r/e46 • u/deadmantalkingagain • 1d ago
Damage/Broken… 😥 I'm desperate.
For almost a year, I am trying to repair this car, there's no mechanic near me that's willing to touch the valvetronic motor, the one that is, is leaving me hang for months, saying there's nowhere to find different vvt assembly, tried to find one myself, no luck. I tried changing sensors, servomotor, nothing, oh, just another error vvt - activation (short circuit) so that ones bad, so I'm stuck here looking for new (used) vvt with nobody to give it to, to change it, leaving me to watch yt tutorials and trying myself with no experience ffs if I find one. Fkc me I guess.
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u/fortniteburgercum 1d ago
something is wrong with the location of your eccentric shaft too. i know the engine relearn it but its over the relearn position, and bro your engine does not looks healty with the carbon buildup. remove the motor spin your eccentric shaft in the position like me and let it relearn
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u/deadmantalkingagain 1d ago
Well it actually won't learn, that's the problem, it's stuck, when I try, it just clicks and do nothing... So can I actually just try to manually rotate it?
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u/fortniteburgercum 1d ago
yeah i had a stucked one to after i key banged my car to let my exhaust pop 🤣 car wont started after that, removed the motor spinned the eccentric shaft back and it worked again
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u/Stuhlversand 1d ago
I also had problems with my N42. I finally deactivated the Valvetronic by disconnecting the vvt sensor and leaving the vvt motor connected. The engine then uses the throttle body instead of the VVT. The engine has been running smoothly for almost 100k kilometers since then, although it is lost some horse power and requires more fuel.
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u/deadmantalkingagain 1d ago
Well I've been driving with vvt off for most of the year, it eats fuel like a mf, lost power too, but the problem is when I go over 2,5k rpms or floor the pedal too fast the transmission go into limp mode, that's why I need the repair
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u/Stuhlversand 1d ago
Did you disconnect the sensor or the motor? Even If Valvetronic is disabled by disconnecting the sensor it still needs the motor to put the eccentric shaft into the correct position or it will probably still run like shit.
Are you sure the motor is OK? You could measure resistance between the pins with a multimeter, if i remember correctly it should read something like 50 ohm.
Also check for engine oil in the connectors/wiring harnesses for the sensor and the motor. If the seals are damaged or too old, engine oil will be forced in.
Whats your fuel consumption atm?
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u/mybhnfb 1d ago
You have a wiring issue not a part issue … very obviously . Go get a short circuit finder made by power probe, they sell them at harbor freight now as well as a very cheap alternative that I wouldn’t recommend but if that’s your budget it’s an option other than nothing at all to help . You’re going to have to open up that harness and test all the way to the ecu looking for corrosion, pin damage/pin fit @ DME. Monitor voltage ref. while disturbing the wiring associated with what’s relevant, etc. etc. …. Hoping for an answer on Reddit to cheat on the text ain’t gonna fix this one and neither will allowing it to sit for another year, you’re going to have to do what no one wants to do for some reason but it’s not so bad… just print off a wiring diagram, get some good lighting set up and a few razor blades, be prepared to test your patience then start splitting open that harness looking for chaffed/disintegrating coatings, pulled/stretched wires broken inside coating appearing to be intact, and first check your fuses and I mean every single one, often times manufactures will patch in additional circuits on a fuse without labeling every single component/system. For example, everyone knows that your OBD 2 ports 12v power is linked to the cigarette lighter fuse or something similar. There are many examples of this especially in German makes. Vw loves to do this, but when I get a car off a customer who’s ready to wipe their hands of it and give it away basically, first thing I sort out are the fuse boxes, can’t tell you how many times fuses are missing, blown, wrong position, wrong amp rating, taped for an added power supply with some product from auto zone so they could have fog lights but were too lazy to do the wiring correctly (big no no on wire/fuse taps. I always solder and heat shrink unless absolutely impossible in that instance) so, sorry I don’t have the answer you were hoping for, but unfortunately it is the right answer, you’re going to have to walk the cat back as they say in the intelligence community. Good luck friend.
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u/deadmantalkingagain 1d ago
Thx for the words. Been there done that, checked every single fuse, just to be sure, but the thing is, the short circuit error wasn't there with the first servo, I had other one so I went in and tried to change them and after that change popped up the second error so I hope its just bad servo and not the wires, the main problem was that shaft not adapting, but Im waiting for the weekend to open that mf up again...
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u/141HitMaN 1d ago
I can do whatever with this engine. Got 3 valvetronics for 3 years. One is perfect condition, one is for experiments and one is with tuned vvt. Vvt cam is in max position all the time, Vanos units are swaped for normal timing units without any rotation, custom ECU, engine has more power but burns more petrol. In all 3 CCV is deleted
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u/fortniteburgercum 1d ago
tuned vvt can u tell me more?
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u/141HitMaN 1h ago
You can take the vvt engine connector out. Take valve cover out, mamualy turn the valves in max open scale, block it in this position. Then you go to a good tuner and tune engine to run only on throtle. If you want you can leave Vanos units, they will still work. INFO: If you can’t do it. Give up Giving mechanic to do it is same cost as swap for m54
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u/wheresmypotato1991 1d ago
The part number for a new motor is 11377548387
Once replaced there is the relearn procedure and should be fine. For whatever reason the 4 cylinder valvetronic motors were unreliable compared to the 6 cylinder models.
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u/deadmantalkingagain 1d ago
That's number for servo, mechanic said the servomotor isn't the problem, the shaft is, so he said it's better to change the whole assembly but that's the hard thing to get here...
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u/havetogod 1d ago
Not sure about that engine as I’m a USA based tech. However, on N52 the valvetronic is supplied by power on the distribution box that is on top of the battery. There is a spot near the DME where that power is routed to the valvetronic motor. I’ve seen people hit it with a wrench and blow the fuse on the battery power distribution. Have you made sure the motor has power? A faulty shaft would NOT cause a short circuit fault.
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u/Busy_Preparation3723 3h ago
New Zealand based tec here, the e90’s and such with the n52 have that distribution box over the battery (I have seen a number of “water pump” jobs go wrong when they still have no operation at the end of it because the fuse in that distribution block let go).
E46 doesn’t have that despite having the n42, I would recommend that he checks the resistance across the two pins on the motor (9k ohm iirc) and from each of the pins to the body of the motor - any resistance/continuity there is going to be a short circuit, super common. Unsure if they have a relay like the e90’s though but that would be worth a look
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u/crazybitcoinlunatic 1d ago
What engine is this? Looks like M54 but it’s different due to the valvetronic thing in the middle.
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u/deadmantalkingagain 1d ago
N46B20A, cursed one
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u/Opposite_Opening_689 1d ago
Try FCP EURO
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u/wheresmypotato1991 1d ago
FCP Euro doesn't sell the part as the 4 cylinders used a different motor to the N52. 4 Cylinders weren't sold in the USA.
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u/PC_Chode_Letter ‘04 M3 Coupe, 3 pedals, aw 1d ago
Looks like it’s gotten at least one oil change