[F30Andy]

I had an engine management light come on yesterday with no loss of power at all.

Plugged the car into the Snap On and scanned for codes for it to throw up something about air in the EGR.

I know the 35d/4d has issues with the EGR so I'm thinking bloody great this is going to be a dealer visit I could really do without.

I clear the code in the hope that it stays off and the engine management light comes back on within 10 miles.

This morning I go to my trusted guy of over ten years who looks after the fleet and tell him what's happened.
I ask him to kindly remove my tuning box and certain other things to which he replies in his heavy Lithuanian accent...
"Your bastard shit tuning box is not problem with your car.
Problem here is two months ago you tell me service car and you give me some pieces of shit K&N panel filter and make me put in car. I fukkin tell you then this is pieces of shit and you no listen me.
Now you take your over priced K&N shit cunt thing and put in your ass."

He insisted without plugging anything into the car that the filter I stupidly impulse purchased in a Euro Crap Parts bank holiday sale was to blame.
He took the filter out and it was filthy.
I have never seen an OEM filter get into even half as bad condition as this had.
He put the K&N back in and removed all my gizmos after what I'm sure was around twenty seconds of swear words in his own language.

I get to the dealers and spend £60 quid on an air filter.
I drive around the corner and change the filter then drive away. Within 0.1 of a mile the engine management light has switched off and remains off.

I call my mechanic and tell him.
He explains to me in his eloquent way that my piece of shit K&N is something that no one will ever see and only looks pretty. He also tells me "Quality wise this thing so much use as a woman pussy nappy made out of chocolate."
He finishes with.....
"Also your tuning box is pieces of shits. Stop being (some swear word in his own language) bollox cunt and get proper remap done you bastard (other swear word I can't understand.)

The gist of what he explains is that the thing has rapidly deteriorated and it is no longer capable of maintaining the vacuum required for the air pressure in the system to be within acceptable tolerance. This apparently resulted in either too much or too little air being read by a sensor attached to the EGR. In his opinion judging by the state of the K&N (which had only been in use for circa 3k) it was letting in too much air.
He tells me even though the engine management light is now gone the fault will still be stored as it has not been cleared from memory and I should call BMW Assistance and see what they do.

I drive to the office and call them from the idrive.
Credit to them, someone was with me within 45 minutes and they even sent me a link to track the guy with.

He arrives and plugs in the computer and the fault is still stored.
He tells me the EGR valve needing to be replaced is a "unofficial common fault."
He tells me usually when you need a new EGR it throws up different codes relating to it, but regardless it is still a code related to it and "Do you fancy a new EGR Mate?

He shows me he has 3 on board, tells me he can change it at the roadside in under 25 mins.
He says to me option number 2 is that he gets the car towed to a dealer of my choice and can arrange me a courtesy car which will probably be a vehicle I don't want.

Even though I know full well at this stage there is nothing wrong with the EGR valve I let him do it anyway.
He told me he gets call outs for these on a daily basis and I could tell by the speed at which he was doing it that this is something he had probably done hundreds of times before.

As he is inspecting the valve he has just removed I commented I have only ever run the car on the good shit and he says....
"I can tell mate, this thing is as clean as a whistle and is not sticking at all. It's in almost new condition.
He still changes it anyway and clears the code.

Kudos to BMW for having a very good side of the road service.

K&N - 0
BMW OEM service parts - 1

Moral of the story.......
Just because something is expensive and looks nice doesn't mean that it's any good.
When someone with experience tells you the computer programmed by someone who was in nappies when he did his first engine transplant doesn't know what the fuck it's talking about, maybe I should listen next time.

[OneExtra]

Your mechanic mate sounds like a legend, I have heard K&N filters are too oily and aren't great for modern engines.

Now get rid of that piece of shitty tuning box and get a proper remap

[teaston]

What have I just read!?

Have you been at the wacky baccy again Andy?

[robbiep]

I had an EGR failure at about 12k miles. All fixed by Assist on the roadside in less than an hour.

Since then, premium diesel (usually V Power) all the time.

Never had another EGR fault. Now on 60k miles.

Might be a coincidence, but it might not

[Watsey]

Yep, K&N panel filters are shite for modern engines. You got lucky with a free EGR.

Plenty of choices in terms of decent remaps.

Start looking after your car

[Mr Whippy]

K&N let fine particles through.

If you don’t clean and re-oil they become even worse.

If you over oil the oil mucks up sensors.

They, and foam ones, are both terrible for normal road car use.

[Torque of the Devil]

How's the K&N working up your arse?

[F30Andy]

Originally Posted by Torque of the Devil

How's the K&N working up your arse?

Too much airflow

[Soul_Glo]

Diesels run on excess air anyway so a performance filter is of little use unless one wants a filter with longevity. I once saw a K&N filter to 20k miles. Hardly any dust on it and still had enough oil. I serviced it at 20k and the cost was defeated by the filter cleaner and oil service kit.

Your mechanic sounds like a right laugh though. Enjoyed reading that story.

[Kal101]

You don’t pay your mechanic enough.

[Daftasabrush]

Yeah, keep that mechanic, he know shit.

[F30Andy]

Engine light comes on again this morning.

I go to trusted guy.

I tell him about noise I can hear at around 1300RPM and ask him to tell me what that could possibly be.

He scans for codes and it brings up same shit about airflow but nothing else.

He has a brief nose around the engine bay and tells me.....

"For hundredth time, I tell you this pieces of shit K&N you use before gonna cause problems. Because of this K&N shit you took out either inlet manifold gonna now be full of shit or sensor fukked. Maybe even both.
Go buy more bullshit you (lots of swearing in Lithuanian.)"

"Your whining noise you telling me is because you talking to yourself and not familiar with your own fukkin voice. Ha Ha Ha I too funny, High five me."

I high five him and ask him "Seriously whats the noise?"

He tells me....
"Noise is because belt slipping little bit. Common fault this on this one.
You want me to do, I can do in twenty mins, otherwise fuck off and use warranty."





I decide much to my disdain that I should "fuck off and use warranty."
I call BMW and the car comes in as a recovery and they give me a 320d to keep me moving.


BMW just call me now and tell me the inlet manifold is coked up and a sensor needs replacing. They will be sorting it under warranty.
They also tell me that the whining noise I can hear at around 1300RPM is as a result of a slipping fan belt, so they will be replacing that and a tensioner and pully as well.
For some reason which the guy could not explain they will also be replacing the EGR cooler.


Good result I say.

I wonder what else I could get them to change free of charge?!


Oh and for fucks sake guys, never use these "K&N pieces of shits" in your cars.
They have no benefit and can cause you serious headache.