[racey1979]

Hi all,

Just after a little help if possible please ? I replaced both thermostats, the Beru controller and all six glow plugs on the missis's 335d about 4 and half years ago. Car has done 120k miles. Used all genuine parts including Beru glow plugs/controller. I check the coolant temp from time to time and noticed a few weeks back that it was slow to get to up temp and struggled to get past 85 even on a long motorway run. Now and again it got to 90 but often dropped straight back to low 80's. I suspect with the lockdown the car has only been shop-hopping and hasn't been run long enough to get to temp. Plugged carly in and all six plugs are showing as down, so suspecting controller again, and I'm also getting a DPF fault which is 00452A, though I have never had any warning on the iDrive regarding the DPF, nor does the car feel down on power or at least I don't think it is. I have ordered a new controller and both thermostats from BMW and I'm planning on doing this over the weekend. Before I start could anyone advise on the following:-

1. I took the car on a motorway run yesterday and sent a regen request through carly. It seemed to be regenerating normally, it said "running" under regen status, the exhaust gas temps went upto about 600 degrees and the soot levels came down gradually over 10 minutes. The regen status then turned to "not requested". However about 15 mins later when I got home this had changed back to "requested", the soot levels were back up at 35 gram (ash is showing 48 grams). Why would it need to regen again so soon after it had just done one? Or is this just an anomaly in the Carly app?

2. I remember reading on here about checking the power supply to the glow plug controller as this can be an issue ? Any details on what to do here and what exactly to check ? Use contact paste ?

3. After what seemed like a successful regen, the 452A fault will not clear. Tried numerous times now. Could this be tied to the glow plug controller fault and might this clear once the module is replaced and functioning again ?

Any help much appreciated

Thanks

Andy

 

[Js635d]

I’m pretty sure that fault code is a warning that the dpf is coming to the end of its life. It is purely based on mileage and all you need to do is tell it it’s had a new dpf fitted and reset it. After a regen the setting will change to requested but it can be in the requested stage for a while so I would not get to worried at this stage.
cheers
Jim

 

[racey1979]

I’m pretty sure that fault code is a warning that the dpf is coming to the end of its life. It is purely based on mileage and all you need to do is tell it it’s had a new dpf fitted and reset it. After a regen the setting will change to requested but it can be in the requested stage for a while so I would not get to worried at this stage.
cheers
Jim

Thanks Jim, there does appear to be info on this & other forums come up that would support what you say. So it's just a theoretical marker point that flags up ? I assume it's for BMW techies so they can warn the customer they better sit down for some bad news as open wallet surgery is imminent LOL ? 😆Did they underestimate how long they can last or something ? As mentioned we have never had a DPF warning light on the dash, in five years. I learned what to keep an eye on from first owning the car, thermostats in particular so I think the DPF is fine. Especially at 120k miles and seeing as Jason @bwchiptune says they will last upto 350k miles ? Looks like i'll need something a bit more than Carly to reset this code then ? The car will be sold this year but I'd sooner sell it without faults as I've never been one for passing misery onto someone else.

 

[Js635d]

Yeah it’s just a marker and I had it on my 635d and just got it plugged in and reset and the dpf was fine. You have a good handle on what to watch out for so reckon you will be okay. I’m surprised that Carly can’t reset it.
cheers
jim

 

[racey1979]

Yeah it’s just a marker and I had it on my 635d and just got it plugged in and reset and the dpf was fine. You have a good handle on what to watch out for so reckon you will be okay. I’m surprised that Carly can’t reset it.
cheers
jim

I do have INPA and DIS software etc etc on the laptop but not used it for years due to having Carly, perhaps I'll see if I can jog my memory how to use it. Would imagine it can be done on that.

Thanks

Andy

 

[MrSweet1991]

Probably not worth replacing the glow plug controller, the reason they fail is because they use Alluminium wires for some strange reason. If you can be bothered, open the glow plug controller and you'll have three sets of two stranded Alluminium wires providing the power, it's likely you'll see one or more broke. Then, on the left side there's wires which are for the glow plugs, again you may find one or more broke. Replacing all of this Alluminium wires with copper wires would make that last a very long time. You can reseal with some gasket maker sealant.

It's not the easiest thing to solder though, the bottom of the controller is basically a metal plate which sucks all the heat from the iron so it's necessary to heat the back first with a hairdryer or heat gun and then do the soldering.

Make sure you fix the glow plugs first, depending on the DDE version the glow plugs are a pre-requisite for a regen.

As for coolant, 80 to 90 is the main stat, 70ish is EGR. Personally if your mapped I would just delete the cooler completely resulting in no EGR thermostat and much more room.. Without that EGR cooler which is prone to cracking internally you can actually replace the main stat without removing anything. I can send you a link to a chap on eBay who sells the bungs for the coolant lines and exhaust for about £27. It's just something you may want to consider being's as you'll be removing the EGR Cooler and everything to replace the main.

 

[rasa golf]

you have to clear the fault before it will regen though,and if it pops up will need cleared when regen is taking place..and its easy to just blank the egr cooler and get the egr mapped out,took me 2 hours to blank the cooler and no need to remove pipework

 

[Alan G]

Are you near Jason he could sort the reset out in minutes.

 

[racey1979]

No, unfortunately I'm not near Jason, I live in Barnsley. I'm liking the sound of this EGR bypass ? Will it still go through an MOT and do I need it mapping out or anything ? I'm planning on taking the inlet manifold and other intake parts to work as we have a high pressure parts washer to get rid of all the crap. The car will be for sale this year but it might be my dad that buys it, so it'll prevent him coming to me when it needs fixing again LOL Anyone got a link to a kit for the 335d ?

 

[rasa golf]

yes will need mapping for the eml light to go out,,you vould leave it though,,will have no effect on car..bungs for the egr cooler are around £15,can leave egr pipework in place,,your better off just getting the egr deleted via software though,,butnhave to make sure the egr is closed when doing so,,jason can do all this atb places around the country via a link,ive had my cars remapped from him in this way,i live 400 miles from him,give him a buzz

 

[racey1979]

yes will need mapping for the eml light to go out,,you vould leave it though,,will have no effect on car..bungs for the egr cooler are around £15,can leave egr pipework in place,,your better off just getting the egr deleted via software though,,butnhave to make sure the egr is closed when doing so,,jason can do all this atb places around the country via a link,ive had my cars remapped from him in this way,i live 400 miles from him,give him a buzz

Car back together, I have left it all standard as it's getting sold soon anyway, I did speak with Jason and he said he could map out the EGR if need be. Only thing I have done is blank off the swirl flaps. I was pleasantly surprised how clean the intake was. Other than a bit of oil in the intercooler there was very little crap in the inlet manifold or the EGR valve, just a very thin layer of carbon which easily came off in the parts washer. The glow plug module fault ended up being a melted power connector, I replaced the cable and the old module is now working fine. Put some contact paste on the connector hopefully preventing that happening again. Replaced all the perished vacuum pipes with nice silicon ones and she's running nice. I could not clear the 452A DPF fault though no matter what I did, I checked on Carly and did a motorway run and the DPF is regenerating fine. However I called at my local indy who plugged the car in and managed to clear the fault. They didn't even charge me.