By request of the buyer, I checked BMW E87.
VIN: WBAUE51010PZ20724
The car equipped with an N43B20 engine.
When meeting the seller on an agreed place, a pleasant lady showed the car. The car is small but roomy. The reason for selling – she has to drive a lot, more economical vehicle ie required.
Already the first sentence put me on doubt. 89’000 km mileage was written in the advertisement (and the same visible on the KOMBI). The seller says, that she owns the car for 3 years. Using some maths (and data of previous TI), it becomes clear, that the yearly mileage is around/below 10’000 km in a year. Strange.
This vehicle is very economical, the owner claims. Fuel consumption: 7 liters of petrol at 100 km. Second mismatch. If we calculate local petrol prices for 10’000 km in a year = ~ EUR 800/yearly. Or EUR 70/monthly. Let’s assume, that economical diesel engine will consume for one liter less (in combined cycle). Difference around EUR 10/monthly. Because of this reason, the car is changed? Don’t sound logical.
The owner claims, that the engine has overgone necessary (and very expensive) maintenance – the chain has been replaced. What??? Mileage of 89’000 km for the N43 engine and chain already has to be replaced? The lady, obviously, starts to go out.
Yes, last year, the car has problems with exhaust gases in TI, one very expensive sensor (of gas control) has been replaced, around EUR 700 invested. Obviously, the lady means NOx sensor – no other sensor in the exhaust system costs even close the amount.
Before connecting INPA/ISTA, I perform the quick visual inspection.
It’s clear, that both front fenders (side panels) have been replaced. Additionally, replaced in poor quality service – bolts are in different color, shabby, each different. It look’s the fenders are not painted, but more (or in this cases – less) successfully looked up from the “donor” of the same color. After all, it look’s that the same is with hood and it’s hinges. Good news – the body skeleton has not been damaged, shock absorber racks and their welding seans – factory work.
It is interesting, that in case of such “repair” the color thickness gauge will display the correct thickness of the color layer, though the car was in an accident!
Car headlight – it look’s that the most yellowish ones have been taken from the disassembled car, then polished with cheapest solutions. The look is quite harsh.
When INPA is connected, I have to conclude:
NOx sensor continues to send all possible self-diagnostics error messages: 2AF2; 2AF4; 2AF6. No matter, how everybody criticizes these sensors, but 50’000 km they are serving very well! Obviously the story about replacing it was a lie. When I remark this to the owner of the car – no, there is no surprise. No, there is no embarrassment, say – invested a lot of money in repair. No, there is no story about warranty for repair and sensor. There is zero interest – why is that? The lady tries to convince me, that these error messages don’t mean anything – they just have to be deleted. Also, the error message regarding cooling blinds is recorded (and is with active status – is confirmed all the time) – obviously, nobody cared to repair this hub after the crash.
The error message regarding 30EA (poisoning of NOx catalytic converter with sulfur) is recorded. One more confirmation, that the problems with NOx sensor have not appeared recently.
Viewing live data of the engine, I have to conclude: offset type adaptations of fuel are not confirmed. When opening the oil refill cap, my suspicions are confirmed – CCVV valve is not closed (it’s damaged), obviously it’s a cause of unconfirmed adaptations. I’m ready to match up – the engine, when cold started, shivers regularly (one of the “unsolvable” problems) – offset adaptations are “dropping out” the allowed corridor of +/-30 %.
The engine, of course, doesn’t use Stratified charge, don’t create necessary adaptations. Additionally, due to cooling blinds (and also, possibly, due to some other causes – there are also error messages regarding oil level and quality sensor) the engine has turned one the Mapped mode (with decreased temperature – 80 oC). As a result of these two causes – the fuel consumption in the combined cycle is increased. But on the background of all other lies – these are small stuff.
The pressure of Low-pressure system – with strongly increased jittering. Obviously, there are problems with the fuel pump in the fuel tank.
All these problems (with CCVV valve, pump) with mileage of 89’000 km? Strange.
Why did I mention other possible problems? The error messages for the engine (it look’s that for other blocks too) have been deleted just now – also this look’s very suspicious.
I asked the owner, maybe she would like to tell by herself, what happened to the whole front part of the car. No, not even a sign of surprise. Not even a sign of embarrassment. In the beginning started the long story, how the vehicle was purchased in Germany in perfect condition 3 years ago (from the first owner), then – it doesn’t mean anything, then – also the error messages in the error message memory don’t mean anything, and slowly we reach the point, where the car has not been in an accident. Slowly the lady was ready to go on the attack.
Weird – the car has S854A – French language package. The car, which is intended for France, has been bought in Germany by first owner – german?
I didn’t have permission from the owner to more detailed examination (take off the interior lining, steering wheel), but I think, there would be no surprises while checking the existence of SRS – unlikely it’s still present.
It’s clear, that the vehicle requires repairs for around EUR 800 even in a situation when NOXEM is chosen as a problem solving for NOx system. The costs will reach over EUR 3000, if the new owner of the car would like to restore the NOx system, as intended by the manufacturer (because both NOx catalytic converter and sensor have to be replaced). If such repair will not be performed, the increased fuel consumption will be the smallest problem. The engine will vibrate, shiver, the error messages regarding fuel trim, misfire etc., will appear.
Mileage of the car gave me serious doubt, but there is also a possibility, that after accident also the engine has been replaced or one combined from 2. That would explain stories about the expensive replacement of the chain and damage to CCVV (in such scenario, the engine – a donor has higher mileage). It’s clear, that if in case of an accident the front part of the engine (especially of the 4-cylinder engine) was damaged – it was no small accident.
And more – the error message regarding AC compressor clutch is recorded. I didn’t check more detailed (it was not up-to-date anymore), but taking into account all, mentioned before, there is a large possibility, that the problem is not only with the compressor. It’s possible, that in the accident also AC radiator has been damaged, the system is not filled. Additionally, driving with a not-airtight system (not even talking with dismantled radiator), sand and other dust gets in AC contour – the repair of AC after such situations is very expensive.
If we would perform more detailed examination – more “surprises” would appear. But this time already after first 15 minutes it became clear, that already detected problems of the car and the number of lies from the seller don’t give the desire to purchase this car.
The morality of this entry – people lie. The car sellers lie a lot. Don’t believe them, but check all the nuance by yourself.
