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Thread: New owner of a 2004 BMW X3 3.0

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Worcester, MA
    Posts
    4
    My Cars
    2004 BMW x3 3.0

    New owner of a 2004 BMW X3 3.0

    Hello All, I'm a engineer in his late twenties who grew up in a city with good public transport and never needed or owned a car before. Recently, I got a new job that requires driving and asked a family member experienced in all things car to go around and kick some tires and find a good car. We found a BMW X3 2004 3.0 150k miles that looked like it was well maintained. It was clean, had no dents. When looking up the vin we saw one owner from 2004 to 2014 and then another from 2014 to 2017. The recorded odometer readings ticked up at a constant rate that suggested this was someone's daily driver.

    The car started up fine and we drove it 300 miles up to where I live, got the oil changed, and I started driving it to work. I get around 30mpg (although that average was determined by the OBD scanner and my phone and not a proper test)

    I've had it for 3 weeks now and there are a few problems.

    First problem was found when I saw a check engine light and got a code scanner off amazon. The car threw read codes P0174, P0171. I cleared the codes and they came back. Internet says i might have a vacuum leak so I got a fog generator and I plan to do a smoke test this weekend.

    The next problem was electrical. After having it jumped twice I called AAA and when they came to jump me they told me I had about 3A when they did a drain test.

    I took the car to auto-zone and we pulled out my battery and placed it into a tester and tried to charge it. Tester said it was dead so I bought a new battery. We also confirmed the current draw with another drain test. My car doesn't have hands-free or any after-market mods in it which the internet says are common culprits for high current draw. but 3.19A is really high. "somethings wrong" high and not "your hands-free wont go to sleep" high.We had checked All the power windows and power roof open and close just fine. Power mirrors work fine too. Stereo works. AC and heating work great. I'm not sure whats wrong.



    This morning when starting the car (after swapping the battery) The car cranked for more then 5 seconds and then started. When it did i got some more lights on the dash so I plugged in the code scanner and saw a P0335. Internet says that that is a crankshaft position sensor A problem. The odd thing was, it was a one time event. the car ran fine and has been running fine since this morning. I drive it 2h every day to/from work. I don't hear any skipping, it just hums. The transmission is a little slow to shift gears but other then that I've never had it stall. Internet recommends I replace the crankshaft sensor. I have not cleared that code to see if it comes back.

    My plans for the weekend are
    1) do a smoke test and see where my vaccum leak is.
    2) do a test on my fuses (looking for excessive voltage drop) to try and figure out what is sucking power and then pull that fuse (if i can) and replace that as well.
    3) Buy a crankshaft sensor and look into how hard replacing it would be.

    Am I on the right track? Except for the electrical issue all the other problems seem pretty minor and typical of a car of this age.

    Also, Do you think i'm on the right track and should attempt to fix and replace things? My friend insists that "BMWs that old eat money, ditch it and buy a real car before you're in too deep". I don't think thats sound advice, Anyway, I kind of like the car and sure do hope i didn't buy a lemon.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Worcester, MA
    Posts
    4
    My Cars
    2004 BMW x3 3.0
    A quick update, I realized i wasn't clearing the codes correctly. I have now cleared the 3 codes and i've driven it about 200 miles without any coming back. I'm still going to do a smoke test this weekend and change the crankshaft sensor soon. Additionally, Me and a co worker I carpool with have settled on a name for the car. We call her Brünnhilde. It seemed appropreate since she's a big german SUV.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Worcester, MA
    Posts
    4
    My Cars
    2004 BMW x3 3.0
    I got into the fusebox today during my lunch break. I went through all the fuses and put them into a spreadsheet. I measured mV across the fuses and and pulled some fuse amps/ fuse mA data from a datasheet and am using this to calculate how many amps is going through each fuse.

    Here are my results. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

    I need to do this with the car off to get a better values but I wanted to make sure my battery had some juce in it for when I went home so I did the test with the car idling.

    The sheet will light a system up red if it's pulling more then 50mA. So far, the ones that stand out are "Reverse gear position switch, reversing lamp relay" at 2 amps and "Multifunction control module" at 3.6 amps. Additionally the fuel pump is pulling almost 9A, is this normal?

    As stated previously, All my power windows work so whatever the MCM is doing its not totally ruined.
    I have no idea what the reverse gear one does. need to read up on that.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Worcester, MA
    Posts
    4
    My Cars
    2004 BMW x3 3.0
    I've been doing some reading. Is the "Reverse gear position switch" the fuse for the Gear positioning sensor?

    In this post http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=878863 he describes sluggish shifting. I'll pay attention to my rpms and when hildie shifts on my ride back. Also, thats the first fuse i pull this weekend when i disconnect the battery and do a proper parasitic power test.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Middle TN
    Posts
    1,612
    My Cars
    Too many/Not enough
    I've had experience with the P0174, P0171, and the P0355. Regarding the P0174 and P0171, I would suspect based on the age of the vehicle, that the CCV system would be suspect as well as the intake boot. Generally, if it's the intake boot, the codes return quickly when they have been reset. The boot gets a split in it which causes unmetered air in the intake causing the codes. If it's the CCV system, it will call for replacement of the entire system. This can be done with the intake in, but i would recommend replacing the CCV system after removing the intake and replacing all intake and associated gaskets and o-rings.
    If you get a recurring P0355, then you will need to replace the Crankshaft position sensor very soon. My CPS went out about 3 months ago causing the trans to go into limp mode, an SES light, 4X4 light, and DSC light with greatly reduced power. I had the problem diagnosed at an indy BMW shop and while I had it there, I had them replace the sensor, no problems since. The sensor is located near the starter and they replaced it, while on a lift, in a matter of minutes.
    Regarding the current draw....I was having what I thought was current draw a couple of years ago. Turns out both my alternator and battery were bad. Replaced them both and fixed the problem. Checking current draw on BMW's can be tricky because the many electrical systems remain active for 10-15 minutes after the vehicle is turned off. Some of the systems can be reactivated by opening the car doors further complicating current readings.

    I also have had to replace my starter. As it slowly went out, it labored and turned slower mimicking a weak battery. As it went bad, it also drained my battery due to the excessive current draw required to start the engine.
    Current Garage:
    91 e34 M5 - spoiled & demanding 27 y/o -glanzshwarz
    91 850i/6 -another spoiled & demanding 27 y/o- schwarz-gone but never forgotten
    06 325i - undeserving, spoiled & demanding 27 y/o daughter's DD-hellrot
    03 MINI Cooper S JCW -spoiled & demanding, yet deserving wife's DD - Chili/Panther
    05 X3 3.0i -family workhorse - diamond schwarz
    12 X5 3.5d - torque monster - space gray metallic
    86 GMC Cabellero - Old Faithful 32 y/o DD BMW Support Vehicle
    08 Cub Cadet 19HP 46" hydrostatic- yard vehicle
    88 Schwinn Sierra - 1WD Off Road Vehicle
    e31 & OHC BMW CCA #385540

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