Unfortunately Getting Unknown Problems on New Car

[RosieTheRedM3]

Hey all, so I recently picked up a 2013 Frozen Red Edition (woo hoo!), which I was extremely excited about, but I've been having nothing but problems.

First day of ownership, had to replace the battery. Next day, "Close Gas Cap" warning came on after its first fill up. The warning wouldn't go away no matter how many times I open and close the gas cap. On the fourth day, I get a random increased emissions light after turning the car on about an hour after a 30 minute drive. With it, the SES light came on. Funny enough, I was actually on my way to a buddy's to put on the catless exhaust I had from my previous m3. I turned on the car after we finished with the exhaust at a little past midnight to drive home (so technically day 5 of ownership). I'm driving the car for about 5 minutes with no warnings or lights and BAM! increased emissions, SES light, and a TPMS light. I see that and then the car immediately goes into limp mode.

My last m3 went into limp mode only once and it was the throttle actuators, but this time was different. I should explain what I mean. An hour before I actually purchased this FR edition, I paid a mechanic to check the actuators to see if they had been replaced recently (because I didn't want to go through that again) and he said they had been. He didn't say how recent, but recent enough apparently. Anyways, when it happened on the last m3, I was able to drive about 65 mph max, although it felt like a million years to reach that speed. This time I wasn't able to go a mile over 45 mph. It sucked because I was getting onto the freeway when this happened and I had what should've been a 40 minute drive turn into an hour and a half drive.

Later that morning, which was yesterday, I take it to my mechanic and he said that he had no idea what was wrong with it. When he was looking at it, he turned the car on and even drove it. But weirdly enough, he said that not a single code popped up. No increased emissions, no SES, no TPMS warning, absolutely nothing, and because of this, he wasn't able to diagnose anything without any codes being thrown. However, he did say that I had two collapsed engine mounts, which was sucked to hear about.

I keep reading posts about the same issues I had and all of them say one of two things: either the throttle actuators or o2 sensors. But, I just have such a hard time believing it is either one of those things because of the TA inspection I had and the spontaneous timing. I would understand if the car went into limp mode because I put test pipes in, but I don't know why I got an increased emissions light before doing so, and weirdly enough, when I was going to put on a catless exhaust that would be giving me that light.

If anyone has ever had these issues before, please let me know. It really sucks to pick up what you assume to be an awesome car to have it shit on you so soon. I love these cars, but man, they're like gold diggers trying to run you dry.

And also, if anyone knows a website or someone to hit up for either OEM or aftermarket parts like TA's or engine mounts, please let me know because I am getting tired of literally breaking my wallet for these cars.

[brettcp]

When I bought my '12 E93 M3 last year, I had all sorts of sensor errors popping up.. Installing a new battery helped with a couple of them, but then I found that it was on its original software version.. I updated to the latest i-step level via an ICOM and the rest of the errors went away and the car has been trouble free ever since then. Just a thought as it may help you as well.

Engine mounts aren't expensive, I did mine last year.. check ECS and FCPEuro, they have great pricing.

[RosieTheRedM3]

Originally Posted by brettcp

When I bought my '12 E93 M3 last year, I had all sorts of sensor errors popping up.. Installing a new battery helped with a couple of them, but then I found that it was on its original software version.. I updated to the latest i-step level via an ICOM and the rest of the errors went away and the car has been trouble free ever since then. Just a thought as it may help you as well.

Engine mounts aren't expensive, I did mine last year.. check ECS and FCPEuro, they have great pricing.

Alright awesome! Thank you

[BanjoPaterson]

It may be nothing, but I presume when you bought the battery you "registered" it to the car?

I remember when I bought my car kept getting a plethora of errors all related to the battery. I presume if the battery is patchy, then a whole raft of sensor go out or get the wrong information or whatever.

Point being, although I had a new battery, getting it "registered" to the car seem to me a number of issues go away. The E9x M3s seem to be very sensitive to battery issues -- as, I suspect, are many modern cars.

[LuckiSevens]

Yeah I had to change my batt - seems like that's the trigger for cheapskate owners to sell the car on lol

[Frozen]

Sucks you are having these issues. I have no feedback other than I want to see pics of the car! (I have one too)

[New2Roundel]

When I first got my '11, after about a week of ownership, I started to get an intermittent CEL. And the car went into limp mode where I couldn't drive faster than 45 mins. The car was too new to me for me to even consider buying a code reader, so I can't help there. The local BMW dealer stated that the issue was related to a vacuum leak. After they fixed it, the car's been flawless to this day.

[JDM_CL9]

Do you know the history of this vehicle? Maintenance records, was it previously modified etc.?

You mentioned the battery was bad and you had it replaced - was this through the same mechanic who said 'that he had no idea what was wrong with it'? - It's possible that whoever installed the battery may not have registered/coded it properly thus leading to these electrical type issues you're experiencing.

*If the car threw a code and upon the next restart, it doesn't show the code - the codes are still there in the history so your mechanic should be able to scan and read them.

[alpinam3]

Strange stuff. I bought an 08 M3 with 94K miles about 5 months ago and its had nothing go wrong. I always see newer 2012/2013 m3's on the road and think to myself, "ha, they probably aren't even thinking about car problems." Also, my step mom, her new husband has an 09 M3 and at only 70k miles the valve spring came about and he is now in need of a new engine...go figure.

Hope you get this sorted soon - nothing is worst than car problems to me.

[m3gasm]

Just my 2 sense... i got endless errors on my car when my alternator was going out...

[Solo_M_Tech]

1. Find a better mechanic.

2. Have this new, preferably certified, technician run an energy diagnosis test, followed by a starting and charging test in ISTA-D. I almost guarantee you're having an over voltage issue caused by a failing alternator. Have the engine to chassis ground strap replaced/inspected too.

[RosieTheRedM3]

I know this is a super late response haha but everything got sorted out. I got the emissions code because the previous exhaust was an ipe valvetronic exhaust using vacuum lines, however, there was no remote for it. Because of the vacuum lines, the idle control valve was completely open all the time instead of closing after those few seconds after the car is turned on. I swapped the exhaust for my full catless exhaust which involved removing the ends of the vacuum lines which I plugged, this caused a tear in the vacuum line so the car went into limp mode for that, and because I was then catless and hadn't throw the tune in yet, the car immediately recognized it was catless within a few minutes of the swap, which was also sending me into limp mode. Once the other end of the vacuum line had been taken off and the idle control valve was capped, no more issues from that. And once the tune was thrown in, the car stopped throwing the CEL light as well so no more limp mode yay! I then had the motor mounts replaced because it turned out my engine was sitting almost two inches below where it should've been and it would occasionally rub against what I think was the axle?? (Correct me if I'm wrong, I probably am.) Once all of that had been dealt with, the car is now fine and all of it only cost me a total of $450! Pretty crazy how that ended up working out, but I kind of blame the previous owner for how they set up/treated the car

[InnerBlueSkies]

When I bought mine the dash lit up like Christmas tree. Turned out to be a bad battery.

[Dave07997S]

Originally Posted by RosieTheRedM3

I know this is a super late response haha but everything got sorted out. I got the emissions code because the previous exhaust was an ipe valvetronic exhaust using vacuum lines, however, there was no remote for it. Because of the vacuum lines, the idle control valve was completely open all the time instead of closing after those few seconds after the car is turned on. I swapped the exhaust for my full catless exhaust which involved removing the ends of the vacuum lines which I plugged, this caused a tear in the vacuum line so the car went into limp mode for that, and because I was then catless and hadn't throw the tune in yet, the car immediately recognized it was catless within a few minutes of the swap, which was also sending me into limp mode. Once the other end of the vacuum line had been taken off and the idle control valve was capped, no more issues from that. And once the tune was thrown in, the car stopped throwing the CEL light as well so no more limp mode yay! I then had the motor mounts replaced because it turned out my engine was sitting almost two inches below where it should've been and it would occasionally rub against what I think was the axle?? (Correct me if I'm wrong, I probably am.) Once all of that had been dealt with, the car is now fine and all of it only cost me a total of $450! Pretty crazy how that ended up working out, but I kind of blame the previous owner for how they set up/treated the car

Catless should not throw the car into limp mode

[Drifter2090]

I would get a new gas cap as well, the seal might be bad. Glad you got most of the issues fixed though!

[Scrippy]

I'm on my 2nd battery. Well my alternator died and when the battery got low from lack of charging I received like 6 error codes. DSC, Start off assistant, ABS, Traction control and some more I don't remember. All gone once my electrical was sorted. My only failure has been that alternator and I'm at 180,000 miles on a 2011 E92 DCT. I find motor mounts to be a 50,000 to 100,000 life span based off SoCal crappy roads and being lowered an inch. I do as much maintenance as I can myself to pamper the car and not break the bank. Once a lift is required I drop it off at the dealership.

[leemik]

Believe it or not it could be a defective gas cap. I bought my current M3 brand new back in 2013 and the 1st fillup i got a check engine light and increased emissions soon after .... brought it back, dealer changed the gas cap and all was well.

The battery in these cars from my experience last about 4 years and electronics do get a little bit weird when its on it's way out.. so you might be due for a new one.