[gbkd80]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryboY46iYoY

I'll try to keep this shortened...

I have a 2013 F30 with the N20 engine. I had my tires switched out in January to non run-flats and got an alignment while I was there. I swear something happened at the tire shop that day, I'm convinced... the car seemed to be super bouncy, and I was hearing lots of knocking when I went over simple road imperfections; mostly when I went over uneven road and both sides hit the bump or dip in the road, you'd hear this rumble / shudder sound. Anyway the tires were crap, I switched them back out to run-flats again. Rode much more familiar. But the knocking was still happening over the road. Noise seemed to be coming from the middle of the car like right next to me, almost like the noise you get when an exhaust is loose and it knocks around... but a bit different.

Then a couple months ago, I got a Drivetrain Malfunction warning on the dash. I turned the car off, turned it back on, warning never came back. Car ran fine.

I can't remember if I got the warning before or after, but around that time I changed my oil myself for the first time on this car (no more maintenance). I used Liqui-Moly 5W30 and the MANN filter etc. No issues changing the oil.

Then last week, I got the Drivetrain Malfunction again. I swung by my mechanic who is a BMW specialist and had him scan the car and see what was coming up. We were getting the error "133E10 Valvetronic System: deactivated, adjustment fault too frequent" and it was the only one that kept coming back after we cleared everything. He told me to check with the dealer first to see if they'd goodwill a repair since I'm at 90k. The thing is, the car doesn't seem to run any different than usual. HOWEVER, I've always kinda heard this janky sounding rattle when accelerating that I am convinced is the timing chain but never addressed it. Even the guys at the dealer once told me "it's the injectors firing constantly, that's how that motor works". Ok. Maybe...

But now, I'm hearing this little puttering noise coming from the middle of the car which is loudest from the back seat. It speeds up with acceleration. I posted the video at the top, a short clip of the noise.

I haven't had the time to get the car up off the ground and look underneath yet to address the suspension rumble, plus it's all covered by shields... I don't even know what I'd be looking for honestly. Give me a simple 4-banger Ford or whatever and I can figure it out most likely... this was just my fun car that I got stuck with (long story) and now owe out the a$$ on, and worried I'm going to end up with one of the famous N20s...

The caveat is, yes I have a mechanic, and yes, we can put this up on the lift at some point, but he's stretched so thin as it is and he asked me to google it up a bit first and do some homework to see if it's possible maybe it's just a computer error before deeming it a 2k+ repair job. The dealer was only interested in telling me it's 165.00 to diagnose, forgetting the fact they got an extended maintenance plan out of me that literally consisted of 3 oil changes.

Any direction anyone can point me in would at least be a huge help.

[Moontan]

Originally Posted by gbkd80

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryboY46iYoY

Any direction anyone can point me in would at least be a huge help.

That sounds like the fuel pump. It's normally more pronounced when you are low on fuel. Low fuel and sudden acceleration can also throw a DT error.