[Morrob95]

Hello guys.

My car has had an issue for the last 50k or so miles and I've never been able to figure it out. Car is at 150k miles now.

When accelerating (kind of hard but not full throttle) the car will shake a little at 2k-2.5k rpm then it'll go away and accelerate hard.

Occasionally I'll get a "drive train malfunction" but by the time I pull over to try to hook ista up it goes away... No check engine lights.


Car is stage 3 tuned and EGR/DEF/SCRA deleted with a buzzkin exhaust. I am running wide tires in the rear but I've had the same issue before swapping tires.

I've ran injector test and everything checked out fine. Also an actuator turbo test and it also tested out fine. Fuel mileage is still around 48mpg.


Does anyone have any ideas I can check?



One other issue I'm having is my keyfob's arent being detected unless I put the key in the cupholder. Both keys have brand new batteries but when I try to turn the car on it'll say remote not detected unless I have the key in the backseat or the front cupholder.


Thanks guys.

[Enabled]

Excessive torque at that rpm will shudder. The tune should be adjusted to keep shudder minimal.
This could be torsional forces on the driveshaft and center support bearing. Alternatively, considering the drivetrain message, you may have other issues that may be hidden.
There are ways in diag to read deeper and figure out the conditions it happened under. Unfortunately the tune can easily hide some of these. It all depends how the tune is made. That's a huge can of worms.


Regarding the remote battery issues, the first step is to install a very high quality brand name or original BMW battery. This is very well known that the general batteries don't come with enough voltage. They should have over 3.3V on a multimeter when new. Many won't have that.

[Morrob95]

Originally Posted by Enabled

Excessive torque at that rpm will shudder. The tune should be adjusted to keep shudder minimal.
This could be torsional forces on the driveshaft and center support bearing. Alternatively, considering the drivetrain message, you may have other issues that may be hidden.
There are ways in diag to read deeper and figure out the conditions it happened under. Unfortunately the tune can easily hide some of these. It all depends how the tune is made. That's a huge can of worms.


Regarding the remote battery issues, the first step is to install a very high quality brand name or original BMW battery. This is very well known that the general batteries don't come with enough voltage. They should have over 3.3V on a multimeter when new. Many won't have that.

I really hope it's not the tune. I contacted tunemyeuro right after I did the tune (had no issues prior) and they assured me it had to be something else. Frankly I don't have money to spend on a different time, this was already 2k to do. I'll try to reach out again and see if what they say. I've suspected the tune though since it was fine stock and only had issues after tuning.


I'll just run by the bmw shop then and buy a battery to make sure it's not that. I've tried multiple energizer batteries now. It's weird, when it's cold outside it doesn't do it, only when it's warm

Appreciate the help

[Enabled]

I know of at least 6x 328d that have had higher torque numbers do the tremble. It's all the same. No matter of rwd vs xdrive, stock transmission tune or xhp. No matter whose tune either. No difference. Interestingly, they are earlier ones, with older rubber... leading me to think it's a driveshaft center support cause. Most apparent in 5th gear at 2500rpm and then it stops by 2700ish? Shudder/tremble is kind of mid chassis? Keep the torque lower.


If you have a multimeter, check the battery voltage. It needs at least 3.3V.

If it's not that, I would check to see that your in car antennas are still ok. Both key fobs do the same?

[Morrob95]

Originally Posted by Enabled

I know of at least 6x 328d that have had higher torque numbers do the tremble. It's all the same. No matter of rwd vs xdrive, stock transmission tune or xhp. No matter whose tune either. No difference. Interestingly, they are earlier ones, with older rubber... leading me to think it's a driveshaft center support cause. Most apparent in 5th gear at 2500rpm and then it stops by 2700ish? Shudder/tremble is kind of mid chassis? Keep the torque lower.


If you have a multimeter, check the battery voltage. It needs at least 3.3V.

If it's not that, I would check to see that your in car antennas are still ok. Both key fobs do the same?

Hmmmm. Man I really hope its just that and nothing that will cause damage. As it sits, I got tunemyeuro to look into it. Had me send the tuned file back over to them and they said they sent it over to the tuner. If they say all is well I'll ask if they can reduce the torque somehow to see if that helps. But yes you had it spot on, its about 200 rpm that it happens. Although with my car its all cleared up by 2500rpm and smooth all the way to redline.. I wouldnt think it would be from rubber bushings or anything since it happened when I initially tuned the car at 50k miles and happens now at 150k miles but doesnt happen at all with the stock tune...

Also, will grab a multimeter and check tomorrow. ISTA did show one error one time but it hasnt come back saying to check the "aerial antenna" to which I ran their diagnostic test which was to hold the key to the column and click okay and it said it passed. I'm definitely no ISTA expert though. Its super weird that it works just fine now when its cold though. Whats really odd is my IBS broke so I had to replace it and then this started happening. Not sure if its related or not. I also replaced the cars 12v battery at the same time and coded the battery after.

Again, thanks for the help man. I actually told tunemyeuro what you guys said and thats why they agreed to take a look at the tune file.

[Watsey]

Manual or auto ? I don't know whether the 28d is available in both guises.

[Enabled]

Originally Posted by Watsey

Manual or auto ? I don't know whether the 28d is available in both guises.

They were all automatic

[Morrob95]

Originally Posted by Watsey

Manual or auto ? I don't know whether the 28d is available in both guises.

All 328d's are automatic (at least in the US)

[Morrob95]

Originally Posted by Enabled

They were all automatic

No news from the tuner yet, hopeful for Monday. I did check the driveshaft and there wasnt any play, also this is a RWD for what its worth

[Morrob95]

Originally Posted by Enabled

I know of at least 6x 328d that have had higher torque numbers do the tremble. It's all the same. No matter of rwd vs xdrive, stock transmission tune or xhp. No matter whose tune either. No difference. Interestingly, they are earlier ones, with older rubber... leading me to think it's a driveshaft center support cause. Most apparent in 5th gear at 2500rpm and then it stops by 2700ish? Shudder/tremble is kind of mid chassis? Keep the torque lower.


If you have a multimeter, check the battery voltage. It needs at least 3.3V.

If it's not that, I would check to see that your in car antennas are still ok. Both key fobs do the same?

Hey there, I checked the voltage with 2 different multimeters today and it was weird.. When I initially tap the positive side (while holding the negative side on) it shows 3.3 then not even a half a second later drops to 3 then continues down to show less than 2.. Happens with both of my multimeters.. Is there a special way youre supposed to probe these batteries? The battery is an Energizer CR2450

[Enabled]

If you hold the probes and it drops less than 3.3V on a new battery... then the battery is bad.

I would check the multimeter on a known good AA alkaline (~1.5V), but according to the info provided, that battery is bad. It should hold steadily over 3V.

[Morrob95]

Originally Posted by Enabled

If you hold the probes and it drops less than 3.3V on a new battery... then the battery is bad.

I would check the multimeter on a known good AA alkaline (~1.5V), but according to the info provided, that battery is bad. It should hold steadily over 3V.

Bought a battery directly from BMW dealer, no change at all. Same issue with it. Also, when I shut my door with the key in my pocket and the car on it says remote not detected for about 5-10 seconds then goes away.. any idea what I can check at this point? It's super annoying.

[Morrob95]

Originally Posted by Enabled

If you hold the probes and it drops less than 3.3V on a new battery... then the battery is bad.

I would check the multimeter on a known good AA alkaline (~1.5V), but according to the info provided, that battery is bad. It should hold steadily over 3V.

Update: I'm on a 4k mile road trip and the car finally popped a code whilst it was trembling! Good news? At least the car finally acknowledged something was wrong... My powergate shows 244D00 which from what I could find is an over charged? Any idea what I could check when I get home?

[Enabled]

0x244D00 Boost pressure control, control deviation: charging pressure too high/negative deviation


This code unfortunately comes from the engine ECU, and is not related to the transmission at all.
You should be reading transmission codes from the transmission module. For this you'd need a better scan tool.

Overboost codes in tuned cars are usually due to problems with the tune, rarely a boost pressure sensor that reads too high (but there would be additional codes!), or even a MAF sensor that may read too low (but there would be more codes with this as well).

[Morrob95]

Originally Posted by Enabled

0x244D00 Boost pressure control, control deviation: charging pressure too high/negative deviation


This code unfortunately comes from the engine ECU, and is not related to the transmission at all.
You should be reading transmission codes from the transmission module. For this you'd need a better scan tool.

Overboost codes in tuned cars are usually due to problems with the tune, rarely a boost pressure sensor that reads too high (but there would be additional codes!), or even a MAF sensor that may read too low (but there would be more codes with this as well).

Would ISTA have shown transmission codes? I don't recall it popping anything up. This sucks, I finally just paid off the car a couple days ago. Sounds like I just need to wait for JR from tunemyeuro to get back to me. He came down with COVID so it's gonna be a bit they said. I sent the code and your response over to the help desk so hopefully it'll help them dial it in. Thanks again man, I really appreciate it. I was hoping it was something lose on the intake.

[Enabled]

Yes, ISTA shows transmission codes, and it is the "gold standard" for it.

[Morrob95]

Originally Posted by Enabled

Yes, ISTA shows transmission codes, and it is the "gold standard" for it.

Got it! I installed an afe cold air intake and guess what? When BMW did the EGR recall like 100k miles ago they never hooked the damn crank case vent up correctly so there was air leaking in unregulated. What a damn joke man, they forgot the gasket for the egr too so they messed up two things. I replaced the plastic crap vent hose with a rubber one and it's SOOO smoothe now. The car feels brand new. I'm pissed I didn't figure this out 100k miles ago. I appreciate the help again man, thanks!

[cezar22]

Same car, same mods, same issue. Well, it's happened twice anyway.

I was thinking it was probably my turbo starting to show its age, but I could see a CSB issue causing the car to trip the alert.

Hard to tell how big of an issue this is. Almost seems like you could just ignore it to be honest. I got my 328 cheap and I barely drive it so my inclination is to just let it be, and if it gets significantly worse, then diagnosis will be a lot simpler.

[Morrob95]

Originally Posted by cezar22

Same car, same mods, same issue. Well, it's happened twice anyway.

I was thinking it was probably my turbo starting to show its age, but I could see a CSB issue causing the car to trip the alert.

Hard to tell how big of an issue this is. Almost seems like you could just ignore it to be honest. I got my 328 cheap and I barely drive it so my inclination is to just let it be, and if it gets significantly worse, then diagnosis will be a lot simpler.

I just figured my issue out today, check the above post, that might be your issue too! My crank case vent wasn't hooked up. Tried to hook it up and the brittle plastic BMW used just disintegrated. Ended up replacing with a hose and all is FINALLY well!

edit: unless you're referring to the remote issue which I still haven't figured out just yet

[Enabled]

I don't think the crankcase tube causes your driveline vibrations at around 2500rpm

[Morrob95]

Originally Posted by Enabled

I don't think the crankcase tube causes your driveline vibrations at around 2500rpm

Unmeasured air coming in right before the turbo . I don't know but I'm finishing the drive home and have gone 400 miles today and ever since fixing that leak I've had zero hesitation. There was also oil all over the sensor at the end of the tube

[Enabled]

Hesitation makes sense yes, but from your description of the problem, the trembling, then no, that wouldn't be related.

You may have inadvertently found another problem while looking for it.
I really hope you didn't ingest too much sand and particles, or else your turbo compressor blades will look quite beat up.