torque loss , hesitations 125i

[Nadnadnad]

hello everyone , nice to be here , id like to introduce you to my bmw 125i , it's from 12/2009 six gears manual, 75000kms , it's a great car but she is suffering right now and i really can't identify the problem !
if i push the gaz (wot) , in 2nd or 3rd the car hesitate , it runs and stop accelerating then go again better in the high speeds , i can't feel a good nice smooth acceleration , the car goes fast but i just feel emptyness, no torque , i know it's hard to explain !
Recently iv changed 6 sparks, 6 coils , fuel filter, air filter , and cleaned vanos solenoids . unfortunatly the car dont regain the torque i want to feel and the smoothness , the engine is just noisy ... if you have any suggestions please be my guest !
im suspecting a clogged catalyst ...

ps : + i noticed that the exauhst is not always filled with water coming out... i dont know if it should.
+ idle is stable
+ no fault codes
+ the car starts normally

[Nadnadnad]

nobody here ?

[631twentyeighteye]

No check engine light? Pretty hard to diagnose what it is without any codes. See if you can pull the codes off of it and post them up, it will help us give you an idea of what could be wrong.

[edisapimp]

head gasket.

[Nadnadnad]

i unplugged my battery for 30min , the car seems to run better! a flexible acceleration and more torque feel... i did not test wot accelerations yet .. Ill report it once done

[Taskmaster]

Vanos solenoids for sure. Try pulling them, cleaning them. If the problem persist, replace them and the vanos filters.

[Nadnadnad]

bad vanos solenoids cause engine light or fault code , im a wrong ? i have no engine light nor fault code , can you confirm ?

[Taskmaster]

Not always. Like I said, clean them first and go from there.

[Nadnadnad]

i have already, the problem was still there , guess i must replace them

[Taskmaster]

Originally Posted by Nadnadnad

i have already, the problem was still there , guess i must replace them

Yup.

[Nadnadnad]

ok then , i will report the results here when it is done

[Taskmaster]

Just from MY testing recently.

My car used to stall/shut off if I let the clutch in at too high speeds.
Meaning, if I was over 50mph and pressed in the clutch and held it - the RPMs would drop and eventually go to 0 and the car would shut off. Popping the clutch out would make it restart.

It was odd and scary, caught me off guard on a one ramp and in traffic a few times. I changed the vanos solenoid for the intake, and while the car drove better and got more powerful, the problem persisted.

I just swapped out my exhaust one with an old one and the problem is gone. I've tried multiple times to re created it, and still nothing. The car NEVER threw a code for this issue either.

So I'm about to buy another one just for piece of mind and better performance.

[Nadnadnad]

hello TheAxiom , i have replaced the two vanos solenoids , the problem seems to be reduced but the car still have lacke of power and torque and im far from the great difference you ve noticed in your case. Im lost , i can t enjoy my driving like this , i think im gonna send the car to bmw . Any suggestions ?

[Nadnadnad]

Well bmw diagnostics show that the DME ram (memory) is dead, the guy told me to try the car if problem persist i must replace the DME , wonder why he told me to try the car, DME Is dead so...
so guys is this the cause of my power loss?

[Nadnadnad]

so guys ?? what do you think ?

[Silenus]

Originally Posted by Nadnadnad

hello TheAxiom , i have replaced the two vanos solenoids , the problem seems to be reduced but the car still have lacke of power and torque and im far from the great difference you ve noticed in your case. Im lost , i can t enjoy my driving like this , i think im gonna send the car to bmw . Any suggestions ?

Wow, I'm sorry you listened to that guy who told you to replace the VANOS solenoids. He clearly was doing a shotgun diagnosis and isn't familiar with how your car works.

Poor running conditions are complicated. Your issue could be a clogged cat, and that does happen on these cars (at least here in the US, we may have different cats). What you really need to do is take your car to a professional. Some problems are too difficult to chase on message boards without a complete diagnostic readout of the car. In the end it will be cheaper than shotgunning suggestions like the VANOS solenoid guy in this thread.

[Nadnadnad]

Originally Posted by Silenus

Wow, I'm sorry you listened to that guy who told you to replace the VANOS solenoids. He clearly was doing a shotgun diagnosis and isn't familiar with how your car works.

Poor running conditions are complicated. Your issue could be a clogged cat, and that does happen on these cars (at least here in the US, we may have different cats). What you really need to do is take your car to a professional. Some problems are too difficult to chase on message boards without a complete diagnostic readout of the car. In the end it will be cheaper than shotgunning suggestions like the VANOS solenoid guy in this thread.

thanks for your reply Silenus , i did the diagnostic in BMW , they recommanded to change the DME unit . ( DME RAM is not working correctly ) , im just asking if it's really the real cause of problem? in nother words , is the DME can cause a power loss ?

[Silenus]

Originally Posted by Nadnadnad

thanks for your reply Silenus , i did the diagnostic in BMW , they recommanded to change the DME unit . ( DME RAM is not working correctly ) , im just asking if it's really the real cause of problem? in nother words , is the DME can cause a power loss ?

A trained BMW technician told you that? At a dealership? I've never heard of it, but certainly a bad DME could cause your issue. Get a second opinion before you spend that kind of money.

[Nadnadnad]

hello silenus , im back with some news , bmw replaced my DME ,i dont feel the hesitations anymore thats for the good news , in the other hand the car seems to keep having trouble in the low RPM , in fact in feel the torque only after 3000tr/min . If you have any propositions i take it !