DIY: S65 Throttle Actuator

[jcmusic]

I'm sure most will want to know ...

My dealer (Glendale, CA) WILL fix under emissions warranty. No arguing required.

Hope this info helps anyone else with the same issue.


Btw, idle actuator was replaced at 8k mi on same vehicle: 2008 M3 (E90).

[GregW / Oregon]

Originally Posted by jcmusic

I'm sure most will want to know ...

My dealer (Glendale, CA) WILL fix under emissions warranty. No arguing required.

Hope this info helps anyone else with the same issue.

Good deal - glad it worked out. Be sure they do both banks, because se they usually go about the same time.

[adc]

Mine just went today. P154E and P1628 according to my OBD reader, plus the big old yellow limp mode.

I'm taking it in tomorrow, and will ask them if either BMW 's emission warranty or my Route 66 warranty will cover it. I'm hoping not to have to resort to goodwill, since they already fixed my front brakes on the X1...

I'll keep you posted.

[GregW / Oregon]

Originally Posted by adc

Mine just went today. P154E and P1628 according to my OBD reader, plus the big old yellow limp mode.

I'm taking it in tomorrow, and will ask them if either BMW 's emission warranty or my Route 66 warranty will cover it. I'm hoping not to have to resort to goodwill, since they already fixed my front brakes on the X1...

I'll keep you posted.

How many miles?

[adc]

Originally Posted by GregW / Oregon

How many miles?

41k, so not a lot.

Edit: say I just saw that you ordered an M4 - I'm thinking about it too. Could you please post your review after you get it?

[mlc 330]

Well, 5 weeks ago my 2008 6mt got its 1st dose of the dressed TA issue.
Fault code 2B16 Bank 2 TA. After getting it reset it then lasted a few days before faulting again, same code. Decided to swap the two TA's for each other. Thx to W's magnificent DIY, I was able to do this in about 3 hours which included pulling apart the failing TA and rotating the white gear 180 degrees in the hope it may buy be some time.
Worked for a week and then began throwing P0638 codes for the TA on bank 1.
Which proved it was the actual TA, as this was the original Bank 2 TA.
Being down here in Australia it was going to cost me $2000.00 per actuator from the local BMW stealership.
I ended up sourcing them from BMW parts of South Atlanta. They managed to get two of them delivered to my door for $1800.00 US.
The day they arrived the car went into limp mode a dozen times, so the timing was perfect.
This time I managed to do both TA's in 90 minutes.
Car seems fine so far. If I get through a whole day I will be relieved :-)
Whilst the gears in my TA's were worn, I am of the opinion that there is an electronic module or actual motor issue that may also be responsible for these TA's failing.
My gears weren't worn to the point of skipping a tooth which leads me to believe the motor or PCB within the TA is the issue.

Thx again to W for the DIY. Saved me a bundle.
And to any other owners in Aus that encounter this issue. DO NOT buy your TA's from an Australian BMW dealer.

[mlc 330]

Ooop's. Car has 82k Kilometres which is around 48k miles.

[adc]

Originally Posted by mlc 330

Whilst the gears in my TA's were worn, I am of the opinion that there is an electronic module or actual motor issue that may also be responsible for these TA's failing.
My gears weren't worn to the point of skipping a tooth which leads me to believe the motor or PCB within the TA is the issue.

First of all I hope your problems have been fixed and you will get another 40k miles of happy motoring from the car.

As far as skipping teeth, I think the tolerances on these actuators are a lot finer than that. In order to provide the outstanding throttle responses the S65 is renowned for, the tolerances on the movement must be extremely tight. I bet that the actuators rely on some very sensitive sensors in order to determine the throttle position, and the SW includes frequent checks against pre-determined target values. If several of these target values are not met, a code is raised.

Check out the description of one of the error codes in my car:
Fault code: 2B25 - P154E
Fault text: Throttle-valve monitoring, bank 1
Fault description: Throttle Actuator Monitoring Actual Value / Desired Value Correlation (Bank 1)
Condition for fault identification: Test condition: Difference too large

My car is still in the shop, hopefully they will finish today.

[W///]

Originally Posted by mlc 330

Well, 5 weeks ago my 2008 6mt got its 1st dose of the dressed TA issue.
Fault code 2B16 Bank 2 TA. After getting it reset it then lasted a few days before faulting again, same code. Decided to swap the two TA's for each other. Thx to W's magnificent DIY, I was able to do this in about 3 hours which included pulling apart the failing TA and rotating the white gear 180 degrees in the hope it may buy be some time.
Worked for a week and then began throwing P0638 codes for the TA on bank 1.
Which proved it was the actual TA, as this was the original Bank 2 TA.
Being down here in Australia it was going to cost me $2000.00 per actuator from the local BMW stealership.
I ended up sourcing them from BMW parts of South Atlanta. They managed to get two of them delivered to my door for $1800.00 US.
The day they arrived the car went into limp mode a dozen times, so the timing was perfect.
This time I managed to do both TA's in 90 minutes.
Car seems fine so far. If I get through a whole day I will be relieved :-)
Whilst the gears in my TA's were worn, I am of the opinion that there is an electronic module or actual motor issue that may also be responsible for these TA's failing.
My gears weren't worn to the point of skipping a tooth which leads me to believe the motor or PCB within the TA is the issue.

Thx again to W for the DIY. Saved me a bundle.
And to any other owners in Aus that encounter this issue. DO NOT buy your TA's from an Australian BMW dealer.

Wow very glad you were able to sort it out. Also very glad the DIY has helped out so many people. I really found it absurd that BMW wanted up to $2k to do this job (for 1 bank!), when it can be done in an afternoon.

I also believe that it's an electronic issue, just a hunch. While there were shavings in my TA, the teeth didn't look too bad. Would be nice if someone could come up with a cheaper fix, same idea as what Dr.VANOS did with all that stuff.

[mlc 330]

The $2000.00 was just the cost of One TA from BMW Australia !!!
If I had let a BMW dealer do the whole thing it would have cost me at least $5000.00 for them to supply and fit both.

[G-Lo408]

Just take it in. Emission warranty is 7 years from date of purchase

[adc]

I got my car back, good as new. They replaced the coolant temp sensor because it threw a fault, plus the throttle actuator bank 1.

Total tally $3800, with only $300 out of pocket (for coolant plus coolant flush, and 1 hr labor for diagnostic).

Warranty came through big time. Unfortunately I've found Route 66 no longer covers BMWs, or at least certain models (not the M3 and not the Z4).

I think whoever buys my car next year should the absolutely thrilled with the extended warranty.

[GregW / Oregon]

Originally Posted by adc

I got my car back, good as new. They replaced the coolant temp sensor because it threw a fault, plus the throttle actuator bank 1.

Hope you don't have the experience of me and others where second bank goes out right after the first.

[adc]

Originally Posted by GregW / Oregon

Hope you don't have the experience of me and others where second bank goes out right after the first.

I'm actually hoping it does, so I get fresh actuators all around, good for another 40k miles.

[Petros]

Originally Posted by GregW / Oregon

Hope you don't have the experience of me and others where second bank goes out right after the first.

I had the second actuator go out less than a year after the first. At a cost of $1000 each, that was quite a heavy bill to take. I just received the actuator in the mail yesterday. I'll put it in sometime tomorrow or Monday.

[GregW / Oregon]

Originally Posted by adc

I'm actually hoping it does, so I get fresh actuators all around, good for another 40k miles.

They should last the life of the engine; 40k miles is an anomaly in the early units.

[W///]

Originally Posted by adc

I got my car back, good as new. They replaced the coolant temp sensor because it threw a fault, plus the throttle actuator bank 1.

Total tally $3800, with only $300 out of pocket (for coolant plus coolant flush, and 1 hr labor for diagnostic).

Warranty came through big time. Unfortunately I've found Route 66 no longer covers BMWs, or at least certain models (not the M3 and not the Z4).

I think whoever buys my car next year should the absolutely thrilled with the extended warranty.

$3800? These guys are out of their freaken minds

Originally Posted by GregW / Oregon

Hope you don't have the experience of me and others where second bank goes out right after the first.

Surprisingly, 1 bank went out at 57k miles (2 years ago). Car is now almost at 80k miles and no problems.

[adc]

Originally Posted by GregW / Oregon

They should last the life of the engine; 40k miles is an anomaly in the early units.

What early units? My car is an 09, and the model came out in 07.

Originally Posted by W///

$3800? These guys are out of their freakin minds.

I think it was about $2k in parts, plus labor including the coolant sensor replacement and flush.

I haven't personally seen the coolant sensor fault, the OBD reader didn't list it. So who knows.

[tinman831]

Originally Posted by adc

What early units? My car is an 09, and the model came out in 07.



I think it was about $2k in parts, plus labor including the coolant sensor replacement and flush.

I haven't personally seen the coolant sensor fault, the OBD reader didn't list it. So who knows.

Bumping this thread. Are there updated part numbers for the actuators? Mine just recently threw a code for a bad actuator

[W///]

Originally Posted by tinman831

Bumping this thread. Are there updated part numbers for the actuators? Mine just recently threw a code for a bad actuator

Not that I know of unfortunately. Maybe try to get BMW to goodwill it.

[xliang]

sadly...just had my limp mode 2 days ago...still trying to swallow this...will see what is the cheapest option.....

[W///]

Originally Posted by xliang

sadly...just had my limp mode 2 days ago...still trying to swallow this...will see what is the cheapest option.....

Cheapest option is to buy the part from one of the vendors here and follow my DIY, assuming you don't have warranty.