P1519 Mystery even after VANOS rebuild and intake solenoid replacement

[zpilot1982]

Dear E46 Community,


I am at my wits end and I need your help. About 4 months ago I have purchased a 2000 BMW 323Ci with a 5 speed manual transmission. The car has 115000km. When I got the car teh engine bay was pretty dirty so I did a power wash to it being careful with electrical components. The car started and was running fine after the wash. Next I proceeded to replaced valve cover gasket as it was leaking. That went smooth however after a few days and maybe 25km drive I got the check engine light with a code: P0340.
The car operated normally, but I still went and replaced the “intake camshaft position sensor”. I purchased a sensor from Rock Auto and it is a DENSO brand. Next I cleared the code, however next I got the P1519 code with “A” camshaft position actuator bank1. Seeing that I decided to test the resistance of the actuator and I got strange readings of 30 - 50 ohms. I replaced the sensor with a Dorman brand and just to be safe I measured the resistance on the new sensor and it was within the specs of 11.2 and 11.9 Ohms. This did not take care of the check engine light and P1519 code.
I have to let you know that I also have a 2005 325Ci with manual transmission and 1190000km. This car works fine with no issues so I swapped the intake solenoid from this one to the 323ci and still same error.
Next I decided to test the Voltage at the incoming wires to the solenoid on the 323ci and I got the following:
- Ignition ON position 2 voltage @ 7.74V to 8.12V to 8.13V
- Engine running 9.4V to 9.5V
I also swapped the Dorman intake solenoid that I got new from the 323ci onto the 325ci and there were no error codes on the 325ci. This leads me to think that the solenoid is fully functional and compatible.


At that point my backyard mechanic skills reached a dead end. With that I decided to take the car to a mechanics shop that I new. I explained them the issues and left the car for a day with them. They cam back at the end of the day and did not tell me anything conclusive, they speculated that maybe the chain was stretched or it skipped a tooth or that the VANOS unit was malfunctioning.
At this point I have to let you know that the car drives fine, does not stall, has normal idle at about 720 to 770 rpm, does not misfire. I did notice that it definitely is more sluggish than the 325ci and only starts pulling hard at about 3 to 4k rpm. Not sure if that is how a 323ci behaves… It also has a harder start the normal where the starter cranks longer. This does not happen often.
Anyhow armed with the information from the carshop and after doing some more reading online I decided to rebuild the VANOS and change the spark plugs at the same time. Said and done - I started the car and it started on a dime. I heard some louder ticking for a bit until it got to the operational temperature. Next I cleared the check engine code. I left the car to run for about 15min more and turned it off. I then turned it on again and scanned for error codes with my Autel scanner. I got a pending code for the same P1519 and then after another subsequent start the check engine light came on. I took it for a drive the same evening and I did notice an improvement in how quickly the engine starts from off poison and also the drive became smoother, meaning it pulls a bit harder on lower RPMs and the engine seems to operate quieter.


I summary I did the following maintenance on the car:
1. Changed front breaks and rotors
2. Replaced VANOS intake solenoid
3. Replaced intake camshaft position sensor
4. Changes spark plugs
5. Did the valve cover gasket
6. Rebuild the VANOS
7. Changed reverse switch (my reverse lights did not work and the pax. mirror was not going down with reverse gear on)
8. Changed engine oil (it was totally black) and after that the check engine light was gone for a few days albeit after a reset through the OBD2 reader. It came on after 2 days and a bout 6 or 7 starts.


At this point I am totally lost, not sure what else to do to it to get rid of the check engine light and P1519 code.


Would appreciate your suggestions, thank you in advance!








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[hakentt]

Water probably damaged one of the components, then you replaced it with aftermarket brand. It is well known that BMW engine computers can be sensitive to aftermarket electrical components, and just because you tested on the 325ci that has totally different engine management system MS43 to MS42, may not be proper way to test the component because different DME may have different threshold parameters for each component. My suggestion would be replaced the two parts with good used BMW ones.