Help Diagnosing P115D/290900 Code
Discussion
I've been getting a very intermittent engine light on my My 2013 F30 320D ED which started to appear about two months ago (car has done 89k miles). I took the car to the local independent (non BMW) who scanned for codes, the codes were reset and I went away to see if they would reappear.
A week later the light hadn't come back on but I took the car back in to see if the code had been logged again, (we were going on holiday so didn't want to take the car with an undiagnosed fault) the same error was logged. I booked the car in for further examination, but in the meantime, about another week later the engine light came on.
Once in the garage my indie found a split pipe on the EGR system and also replaced the dirty air filter. This seemed to have done the trick but two weeks later the light came on again! I took it back in and they said it would be the EGR valve that was faulty.
A new EGR was fitted but after 600 miles and two weeks later the light came on again.
The light usually comes on every two weeks (regardless of miles traveled) and either goes off later in the same day or the next. It has always come on when chugging along at 30mph, coincidentally, in the same village! There's not loss of power or economy, no exhaust smells etc in the cabin and the engine runs fine. The cooler (and I assume EGR valve) was replaced two years under recall so I don't think it will be clogged, I've done 20k in those two years? The EGR which was replaced was fairly clean. No loss of coolant from the reservoir.
The car is going back on Thursday but I wondered if anyone here has had a similar experience so I can give the indie a few pointers. I've suggested they look for further leaks in the system, anything else?
A week later the light hadn't come back on but I took the car back in to see if the code had been logged again, (we were going on holiday so didn't want to take the car with an undiagnosed fault) the same error was logged. I booked the car in for further examination, but in the meantime, about another week later the engine light came on.
Once in the garage my indie found a split pipe on the EGR system and also replaced the dirty air filter. This seemed to have done the trick but two weeks later the light came on again! I took it back in and they said it would be the EGR valve that was faulty.
A new EGR was fitted but after 600 miles and two weeks later the light came on again.
The light usually comes on every two weeks (regardless of miles traveled) and either goes off later in the same day or the next. It has always come on when chugging along at 30mph, coincidentally, in the same village! There's not loss of power or economy, no exhaust smells etc in the cabin and the engine runs fine. The cooler (and I assume EGR valve) was replaced two years under recall so I don't think it will be clogged, I've done 20k in those two years? The EGR which was replaced was fairly clean. No loss of coolant from the reservoir.
The car is going back on Thursday but I wondered if anyone here has had a similar experience so I can give the indie a few pointers. I've suggested they look for further leaks in the system, anything else?
Edited by _Hoppers on Tuesday 17th September 16:57
It might be, and not low level of oil but internal oil loss. When I see 290900 code after the egr cooler recall that usually means only one thing. Try to find someone with Ista and run air mass test. That will show you the level of sooting of ur egr cooler.
Think you have no oil loss otherwise you would have some info on the dashboard to top it up.
I had my cooler replaced 3 times since the recall in 2020. All three under the warranty. Last time not even 3 weeks ago. Done by BMW dealer, cooler was sooted in spite of there was no coolant loss. The level of coolant hasn't moved even 1mm in my reservoir. Apparently the soot on the fins was confirmed with borescope.
Anyway, do that test before you start replacing any other parts and google 290900 recall.
Good luck
Think you have no oil loss otherwise you would have some info on the dashboard to top it up.
I had my cooler replaced 3 times since the recall in 2020. All three under the warranty. Last time not even 3 weeks ago. Done by BMW dealer, cooler was sooted in spite of there was no coolant loss. The level of coolant hasn't moved even 1mm in my reservoir. Apparently the soot on the fins was confirmed with borescope.
Anyway, do that test before you start replacing any other parts and google 290900 recall.
Good luck
Edited by ms1984 on Wednesday 18th September 22:53
Edited by ms1984 on Wednesday 18th September 23:10
Cheers for the info. I've never checked the oil level, the car has always had a oil change every 9k so I assumed it would be ok? The only car I've owned which has needed a top up was a Honda!
When I first took the car in to the indie they didn't touch the Valve/Cooler, they said it looked quite new and could still be under warranty. It was, although BMW said only the cooler would be covered. I had the option then to take it to BMW but didn't, that might have been a mistake?! At the time I assumed the valve/cooler would be ok as they were less than two years old. When the indie replaced the valve I assume they could have put a scope in the cooler to check for soot?
Anyway the car is now at the garage, I've mentioned what you said so we'll see. Looks like all the 'savings' in car tax over the years is paying for this!?
When I first took the car in to the indie they didn't touch the Valve/Cooler, they said it looked quite new and could still be under warranty. It was, although BMW said only the cooler would be covered. I had the option then to take it to BMW but didn't, that might have been a mistake?! At the time I assumed the valve/cooler would be ok as they were less than two years old. When the indie replaced the valve I assume they could have put a scope in the cooler to check for soot?
Anyway the car is now at the garage, I've mentioned what you said so we'll see. Looks like all the 'savings' in car tax over the years is paying for this!?
Hope that's the issue in your case. I had my intake manifold professionally cleaned, walnut blast, all intake pipes cleaned and checked, new cooler on top and still nothing. Not to mention new turbo, pcv valve and and dpf clean. 3 years struggling with 290900, 4 different BMW dealers in two different countries, multiple BMW specialists and nothing. What is the best thing, not a single error code during this time apart from 290900 (using Ista).
_Hoppers said:
To close this thread off, it appears that the clean-out has resolved the issue? No codes present after two weeks since it was cleaned. Fingers still crossed though! Car is running quieter and it feels like there's a bit more torque at lower revs.
Good to know as I have air mass metering faults currently with my 30d. 76K on it. EGR recalls done blah blah. I'm getting the usual under and over expected air mass faults (one of them is your 290900 one), plus the "Charge air pipe dropped" (poor translation I think) error for good measure.All of the EGR hardware passed ISTA ABL tests, so it's looking like it's a crud build up like yours. Best get ordering some gaskets for the weekend.
FWIW, when the DDE shuts off the EGR valve (-10% target duty) due to an air mass fault (could be a whole host of things), it also locks the swirl flaps into a fixed position, but generally you don't feel that.... not on a 30d at least. DPF regens still take place as normal though.
You might find the error comes back quickly when this issue crops up, but stays in "error memory" for a long time before the DDE decides to pop the EML on, so I would get Bimmerlink and keep an eye on it.
rottenegg said:
_Hoppers said:
To close this thread off, it appears that the clean-out has resolved the issue? No codes present after two weeks since it was cleaned. Fingers still crossed though! Car is running quieter and it feels like there's a bit more torque at lower revs.
Good to know as I have air mass metering faults currently with my 30d. 76K on it. EGR recalls done blah blah. I'm getting the usual under and over expected air mass faults (one of them is your 290900 one), plus the "Charge air pipe dropped" (poor translation I think) error for good measure.All of the EGR hardware passed ISTA ABL tests, so it's looking like it's a crud build up like yours. Best get ordering some gaskets for the weekend.
FWIW, when the DDE shuts off the EGR valve (-10% target duty) due to an air mass fault (could be a whole host of things), it also locks the swirl flaps into a fixed position, but generally you don't feel that.... not on a 30d at least. DPF regens still take place as normal though.
You might find the error comes back quickly when this issue crops up, but stays in "error memory" for a long time before the DDE decides to pop the EML on, so I would get Bimmerlink and keep an eye on it.
Not sure if I mentioned it but if I take the cooler out for a simple clean while having the 290900 code then the code disappears. In my case, the flow through the cooler is better and the code is not triggered. While new or cleaned, the flow through the cooler is at over 100%, and then drops with time down to a magic 80% what triggers the 290900 code (it can be simply measured via air mass test using Ista). Keep us updated if the code reappears.
ms1984 said:
Not sure if I mentioned it but if I take the cooler out for a simple clean while having the 290900 code then the code disappears. In my case, the flow through the cooler is better and the code is not triggered. While new or cleaned, the flow through the cooler is at over 100%, and then drops with time down to a magic 80% what triggers the 290900 code (it can be simply measured via air mass test using Ista). Keep us updated if the code reappears.
Will keep the thread updated! Is it an easy job to remove and clean the cooler? How often do you need to do it?ms1984 said:
Not sure if I mentioned it but if I take the cooler out for a simple clean while having the 290900 code then the code disappears. In my case, the flow through the cooler is better and the code is not triggered. While new or cleaned, the flow through the cooler is at over 100%, and then drops with time down to a magic 80% what triggers the 290900 code (it can be simply measured via air mass test using Ista). Keep us updated if the code reappears.
Useful info, thanks. I'll have a gander at the EGR cooler fins this weekend.At least the engine still performs well in spite of it, which is something I guess. Could just leave it like that as mpg isn't affected either
It's also quieter, smoother and much more responsive low down without the EGR soot pooping the party......but it's broken, and not right, which boggles my OCD, lol._Hoppers said:
rottenegg said:
_Hoppers said:
To close this thread off, it appears that the clean-out has resolved the issue? No codes present after two weeks since it was cleaned. Fingers still crossed though! Car is running quieter and it feels like there's a bit more torque at lower revs.
Good to know as I have air mass metering faults currently with my 30d. 76K on it. EGR recalls done blah blah. I'm getting the usual under and over expected air mass faults (one of them is your 290900 one), plus the "Charge air pipe dropped" (poor translation I think) error for good measure.All of the EGR hardware passed ISTA ABL tests, so it's looking like it's a crud build up like yours. Best get ordering some gaskets for the weekend.
FWIW, when the DDE shuts off the EGR valve (-10% target duty) due to an air mass fault (could be a whole host of things), it also locks the swirl flaps into a fixed position, but generally you don't feel that.... not on a 30d at least. DPF regens still take place as normal though.
You might find the error comes back quickly when this issue crops up, but stays in "error memory" for a long time before the DDE decides to pop the EML on, so I would get Bimmerlink and keep an eye on it.
rottenegg said:
It certainly sounds like the partial air flow blockage was the cause in your case. 290900 appears in my error memory about 5 mins into a journey, but it won't put the EML on until 40-50 miles later. As hyper sensitive as the ECU is, it is also good at adapting around problems so that you can carry on driving it. Thankfully it's not a code that puts the engine into reduced power mode as that would be super annoying.
Mine would come on every 2 weeks, which was about 400miles, then go off either the same day or next. After the egr valve was replaced (which didn't need doing!) we went on holiday to Nothumberland, then a week after we came back and approx 600miles later it came on again! Coincidentally it only came on when plodding through the same village which I traveled through to get to work!Sorry, I would like to summarise this conversation so I can explain to a mechanic what I would like checked. Should I say something like "Please check the pipe before the EGR valve as it may have deposits on in that need to be cleaned out"? Would any mechanic understand that? (Guess not! :-) ) Also what sort of time would a mechanic charge for this on a F25 X3 30D, any idea please?
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