Chris530D

Hi Gents/Ladies

So this is my first post so be gentle on me, been reading the forum for a while even before I picked up my car, thanks for the excelent articles highlighted some things to be wary of.

So to my Story, its a two parter so bear with me.

To start with so that you get a complete picture i will begin with the specification.

2005 Jan 530D M Sport Auto touring, internal spec is; TV, Logic 7 Hi-Fi, CD Multichanger, Bluetooth Phone, AutoBoot Lid, Black nasca leather, memory seats, heated seats, profesional nav, sun protection glass all in a silver/grey exterior. mileage 50k.

Ok now thats done the details.

February 08, picked the car up from the dealer and all is well. Within a month I was feeling rather disappointed with the fuel consumption, coming from a 4.3 V8 petrol S-Class Merc I expected a rather big improvement on the pocket. The computer was telling me around town I was getting 22-24 mpg (the Merc was 18mpg) and on a run only 30mpg (same as the merc) as you can see disappointing.

Having read the forum the computers are not great so i decided to work it out the manual method, did this over a couple of fills and various driving patterns & styles and I still only got 30mpg combined.... This did though backup some of the items I read on the forum that the OBC is 7-10% out.

Anyway booked into the dealer (Stratstones) for a check-up, comes back that afternoon with the service advisor all smiley says we fixed it! it turns out some Muppet had set the OBC to measure in US gallons (3.7xx litres) v UK (5.456 litres) so that fixed the OBC, but I said that still isn't good referring him back to the 30mpg combined I measured myself oldschool.

Forget to tell you. I did mention that morning about the engine running rough on idle when warm.

Apparently this is caused by a software problem in the engine computer and is known about and requires a complete software upgrade to the car. Check yours, its simple run it until warm, then let it idle if the cars rocks and rolls (where talking small amounts here but you can feel it) then you need an upgrade to fix it. Best way to describe it is that it feels like the dampers on the engine aren?t working and you get little bits of torque feel through the car.

Back to the dealer conversation :
Ok I said this would also point to consumption as the if its burning "rich" then its incorrectly supplying fuel into the car. Yes he said its a factor.

So today 28/4 its in for 2 days for the software upgrade. PS also getting voice control added as a retrofit for ?210 (?50 part, 160 labour) only getting this price because of the software upgrade! otherwise they quoted ?400+ thanks for the threads on Retro-Fit Extended Voice.

I will keep you posted on the outcome.

I do have a question after all this waffle.

Particle Filter, Dealer says it should last 80k-100k miles, when I picked mine up ithe OBC said 14k until needed replacing, it now reads 10k (after only 2k of driving). Can anyone shed light or experience if the engine has been running rich it will be effectively screwing up the life of the filter and therefore expire early. And has anyone had it replaced? what?s the cost? is it the whole exhaust system ?

Cheers for your time in reading.

Chris
loving the car, hating the economy

phelix

Almost certain that the filter due for replacement is the particle/pollen filter for the cabin air, not the exhaust's filter.

Please do keep us posted on the economy.

Chris530D

I think the one you are refering to is the pollen/micro filter. This is the particle filter in the exhaust, if you look on the OBC then you will see both of them listed.

Too many filters and the cars are becoming way to clever

rsyed

nope - the particle filter does need changing, and may need to be changed earlier than one may think. In fact, on my old 530d, the particle filter was busted after 25k miles - replacing it did reduce the consumption significantly. The consumption you are quoting does not really shock - it is pretty normal for city driving for a 530d. the automatic loves take consume a bit more diesel, the touring contributes to the consumption aswell. I have also seen low 20s on both my e60s in the last two years whilst driving in the city. I dont think they will find much on the ecnomoy side...

Chris530D

Thanks for the note, thats really dissapointing, makes me wonder why I bothered changing back into the BMW over the S-Class as apart form the odd bit odd bad build quality the S was a truly remarkable car, with plenty of power coming from the V8 and you accepted the economy

Oh well I will post an update when the dealers get back to me. PS did you get the filter done under warrenty ? if not do you remember the cost ?

rsyed

Changing hte filter would have cost me about 1200 EUR + 20% VAT. But luckily it was still under warranty - the car was 30 months old then...

cheers

Rumman

boozeedoo

Have you considered getting the ECU remapped at all? I did this on my 520d specifically to improve economy and performance, and I can safely say I am now getting an extra 4-5mpg combined economy from what I can tell over the last 250 miles since I had it done

Chris530D

Hi,

well the car came back form the dealers yesterday and boy what an improvement. The software remap has taken the car to version 29.1. its fixed the lumpy running on idle and seems to have improved the pick-up and general gearchange as well.

I have got to do some more miles to get a result on the economy, but the avg mpg has already gone up by 2mpg on the same jounrneys I do everyday so I am hopful.

The retrofit extended voice is a blast, really does make a big improvement to the overall ease of use, inputing details in the nav computer is a bit tricky, but phone, CD, Radio, Climate, TV etc all very simple now and the voice recongnition software is really good espically compared to my old merc.

On the Particle filter the dealers say that the diagnostics is saying 70k until replacement needed. It was my mistake as Phelix pointed out it was the micro filter that is showing 10k and thats ok.

So overall I a happy bunny today and just need to confirm the fuel economy with some more testing.

Cheers

Chris

Kell

I have to say that I've been disappointed by the consumption on my 530d too. But then, when you factor in the auto box and a 6 pot 3.0d, it's not too bad.

Just going bythe computer, I don't think it's ever gone up past 35mpg. And is often around 24mpg.

I would do the whole thing properly, but I don't really drive the car that often (I cycle to work) and my Mrs simply can't be bothered.

It is what it is.

adentonmiller

The other thing to consider is how you drive it.

On my 2008 530d SAT, if I pootle along or drive on motorways, I can have the OBC tell me it's getting 41+mpg.

If I floor it and throw it about (which i mostly do), it tells me more like 28mpg - which is fine considering it's a 2 tonne, 3 litre car with lots of extras.

Bear in mind the manufacturer's figures are pretty much based on a test track, constant speed with everything turned off.