Just another day! *FAULT RETURNS FINAL UPDATE*

Swiftly

Elite
 Edinburgh
Parked the car up tonight after driving home from work and the yellow engine warning light came on, at which point the engine didn't idle properly either, I didn't see any excess smoke from the exhaust though. I have half a tank of fuel left and only use 99 octaine Shell or Tesco momentum petrol, also haven't refueled for over a week either. :headbang:

I attached a code reader and the error code was 'P0171 'system too lean bank 1', not sure what that is, but I seem to remember something about a similar code being related to a MAF issue. I cleared the code and took the car for a 15 mile run down the A1 and it behaved perfectly, it was responsive, idled fine and no more yellow engine warning light.

Could it be caused by dirty fuel or something else, and could the fault appear again? Has anyone else had a similar problem?
 
I would think both banks are affected by a MAF issue, though maybe the other just didn't register. I'm more inclined to say it's an intermittent injector error. I'd say log the error for future reference and don't worry about it. I've logged 3 such errors ("ghost" errors, never the same code) in 3 years and the car's still running fine AFAIK.
 
bcworkz said:
I would think both banks are affected by a MAF issue, though maybe the other just didn't register. I'm more inclined to say it's an intermittent injector error. I'd say log the error for future reference and don't worry about it. I've logged 3 such errors ("ghost" errors, never the same code) in 3 years and the car's still running fine AFAIK.

Thanks for the advice. :thumbsup: The Z has run perfectly today, but I am still concerned it may come back at a inconvenient time. If it plays up again I will book it in at the stealers as it covered by AUC warranty.
 
Just picked up my zed from the stealers where it has been in for the second time for the same fault, this time been in for a week. The symptom appeared as an intermittent fault which was really noticeable when idling where the rev counter would suddenly jump up and down for a few seconds to 1200 revs dropping down to 300 revs and then returning to about 800 revs, however it didn’t do it all the time though. :headbang: The fault code P0171 was detected by them as well as a generic fault code according to the mechanic. They finally managed to trace it down to an air leak after changing a few sensors which they thought were part of the fault.

The cause was an air leak, so they have changed the rocker cover and intake manifold gaskets. Luckily the work was covered under AUC so really pleased. :D Drove it back this morning from Stirling and the zed seems a lot more responsive than I remember. :D :thumbsup: I am now looking forward to hopefully achieving a bit better mpg as this has been poor recently, another known side effect of the fault.
 
Looks like I spoke to soon as the problem has returned, although rev counter not as erratic as before! :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :cry:

Managed to capture a short video clip of problem, sorry about the image quality.

[youtube]kX376zeyiW0[/youtube]
 
Hopefully you can get it resolved under your AUC warranty but your's is a typical tale. There are no 'real' mechanics left these days just part swapping technicians. They simply change items out until they get lucky as far as I can tell and usually at our cost!
 
GreyZed said:
Hopefully you can get it resolved under your AUC warranty but your's is a typical tale. There are no 'real' mechanics left these days just part swapping technicians. They simply change items out until they get lucky as far as I can tell and usually at our cost!

I know, it a real pain in the arse top be honest going backwards and forwards a 70 mile round trip. The zed behaved beautifully on the 35 mile journey back to Edinburgh. Parked up at home and returned to the zed 2 hours later and it was still fine, started ok, then did a 4 mile trip down the road and the fault reappears when I come back and start the car 10 minutes later :headbang:

Not sure what sensors they thought could initially be causing the problem before swapping them to no avail. Well guess it will be another phone call to the dealers on Monday, to be honest I bought the car from them and the service dept have been great, they have gone out of their way to get try and me sorted so can't really complain about them yet....
 
GreyZed said:
Hopefully you can get it resolved under your AUC warranty but your's is a typical tale. There are no 'real' mechanics left these days just part swapping technicians. They simply change items out until they get lucky as far as I can tell and usually at our cost!
This is true :cry:
 
srhutch said:
Wonder if it's a coil pack issue?

I wonder too, before they replaced the rocker and intake manifold gaskets the car was always slightly alternating between about 750 and 850 revs and you could feel the uneven idling sometimes. I never had any hesitation or misfire once on the move though, except fuel consumption dropped, but I put it down to the colder weather and the engine taking longer to warm up. Would a coil pack issue show symptoms like this or does it vary?
 
Sorry the problem come back mate :cry: Hope the mechanics (loose term there) :lol: sort it soon, cos if not by the time they finish you will have a rebuilt engine :headbang:
 
I had all these symptoms and the same fault codes, after much sensor swapping it turned out to be a crack in the exhaust manifold.
 
Hi guys, I live in Hong Kong, my Z4 also have same problem like that, I have changed 6 coil and spark plug, the engine light was off, but just last for 100km, the light were come out again. :headbang:
I will try to find out what's going on, will keep update and share with you guys.
Thanks
Leo
 
The dealer sent the video off to bmw for their input. As a result the zed is now going back again to the dealers for another couple of days at begining of April when they will hopefully fix it :)

Updates to follow in due course.
 
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