Subject: Re: Guess it won't help.... Author: cfin : member since November, 2008 : 8 posts Posted on: 2008-12-01 20:24:36

Thanks for the replies guys...especially kiwijochen for steering me on the right path.

Ok, progress has been made, I have pulled one side cat pipe and its completely shot... 1/2 the internals ran out the end of the pipe when inverted. The exhaust shop told me if it had sensors (o2) fore and aft of the cat it would definitely require new ones to run correctly.
Armed with this information, I see it has only one sensor per bank and its ahead of the cat...so I mashed the rest of the internal structure out with a bar and will reinstall the pipe/empty canister and see what happens.
Yes, I have the codes he initially got out...many faults but the DMS codes are nearly all for missing, cylinder identified or not.
As mentioned, I think the "tech" has been thrown in at the deep end... but realistically (and knowing what I know now)... he checked the coils, which were fine... would not the next logical step be the cats?
The exhaust guy also mentioned that a sure sign the cats are bad is that they rattle, as soon as he said that I knew we were on the right track as you could hear a rattle from outside the car... I thought it was just a stone that had got trapped between pipes.

Kiwijochen, we are out in the "sticks". The nearest "big" town is Queenstown but no dealer there...that means in Invercargill. Tried once to get BMW service in Dunedin but they managed to smash the windscreen when it was in for a basic service(??!!) so never went back. I had enough, (I own three BMW... two 540's and and M5) so I been doing my own service and repairs ... but due to the complicated electronics, some things are beyond my mechanical skills or like has happened this time, I have not run across before.
Possibly what I need is a simple code reader, can anyone recommend a decent one?

• Major engine headache.....long sorry - cfin 2008-11-27 05:07:11 (405 views)
  • Its running.... - cfin 2008-12-01 22:57:41 (160 views)
  • 95% sure it's clogged cats - kiwijochen 2008-11-27 11:58:49 (321 views)
    • Re: 95% sure it's clogged cats - cfin 2008-11-30 05:24:50 (157 views)
      • Re: 95% sure it's clogged cats - bolkow105 2008-11-30 23:04:08 (135 views)
        • Re: 95% sure it's clogged cats - cfin 2008-12-01 02:03:35 (147 views)
          • Re: 95% sure it's clogged cats - kiwijochen 2008-12-01 13:38:05 (155 views)
          • Guess it won't help.... - bolkow105 2008-12-01 11:14:13 (132 views)
            • Re: Guess it won't help.... - stephen2008 2009-09-04 23:22:46 (7 views)
            • Re: Guess it won't help.... - cfin 2008-12-01 20:24:36 (163 views)
              • Follow-up to the 'problem' (nt) - cfin 2008-12-10 04:02:54 (125 views)
                • Re: Follow-up to the 'problem' - cfin 2008-12-10 04:40:05 (153 views)