Oh dear!

Post by **Charles** » Tue Mar 12, 2013 1:43 am

Cut a long story short, I broke down this evening as I was coming off the M4 at J13.

Cruising along gently and suddenly yellow handbrake light, Traction control light and flickering EML with significant loss of power. Reached the roundabout and throttle hunting but virtually no power so eased off the road and waited recovery.

Chap arrived and plugged in to find that there appeared to be a fault with a throttle body solenoid, causing the car to shut itself down.

Not sure exactly what the outcome will be until I can get her to NOG for a proper diagnosis but I can tell you that it was effing cold sitting around in -3 temperatures with a wind chil taking it down to at least -10

Chas · Post by **Chas** » Tue Mar 12, 2013 9:10 am

Hopefully that's an easy fix but it must have been very depressing at the time. At least there was a silver lining in the shape of a hot flask and sandwiches.

PerryGunn · Post by **PerryGunn** » Tue Mar 12, 2013 9:15 am

Again, hopefully an easy fix...

Sod's Law says that you'll never break down outside a pub on a balmy evening allowing you to sit in the beer garden with a pint watching the clouds drift by while waiting for Mr fix-it ...

John_C · Post by **John_C** » Tue Mar 12, 2013 9:40 am

Not a nice day for that to have happened!

Wonder if the TB is an Alpina part, could be costly

Post by **neil** » Tue Mar 12, 2013 10:40 am

The throttle housing on my B10 3.3 went as I exited a roundabout just about to overtake a few slower cars - I got half way past and the engine went into safe mode

I limped home - it was an easy fix - although they didn't have an ALPINA one in stock so tried a standard BMW one. I was told the standard BMW part broke virtually immediately - although not quite sure how / why !

Peter&Janet · Post by **Peter&Janet** » Tue Mar 12, 2013 4:19 pm

Good luck with the fix Charles, you spent enough this decade.

Post by **Charles** » Wed Mar 13, 2013 12:52 am

Peter&Janet wrote:Good luck with the fix Charles, you spent enough this decade.

Cost per mile still remains competitive - or so I keep telling myself

Car is now at NOG so I should be finding out tomorrow what the score is. Fingers crossed but in the meantime, we can now identify throttle body failure in a B3S occurs at about 220k miles

B10BRW · Post by **B10BRW** » Wed Mar 13, 2013 1:52 am

Charles wrote:

B3S occurs at about 220k miles

You are nearly to the moon, Charles, just have to keep it for another 10 years to get back

Post by **Charles** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 1:31 am

So it appears that something is blowing a fuse - quite literally.

The fault codes are pointing at the throttle body and the fuse blowing suggests that this is an electrical rather than a major mechanical issue - perhaps a faulty solenoid in the assembly or a failed sensor.

My initial guess is that the throttle hunting prior to shutdown may well be because the inlet valve has failed electrically and the incoming mixture is sending the inlet sensors crazy - to the point where they have given up.

However, it requires further investigation to track down the culprit before I can be sure what the repair is going to require.

Of course, I could be way off beam here, so any suggestions of what to look for and what might be causing this problem would be appreciated

Post by **Charles** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:33 pm

Latest update and there's good news and bad news.

The good news is that it is looking like a problem related to a short in some wiring in or around the e-box (the big black box at the back right hand side of the engine bay).

The bad news is that they can't find it

Post by **Charles** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 8:15 pm

Found it

There's a frayed wire connected to the actuators (hence why there was a fault code for the throttle inlet valve solenoid) which runs under the inlet manifold and has been the victim of ten years and 220k miles of heat and rubbing.

Manifold removed, wire repaired and re-routed and manifold back on - so should be back with me by Monday at the latest

PerryGunn · Post by **PerryGunn** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 8:18 pm

Result...!

...and, hopefully, a lot cheaper than a replacement throttle body - even after all the faffing about finding the short...

Post by **Charles** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 8:21 pm

PerryGunn wrote:Result...!

Indeed!

...and, hopefully, a lot cheaper than a replacement throttle body - even after all the faffing about finding the short...

Hopefully

They haven't spent all this time on it and I have a good relationship with the service team, so some adjustment of the final bill in a southerly direction is expected.

Final update on Monday once I get her back

darren_mk · Post by **darren_mk** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 11:22 pm

Good result!

Lets hope they dont go too hard on you!!

Post by **Charles** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 2:29 pm

And she's back

Not the cheapest bill but understandable given that they had to find a single faulty wire in the loom!

Had a nervous moment this morning when the emissions light came on after I opened the taps up properly for the first time since getting her back, but it cleared itself after 10 miles and I am putting this down to the great big slug of incorrect fueling shortly before breakdown that has worked it's way through the tubes - so to speak.

Will be watching this carefully but so pleased to be back behind an ALPINA embossed steering wheel.