major problem - BMW Forum

mhbmw328i · 09-24-2008, 07:24 PM

If you dont know about my previous forum i was having a problem with my 98 BMW 328i it was idling hard and making a choppy sound til about 3k rpm. the only trouble code that i had at the time was oxygen sensor bank 1 sen2 anyway assuming that that was the problem i ordered the part. Today on my way to work i stopped at my local garage to see witch bank the bad o2 sensor was because i had forgotten and when we hooked it up to the scanner it pulled up like a dozen or so codes like heres some of the following i remember: random misfire all cylinders, misfire cyl 5, misfire, cyl 6, clyl2, air metering, o2 sen 1 bank 2, o2 sen 1 bank 1, secondary air failure, and a bunch were just showing up and leaving as the car was running. anybody know whats up is this a computer malfunction or a wiring harness problem? any help would be great. thanks.

chinonca · 09-24-2008, 09:54 PM

Check your spark plug boots on your coil packs. Make sure there is no oil in the spark plug holes. If you have oil in there you have to replace the valve cover gasket and maybe the boots where the oil was leaking into.

fuzbox · 09-25-2008, 11:00 AM

sorry not to be able to help, but just had to ask. What sort of garage has the mechanic, equipment and presumably the nerve to charge, yet offered no solution to the problem?

mhbmw328i · 09-25-2008, 05:04 PM

i think im gonna try changing my ECU. BTW my plug boots are clean and that garage is ran by a friend of mine and he never seen anything like that before i mean he really dnt do to much with BMW's and knew i do my own work. anybody ever heard of a ECU going on a E36???

chinonca · 09-25-2008, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mhbmw328i

i think im gonna try changing my ECU. BTW my plug boots are clean and that garage is ran by a friend of mine and he never seen anything like that before i mean he really dnt do to much with BMW's and knew i do my own work. anybody ever heard of a ECU going on a E36???

Very rare but it is possible. do you see signs of arcing on any of the boots?

mhbmw328i · 09-25-2008, 05:11 PM

no none at all i mean would that cause all those codes to show up?? thanks for all the help BTW

chinonca · 09-25-2008, 05:17 PM

You could be on to something there with the ecu! Hope that fixes it.Those are some signs of a bad ecu (Throwing multiple fault codes). Can you get it to duplicate the codes??

mhbmw328i · 09-25-2008, 06:16 PM

i had the car running when it was on his scanner or computer and some of the codes were deleting and it was just throwing random codes on the screen it got to be the ECU i just kinda wanted to see someone elses opinion cause i nvr heard of that on these cars but i mean everything could break. thanks alot for your help ill post something saying if the ECU fixed my problem.

johnnyBgood · 09-25-2008, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinonca

Very rare but it is possible. do you see signs of arcing on any of the boots?

I agree^^^
I've heard that the ECU's are susceptible to water damage, because of where they are located, water above them does not drain properly, if so the ECU would short across the circuit board causing multiple malfunctions. So I agree, maybe just check it for signs of water damage.......
johnny,

mhbmw328i · 09-26-2008, 06:35 PM

ill be sure to check for water damage thanks.

thekid · 09-26-2008, 09:57 PM

Specifically where you need to check for water damage is at the corner of your windshield. There is a black plastic piece running at the bottom of the windshield around the wind shield wiper mounts. Go to the passenger corner and check the very corner of that plastic piece. If it is seriously cracked or broken with missing pieces then water damage is a possibility.

However, that being said I doubt that water damage is doing this (depending on what you come up with from the rest of this paragraph my thoughts may change). My reasoning for this is typically when this happens the car does not start at all, however it can again once the ecu is dry. Think about the cars exposure to weather and any correlation to this problem. Particularly think about automatic "touchless" car washes. There is a high correlation between these and water problems with the ECU.

When/if you take your ECU out. Make sure you watch out of the battery terminal located directly in front of the ECU. Knocking the ECU against this terminal can destroy the ECU. That terminal is removable if you want to be sure to avoid this.