BMW 3-Series E46 (1998 - 2005) - 02 330d rough idle/shuddering

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
View Threaded
Mon 29 Jan 2007 12:00
02 330d rough idle/shuddering - dougal74
A fault has developed on my wife's BMW whereby when she is crawling to a halt (e.g. at a busy roundabout) or manoeuvring at slow speed the car shudders from what appears to be engine vibration. When the revs rise it goes away and it is intermittent in nature. The sensation is closest to when a novice driver rabbits a manual on its clutch.

The car is an auto and has just been serviced by the main dealer, it has done 79k miles. I have also noticed that the mpg has dropped off by a about 2 mpg recently.

I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could offer any advice, the dealer plugged it into their computer and merely said "yes it is running a little roughly but we will need it in overnight to find out the cause"!?!

Many thanks, Adam

Edited by Pugugly on 17/09/2009 at 23:01

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 17 Sep 2009 22:39
2002 BMW 330d rough idle/shuddering - tonyscruton
Hello Adam,

I have the same problem did you get it sorted ? or any news on it ?

Many Thanks

Tony
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 17 Sep 2009 23:03
2002 BMW 330d rough idle/shuddering - Aocal
Sounds similar to a few problems i've had over the years with different E46's which were related to:

MAF sensor (Mass air flow sensor)
Crank Sensor
Cam sensor
Crank Case issues

In the case of MAF & CAM I just unplugged them and drove the car to see if the problem disappeared (ECU uses default value when the actual sensor readings are not present).

Is it happening all the time or just when cold/warm?

Thanks,
Adam
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 3 Nov 2009 17:01
2002 BMW 330d rough idle/shuddering - Maggsy
Hello all,
This sounds very similar to a problem I've got (apologies if it's not and it's been covered elsewhere).

My car (54 plate 320d) idles fine but gets a nasty shudder when cruising in any gear and applying light acceleration to maintain speed. Give it a bit more throttle and it disappears but it seems to be happening more and sometimes when slowing without braking too.

Any help/advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Looking for a garage you can trust? Honest John's Good Garage Guide has thousands of reader recommended garages, plus how-to guides and tips on servicing.

The Good Garage Guide

Real MPG enables you to register the fuel economy you are actually getting against your make and model of car, its engine and type of transmission.

Every time you enter an average consumption figure against your car, the overall average automatically adjusts to reflect it.

Real MPG