mini_me

Good to hear you got it sorted out.

mini_me

I am by no means an expert but in my book a thermostat should be closed at amb. Temps.
I could blow through my old one and not through the new one.

Though your temps dont sound so bad i think.

Did you check egr valve? Are all wheels turning without to much resistance?

E61530DAT

Replace it! Your engine should reach 90 ! 84 are to low. Mine is now stable at 91 C when driving the freeway.

Stephen F

Re Engine temp and poor MPG

I am having a similar probelm with MPG (2004 E61 530D se)

We bought it June last year after 4 years with an E39 530D auto that averaged 35mpg over 60K.

The E61 was great at first getting around 35-36 mpg, it gradually started to drop and is now averaging 27-28 mpg, it is mainly used for journeys of 40+ miles and on a long motorway run will only do 30mpg (230 miles non stop at around 80mph with trip computer reset at start of journey)

I took it to the dealers when the consumption first dropped and they replaced some parts related to the EGR - it also had a major service

For a short while it was back to normal then began to decline again

It is only getting around 420 miles a tank so the computer is not lying to me.

After reading this post I brought up the engine temp on the dash to check it

On a cold day it took around 40 miles to hit 80c and when stood idling, after about 30 mins it eventually reached 88-89c

Normal running when the engine is warm seems to be around 78-80c so not sure if thermostats are ok - the car has the flaps on the front grill.

In relation the to MPG I have several other ideas

Particle filter problem?
EGR problem?
Altenator problem?

If anybody has any info on the what I have written below please reply

As the MPG has declined the car has been going into particle filter regeneration mode more often (booming and very hot exhaust)

I have been making a note of when it does this, it used to be every 1000 miles and has now gradually decreased to 450 miles?

I have also had a strange intermittent electrical fault , when staring from cold the I drive screen is often very dim for about 15 mins and the dials do not come on sometimes for a few second somertimes a few minutes (no speedo or rev counter) - Been into dealer and no faults apparent

Last sunday when driving along the I drive screen started to flash on and off, I got my wife to video this on her phone in order to show the dealer.
A few moments later I felt a thud from the transmission and the car locked into a high gear with little power and the same time transmission failure came up on the dash.

I could not select any manual gears or sport mode

The I drive screen then went blank and the following warnings appeared randomly

ABS failure
DSC failure
Active steering failure - power steering went off completely!
Battery failure
Service
Suspension failure
Oil light

All electrics then gradually shut down including the entire dash

At this point I was nearly home so kept going while my wife was on the phone to BMW emergency service.

The car would now only do a walking pace with the engine racing and crept onto the drive.

Once switched off it would not restart, the boot would not even unlock but the headlamps came on on full beam when the ignition key was turned to position 1?

The breakdown guy arrived within an hour and took it away on a flat bed.

The dealer said the car car started fine the next day at the workshop!

I had been researching on the forums and found several instances of altenator failure and mentioned this to them

The said it was not showing a fault but took it off anyway - apparently it looks burnt out!

Could the altenator be a cause of poor MPG, it has obvioulsy been going for some time?

Anyway i'm due to pick the car up today with a new altenator and the latest software installed and will update on the MPG saga

One more thing, I am running the car on 18" wheels without run flats
The tyres are Goodyear Eagle F1's - they are not wearing normally and will need replacing soon.
The rears are wearing in the centres and the front offside is wearing into a 50p shape on the outer edge of tread giving a dronning noise ( common fault on other forums with this tyre)

All ran at BMW pressures as shown inside the drivres door

What non runflats are you running and at what pressures?

Sorry for the long post but I know there is a lot of good advice and experience out there


Cheers

Stephen

Phantom Mark

I wonder if those electrical problems are the signs of the common battery problems people seem to mention in these forums all the time ?, which of course could have been started by having a dodgy alternator ?

-Russ-

Hi Stephen

It looks like you are having a lot of problems!!

I run Verdestein Ultrac Sessanta non runflats 37.5 psi rear 36.5 psi front and they are wearing very evenly, if you are wearing the centre of the rears out then the pressure is to high.

It is usual to wear the outer edge of the nearside front (passenger side) due to camber of our roads and roundabouts etc but wear on the outer edge of the offside is not normal, maybe the tracking is out.

I have not heard of an alternator causing an increase in fuel consumption but it is more than likely the cause of your electrical problems if it's failed.

My fuel consumption dropped as the weather turned colder, I thought this was normal but after hearing of failed EGR and main thermostats with incorrect engines temps then this may be a contributing factor, my engine temps are 80C - 83C after changing the EGR stat and I have already noticed that my idle seems to be smoother than before but not had chance to check fuel consumption.

I hope you get things sorted out soon.

Phantom Mark

Your gonna have to pop round and show me how to see whats going on with mine as well Russ, I have seen the instructions for various sub menus but seem to get lost in the middle.

Coffee sometime ?? lol ?

parmblagan

thanks for your advice do you know where i can find the egr valve, how can i check to see if it is faulty?

Bob525D

E61530DAT,

Any chance you could produce a short write up on how to replace the main tstat? i replaced the tstat on my old 325i and it was a doddle, I was hoping this would be the same but i guess not. it would be useful to know, my car is running at 80c tops. i have already got the EGR tstat to replace, so if the temp doesnt improve i guess it'll be the main stat next.

mini_me

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