A BMW 530 arrived at our workshop on the back of a recovery vehicle recently and we were asked to investigate a non-start fault. The engine would crank but refused to start. I began by running a diagnostic check of the DDE module. Amongst numerous error codes was 4A63 [EWS tampering] . This was not the first time i had encountered this fault, so i was confident this was the cause of the problem. This code indicates a synchronisation fault between the CAS [car access system] and the DDE [digital diesel electronics]. A quick look at the DDE synchronisation status confirmed my suspicions. Rectification requires realignment of the DDE and CAS modules using the Autologic diagnostic tool. Once carried out …

Read More »

Its been a while since I have had the opportunity to post a case study, needless to say we have had many interesting cases pass through the workshop. The latest was a 2016 Citroen DS3  the customer reported a severe lack of power accompanied by illumination of the M.I.L  I began with a diagnostic check which revealed an error code P0011 (camshaft position A over advanced) Position A refers to the inlet camshaft, this means the PCM is reporting an irregularity with the inlet variable timing control. The variable timing deviation (both inlet and exhaust) is controlled by two solenoids located on the side of the cylinder head which diverts engine oil under pressure into the relative camshaft phaser to …

Read More »

We were recently asked to investigate a fault on a 2015 Corsa E 1.4 petrol, the customer reported that when idling the ESP light would illuminate. Upon driving the vehicle into the workshop I immediately noticed the engine was a little erratic at idle but became much smoother when part throttle was applied. The ESP light was indeed illuminated but not the ABS lamp so the first thing to do was to interrogate the brake module which had an error code set U0401 (invalid data received from PCM). This code is set as a result of an engine management issue so the next step was to check this system. The PCM had logged an error code P0171 (system lean) this …

Read More »