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Thread: 1997 BMW 318is engine light codes

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Rhode Island, U.S.
    Posts
    1
    My Cars
    1997 BMW 318is Coupe

    1997 BMW 318is engine light codes

    Hello everyone! this is my first post but hopefully not my last(: Earlier today my engine light came on my 97 e36 318is after work for the ride home. I stopped at Auto Zone immediately and came up with the codes P0451 that came out with Fuel tank pressure sensor range/performance; open or short circuit condition; Poor electrical connection; EVAP vent system blocked; or faulty fuel tank pressure sensor. It also came out with the Code P0340 that says OEM Brand: Volkswagen, I'm not sure if it is simply a code they share or what. This code came up with Camshaft position sensor(CMP) "intake" circuit; Open or short circuit condition; Poor electrical condition; Poor electrical connection; EVAP vent system blocked; or engine mechanical condition.

    I am very new to bmw community and was just wondering if this was an issue that could be handled on its own or if i should leave it to a shop to handle. Thanks

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Aberdeen, NC (yes, again)
    Posts
    23,673
    My Cars
    E39M5, E500 4WD
    Hello, Nate!

    Welcome to the forum, and the community. I appreciate the fact that you've come to a really good place, to find good mechanical information on your 318. And thank you, for providing the often-neglected information, in identifying your vehicle!

    You have, unfortunately, found the biggest problem with using OBD2 codes, to diagnose your BMW: they really just don't work. In this particular instance, you've got 2 different German manufacturers, trying to interpret US Government- mandated diagnostic codes, in the grossest manner - the year after the codes were instituted. {The Germans sent it to the British, who translated it to the Queen's English; then some other Brit translated it to "Murican"; then somebody in New Jersey justified the translations and compared it to a translated list of maybe 300 approved problems of most American car manufacturers.

    My gut reaction would be that your purge valve is bad, OR your charcoal cannister is full of gas, or there's a clog in one of the vapor/vent lines of your fuel tank. BUT THIS IS HUGELY FLAWED!, because you've got several possible, and amazingly different codes, being translated as being possible!

    Which means that to even begin, you need to find the CORRECT information that BMW was trying to tell you. Visit a BMW/Euro specialist professional, and let them give you a diagnosis, after talking with your car's computers. With that info, you can decide what to do; right now, you've got poor info - which can cost you more than NO info.

    Chris Powell
    Racer and Instructor since, well. decades, ok?
    Master Auto Tech, owner of German Motors of Aberdeen
    BMWCCA 274412
    German Motors is hiring ! https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...1#post30831471

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