Throttle actuator help!

[kscarrol]

OK, had the dreaded TA failure and just had both banks replaced under my extended warranty (that's good!). Picked up the car yesterday evening and everything was running smoothly... At least until I drove home from work today! So just 24 hours later i get the same iDrive warnings that popped up when the actuators failed. Shop is closed to I'll talk to them tomorrow but after letting the car sit for a while I restarted and the warnings are gone and the car is running fine, for now.

I used my reader and it shows P157F, the same code I got for the failed TA's the first time though this time my reader shows the code as "Pending" now that the iDrive warnings are gone and the car is running smoothly. When the TA's acted up the first time the reader showed the P157F code as "Stored". Both banks were replaced so unless I got a bad part I am at a loss. Any ideas? A fellow BMW guy in town suggested the shop needed an "adaptation"... I guess that is something the computer needs to do and it's not a DIY.

[yamaha458]

I wouldn't worry to much about it. Probably the computer relearning with the new ta's. Still bring it back to the shop just so they document it incase something does go wrong with it in the future. I know with the bmw computer software they can run tests on each ta to make sure nothing is out of spec. Which I would assume they did after installing them just to be safe. Good luck man

[thekurgan]

There is no adaptation or learning on these. If he cleared the code before the repair, and you have a new code, it should be diagnosed.

[kscarrol]

A friend who is a mechanic but generally works on older BMW's was asking if the shop ran the "adaptation" on the new TA's after install. Apparently this is something they do at the shop using the computer. He said " it basically teaches the dme the limits of the throttle actuators". Is this correct? I am bringing it back to the shop this afternoon to see what they say...

[IIAp3x]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

A friend who is a mechanic but generally works on older BMW's was asking if the shop ran the "adaptation" on the new TA's after install. Apparently this is something they do at the shop using the computer. He said " it basically teaches the dme the limits of the throttle actuators". Is this correct? I am bringing it back to the shop this afternoon to see what they say...

Sounds right to me, but every Make is different... I know when I installed an aftermarket ecu into my e46 M3 race car many years ago, I had to register the limits of the throttle actuators from 0-150 (value#) where 0 was foot off accelerator and 150 was pedal all the way to the floor (WOT)... I am just using values as an example, but every potentiometer inside the actuators varies in its values, which is why the ECU needs to learn the values between 0 throttle and WOT...

So unless the potentiometers are designed exactly identical in their output values, which is highly unlikely I would think that there is an adaptation that needs to be performed...

Then again, I am not certain of the exact technology used inside the actuators... It may not be a potentiometer based technology for the E92 M3, or could be just a really fancy one...

[kscarrol]

Thanks IIAp3x! I do think it makes sense so I'll follow up after I visit the shop this afternoon...

[jester17]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

Thanks IIAp3x! I do think it makes sense so I'll follow up after I visit the shop this afternoon...

Let us know what you find out -- cheers!

[kscarrol]

Originally Posted by jester17

Let us know what you find out -- cheers!

I will! Have a parent/teacher conference at 1:30 and then heading to the shop. Car is running fine right with no warnings/errors showing on iDrive...

[IIAp3x]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

I will! Have a parent/teacher conference at 1:30 and then heading to the shop. Car is running fine right with no warnings/errors showing on iDrive...

You are probably fine... I can't imagine that if there is a registration/adaptation step in the repair protocols that the tech would have skipped it... But then again I have seen half-ass repairs performed even at BMW dealerships so who knows... Could have something to do with an old fault code still lingering in the ecu even after the new TA's were installed that is causing it to pop back up...

Keep us posted!

[WaylonM3]

Interested too. I replaced my bank1 TA about a month ago and my car fired right up with no codes or anything.

[kscarrol]

Well my car initially fired right up with no issues as well. It was 24 hours later that the new errors popped up. I pulled a code after iDrive lit up but not before...

And I agree about the tech, these are good guys, doubt they simply forgot to do the adaptation.

I'm at the shop now and they are looking at the car now...

[pbonsalb]

You may need tps. No adaption or registration required for ta.

[nholmes]

I swapped out both actuators, cleared the fault codes with INPA and haven't had an issue since.

[kscarrol]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

You may need tps. No adaption or registration required for ta.

Sorry, what is tps?

[kscarrol]

OK, back from the shop and they are a bit perplexed as well. Car is still running fine but ultimately one of the new TA's may be bad. They did do the "adaptation" initially but used a faster computer rather than the slower BMW computer. Just to be sure they re-did the adaptation process using the BMW computer. Not sure I believe this but I am no expert.

We'll just have to wait and see if it acts up again....

[Beemdog]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

Sorry, what is tps?

Throttle Position Sensor. Sends the car's ECU the current position of the throttle electrically.
There is typically a calibration procedure for setting the endpoints.

Back to filling out my TPS reports...

[thekurgan]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

OK, back from the shop and they are a bit perplexed as well. Car is still running fine but ultimately one of the new TA's may be bad. They did do the "adaptation" initially but used a faster computer rather than the slower BMW computer. Just to be sure they re-did the adaptation process using the BMW computer. Not sure I believe this but I am no expert.

We'll just have to wait and see if it acts up again....

I bet they cleared your adaptations, as there is nothing specific for the actuators. They spin on demand and that's it. Position sensors determine how far, fast, etc for their operation.

[kscarrol]

Ok, digging up my old thread as I just had my fourth throttle actuator failure. Back in March I had both acting up and throwing codes. Both were replaced under my extended warranty at that time. 24 hours later one of them went bad, clearly a bad part from the factory and that was also replaced.

Last week I got the dreaded error messages again along with limp mode and drove the car to the shop. Got the call Friday afternoon that the car was finished and that the issue was the other actuator had failed. I was on the golf course so I haven't picked up the car but he did indicate the part was replaced under warranty though I'm not sure if that was a BMW warranty on it's part or my extended warranty. Ultimately it does not matter as the car is fixed under warranty.

I seem to have bad luck with these things! My extended warranty expires in Oct 2017 so I have another year of coverage and at this rate I could go through another 2 or 3 actuators...