DME Repair

[bernard]

Hi

Garage has diagnosed DME failure, fuel pump and relay both deemed fine

I've looked for spares on ebay ((my car is a 325i with a Motortronic 1.3) and posted in the wanted section but there appear to be a few companies offering repairs - wondered if anyone else had tried this?

Cheers
Phil

[flybynite]

They do come up now and again but not as often as they used to.

If you get no luck you could try these guys who have done a few repairs for guys here

https://www.atpelectronics.co.uk/c/bmw-325-petrol-ecu

[Brianmoooore]

Hi

Garage has diagnosed DME failure, fuel pump and relay both deemed fine

I've looked for spares on ebay ((my car is a 325i with a Motortronic 1.3) and posted in the wanted section but there appear to be a few companies offering repairs - wondered if anyone else had tried this?

Cheers
Phil

I know nothing of how good your garage is or otherwise, but in my experience a diagnosis of "DME failure" is often a euphemism for "we haven't a clue what's wrong"
DME's are extremely reliable, and the only thing that normally fails (apart from idle control failure on one particular E30 ECU) is one of the coil drivers, as a result of being 'spiked'.
Yours may, of course, be the exception to the rule.

[Speedtouch]

DME's are extremely reliable, and the only thing that normally fails (apart from idle control failure on one particular E30 ECU) is one of the coil drivers, as a result of being 'spiked'.
Yours may, of course, be the exception to the rule.

Bernard mentions in another post that it's a 380 ECU, which are known to blow diodes in the idle control circuit.

You would be better off looking for the earlier and better 0 261 200 173 ECU, which is identical in operation but doesn't have the troublesome extra diodes.

Also, did the garage check the DME relay? That is switched by the ignition and feeds power to the ECU.

https://www.e30zone.net/e30wiki/index.php?title=DME

[Brianmoooore]

You would be better off looking for the earlier and better 0 261 200 173 ECU, which is identical in operation but doesn't have the troublesome extra diodes.

Or a 172, from a 2.0 litre, which may be cheaper and have greater availability, plus one of your 2.5 chips.

[bernard]

[/quote]

Also, did the garage check the DME relay? That is switched by the ignition and feeds power to the ECU.

https://www.e30zone.net/e30wiki/index.php?title=DME
[/quote]

I did ask, yes they did, it seems to be an injection control issue

[bernard]

You would be better off looking for the earlier and better 0 261 200 173 ECU, which is identical in operation but doesn't have the troublesome extra diodes.

Or a 172, from a 2.0 litre, which may be cheaper and have greater availability, plus one of your 2.5 chips.

Are these all interchangable? Wasn't aware of that and there are a lot more used 261200173 DMEs on ebay

Chipping was on the cards

[Brianmoooore]

173 and 380 are directly interchangeable, and a 172 only differs from a 173 in the software contained in the 'chip'.
What, exactly, is the problem with your car?

[DanThe]

I expect it is a non running fuel pump situation, hopefully the crank sensor has been checked/changed

Send me a pm if you want the ECU testing as described on the ATP link.

[Speedtouch]

Any of the later six-pot Motronic 1.3 ECUs (172/173/179/380/381) are all interchangeable if you fit a suitable EPROM chip.

[Shaheenem]

I have a spare 173 325i ECU. Only issue is i am in South Africa.

[Brianmoooore]

All the last several posts above are probably irrelevant, since I doubt even more that the OP actually needs one.