaft itself?

I trust the garage but when considering such a big job on such an old car it won't hurt to do a bit more research.

Thanks in advance for any responses.
 
tiglon said:
Bought a 2005 2.0 Z4 earlier this year. It had a rough idle and misfire, so replaced plugs and coils which made things a lot better. Still a bit rough though so took it to my local BMW specialist who said it was due to a worn eccentric camshaft. Gave me 2 options - unplug the sensor or replace the shaft at a cost of about £1,000. I took the first option, as it's a cheap old car with 80k miles. After unplugging the sensor it runs fine.

It's now gone in for mot and failed on emissions - they reckon it's due to the worn shaft. I've done a lot of searches and can't find anything online about anyone else needing to replace the shaft itself, just loads of problems with the sensor. Is it possible it could just be the sensor that's the problem? Has anyone else had to replace the shaft itself?

I trust the garage but when considering such a big job on such an old car it won't hurt to do a bit more research.

Thanks in advance for any responses.
Click to expand...

Hi, as per your research it’s normally the sensor & not the shaft that fails-take it to a different Bmw specialist for a second opinion.
Whereabouts are you?
Rob
 
I think there may some mix up with the terminology here - there is no such thing as an eccentric camshaft. There is an eccentric shaft but this is different to the camshaft. I wouldn't expect 'wear' on either of them to be honest, but the eccentric shaft sensor is a well known failure (check for oil in the connector). The image below will helpfully clarify..

n52-5.jpg
 
Thanks for the replies. Apologies, yes eccentric shaft not camshaft. With the sensor plugged back in it smokes a lot. Drinking a lot of oil (about a litre every 500 miles) so they've advised a whole new cylinder head (I think) at £1500. If that's the case it's not something I'll bother doing.

Is the sensor easy to change DIY? Looks like they're about £140 so might be worth a gamble before I give up.

I'm in Colchester.
 
The sensor wouldn’t cause any oil burning issues, that must be something else.
Get a second opinion (Bennetts in south woodham ferrers are bmw specialists) search on here for some others :thumbsup:
Rob
 
Easyish....you have to remove the cam cover iirc but thats not a big job on the 4 pot. What doesn’t make any sense to me though is why the car burns a ton of oil with the sensor plugged in but is ok with it disconnected. That is just bizarre, I can’t see how the two can possibly be related???
 
Seems a bit odd to me. If it's burning a lot of oil it could be the CVV or one of the hoses is blocked, that would also cause poor idle as well.
 
Don't think I explained it very well - it uses a lot of oil regardless of whether the sensor is unplugged, but gets smoky when the sensor is connected.

Had a chat with Bennetts who told me it's not unusual for the shaft itself to wear and cause problems. Both they and the place it's currently with have told me the same story about these engines - they leak from everywhere and there are a hundred things that regularly go wrong with them!

I think it's time to give up and get something with more cylinders!
 
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