Timing/Vanos related codes? unable to find source of the issue P0015,P0010, P0185

[M3llowM3]

Update for anyone interested.
I found the 2 wires to my egt sensor were clamped between the black plastic cover and the valve cover. Repaired the wires and the problem persisted.
I ordered a new cam sensor connector and pins and installed it to the existing wiring and the problem has been cleared for almost 1000km now. Must have been loose pins or a bad connection.

Big thanks to everyone to took their time to offer their opinions or suggestions on the issue.

[M3llowM3]

Reviving this in 2024.

Just had these 3 codes return with a CEL .

Not really sure where move with troubleshooting this now.

Car has been out of storage for a couple weeks now, done about 1000km on it and has been driving great since I pulled it out, there was also no issues to be mentioned for all of 2023 driving season. Cycled the fuel in the tank a couple times already so the fuel is all new and fresh.

I did notice 1-2 times on cold start, what sounded almost like a small backfire, but it had rarely occurred, and never threw and CEL. However, I never scanned the codes when this occurred.

Today, I drove about 100km home, car was driving great, and I stopped at the gas station by my house to top up. When I started the car after re-fueling is when the CEL came back, and again a small backfire on startup. Drove 5 mins home, ran inside grabbed the laptop and scanned with INPA to find the same 3 codes, 10, 15, and 185I had when i initially made this post. I cleared them, and all three immediately came back, but no CEL. Cleared again couple times and they returned, but at some point I cleared the codes, and only code 10 and 15 returned. I included snaps from this post which help to identify the codes.



Now, for those who didn't read this whole post, I had tried several Beisan rebuilt units, borrowed a couple from my friends, and I even repaired my initial one using Beisan's guide and cutting it open and reflowing the solder on the connector pins.
I tried a new exhaust cam sensor, and I also repinned the exhaust cam sensor with a new OEM connector (which i thought fixed my problems last time).
I put a multimeter to the pins on the exhaust cam senor and tested the voltage variation from 0>5>0>5 volts and so on, which i believe indicates the sensor itself is working and functioning?


Kind of lost here now at this point and feeling a bit defeated now that these codes have come back.
Any feedback or troubleshooting suggestions are appreciated.

[Stilt]

Reviving this in 2024.

Just had these 3 codes return with a CEL .

Not really sure where move with troubleshooting this now.

Car has been out of storage for a couple weeks now, done about 1000km on it and has been driving great since I pulled it out, there was also no issues to be mentioned for all of 2023 driving season. Cycled the fuel in the tank a couple times already so the fuel is all new and fresh.

I did notice 1-2 times on cold start, what sounded almost like a small backfire, but it had rarely occurred, and never threw and CEL. However, I never scanned the codes when this occurred.

Today, I drove about 100km home, car was driving great, and I stopped at the gas station by my house to top up. When I started the car after re-fueling is when the CEL came back, and again a small backfire on startup. Drove 5 mins home, ran inside grabbed the laptop and scanned with INPA to find the same 3 codes, 10, 15, and 185I had when i initially made this post. I cleared them, and all three immediately came back, but no CEL. Cleared again couple times and they returned, but at some point I cleared the codes, and only code 10 and 15 returned. I included snaps from this post which help to identify the codes.



Now, for those who didn't read this whole post, I had tried several Beisan rebuilt units, borrowed a couple from my friends, and I even repaired my initial one using Beisan's guide and cutting it open and reflowing the solder on the connector pins.
I tried a new exhaust cam sensor, and I also repinned the exhaust cam sensor with a new OEM connector (which i thought fixed my problems last time).
I put a multimeter to the pins on the exhaust cam senor and tested the voltage variation from 0>5>0>5 volts and so on, which i believe indicates the sensor itself is working and functioning?


Kind of lost here now at this point and feeling a bit defeated now that these codes have come back.
Any feedback or troubleshooting suggestions are appreciated.

Lol, this happened to me Wednesday. The car threw codes 10 and 15, but not 185, which is for the exhaust cam sensor, which I already changed. I believe that because of the design and the position, the sensor gets cooked and just says bye-bye. Put the new sensor in, in about 10 minutes, 5 minutes of burning my hand because I am impatient, and now the code is gone.

[sapote]

1. I found the 2 wires to my egt sensor were clamped between the black plastic cover and the valve cover.
2. Reviving this in 2024. Just had these 3 codes return with a CEL .

1. What is EGT sensor? EX cam sensor?
2. Bypass the questionalble factor sensor 3 wires by cut them out and splicing 3 new wires as I suggested. The root cause is the sensor signal is unreliable.

[sapote]

I wonder if OP still has the car. It would be nice if people closed the thread properly as I want to know the root cause too.

[M3llowM3]

I wonder if OP still has the car. It would be nice if people closed the thread properly as I want to know the root cause too.

i do still have the car, and have not found the root of the issue. I parked it last April, and then I had some big problems with my daily last summer so unfortunately was never able to get the m3 looked at. I am now waiting to hopefully get it looked at this spring, but I fear the intermittent nature of this issue will bring difficulty, as in 2022-2023 i had this issue pop up, and when i took it for diag, no symptoms were showing, and then the issue veered its head again in 2024.

I spoke to 2 shops about it, and one (the BMW mechanic 95%+ M guys take their car to in my area), said that it could be potentially an oil pump issue, since the vanos isnt adjusting the timing when it needs, they think its an overall oil pressure issue. which i am not inclined to agree with, since the car still drives just fine and no indication of low oil pressure.

Another shop (also reputable M shop in the area) agreed with me that it probably wasnt a main oil pump issue, but potentially something deeper inside the vanos, and suggested essentially a full vanos teardown/inspection to diag and go from there.

Either way both shops told me to expect downtime with a bill of 2-3kcad, likely more in 2025 since our economy is in the gutter.


And don't worry, i have every intention of closing this thread off, once i find the issue.