Knock Sensor Error & Height Adaptation
 

My M44 has been running rough recently. I am having some errors, I recently fixed a bad cam sensor it helped some and got rid of the cam sensor error however now I have a knock sensor error and a height adaptation error.

I went for a drive today, came and plugged it into inpa, the car sounds a bit like a truck or diesel and the cylinder smoothness idle shows

Cylinder 1 67
Cylinder 3 63
Cylinder 4 195
Cylinder 2 138

So either the Cylinder 4 & 2 and compensating for 1 & 3. or those are the problematic ones. Never had this before the bump and its been sitting for just 2 weeks.

Will the knock sensor 1 being bad cause this?

Will test the knock sensor values tomorrow. Whats the height adaptation error? related to maf?

Both of my knock sensors were brittle and cracked into a million pieces. I ended up replacing only the front sensor. Before doing so it ran like absolute sh*t, very rough, wanted to die on several occasions. It runs okay now although i do plan to replace that second sensor. I really need to get my hands on an old win xp laptop with a real serial port so i can use INPA.


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Well I am not sure if you need a serial port, I read my M44 with just the FTDI cable off ebay and INPA setup in an old NC laptop. For serial port, the HP 6730B has one, its old and widely available. :smile: Here is something - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhNwUNaLQi8

So back on to it, the engine has only 2 knock sensors right? last I checked the sensors were both attached to a single connector?

You’re right, thats a good point, my mistake they are indeed wired to the same connector on the m44 harness, I was thinking m42 where they are separate parts. Maybe this has something to do with the fact that they combined them on the later models? Or possibly because every connector on that earlier harness is almost identical and most people seem to mix them up when re installing. Lol




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I didn’t realize you had a video up about the software, I’m gonna check that out as soon as I’m off work. However last few times ive tried with my current laptop using the VAGCOM (with ftdi chip) and OBD2 to OBD1 adapter, I will get an error on INPA when trying to load the engine specs and reading the ecu. Ill grab one of those HPs to get to the bottom of it. Thanks for the resources!


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Would you say I ought to replace them them? I already asked my guys to find it and send it to me. When you see on the M44 (and I guess M42?) the sensors are between Cylinder 2 and 4.

I would just replace them even if its just for piece of mind..and yes quite a lovely spot, i managed to change the front sensor without having to take both manifolds off, I’d say they held up well for 20+ years of heat cycles, and this car runs pretty warm up here on the east coast.


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Replaced knock sensors. The knock sensor issue is gone, main issue is still there. looking in INPA, 02 sensor is functioning right. The car only starts to have the issues once its warmed up (91C / half way) 121 height adaptation error load registration, havent found anything on this particular code, but it makes it all go crazy. Idle is around 900rpm when cold and 1100rpm when warm. I am beginning to very much dislike the 4 cylinder motor.

Its not even pointing me to the right direction. I might give up on the ti as I will be leaving for eu in a few months.

Thats unfortunate, im sorry to hear it. I wish i had more knowledge on this one..


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Thats okay, you tried your best to help. I am fairly new to these motors myself, I recorded this video if anyone can chip in. Just didnt think a speed bump would be the end of it all. I am thinking if its the tensioner chain, seems to have no loseness when I opened the valve cover. however who knows.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6BOLpOrnss

Huh, so you’re getting this noise whether its hot or cold? How did the chain guide look when you had it open? Im sure if it was damaged you would have noticed, it isnt hidden at all. Thats really irritating and the fact that one bump caused this seems like a freak occurrence although i guess anything is possible..


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I think it may be a issue with the tensioner. I took the tensioner off the other day and took it apart so not sure but I think it could be it the noise and all. Here is a video.

https://youtu.be/jP9UQH486mM

Wow I’ve never seen one with that much play. Well after seeing that it looks possible that timing jumped a tooth after hitting that bump. I would replace it for sure if you still have the patience for this little guy..


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Man how much time did it take to pull the timing cover? I have to do mine its starting to leak


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I wonder whats the fastest method to check the timing to see if its correct or not on these motors?

The timing case was a very simple job, 10-20 mins really. What you do is grab a 22mm socket and wrench, go under the car and look for the little rubber cover on the exhaust side of the motor, so you can see the fly wheel and all. As you turn the motor (easy pezy) you will see some 3-4 little holes to lock the fly wheel onto. use a m8 bolt and jam it in there well. next go back up and undo the flywheel bolt, just like you would any regular bolt, anti clock wise. use a breaker bar or just use a long piece of square tubing or just regular tubing, 3 foot is plenty long. IIRC when you do it back up its 200ft/ibs.

But really when you do it back I would use prematex and not the steel or paper gasket. And the tensioner can be removed from the side as we know, if I knew I would had done that earlier. This wont be my last ti, I assure ya. In Germany I will grab another one and have fun there.

Got it, thanks. Im not sure about the timing marks on these. Do you use the timing block tool? i dont remember if the m5x tool was compatible with the m4x one. Thats a shame you took it all off when you didnt have to but at least now you can see exactly how much that chain is smacking around in there..yikes. Ill have to do mine sooner or later, its a pain to find any downtime for this car since it is my daily currently. I can see some rtv squeezed out the top corner of the case as if someone’s been in there already, or maybe this is factory beats me..ill have a look at the timing marks if you dont beat me to it


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I think this would be a nice video on timing, real simple, the same tool for the M52/M5 should work if its this one he is using.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksP5tSrz_s4

Thats a good one, at least one of about 3 ive ever seen on the internet. Not much video content on these engines.


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So I think the issue I was having months ago with my little Ti finally came to light. I bought the car as a daily and after a few months the issues began after a speed bump and I have read how the ABS not working can cause the engine to misfire.

Anyway so today it was driving fine, no usual hesitation or misfires but I finally saw the ABS light came on (no issue with braking)

Here is what I get in INPA

ASCMK20

129 main relay inside control unit - How do I get to the bottom of this? Is it a relay inside the ABS Unit or the relay in the fues box or is there one inside the ECU compartment?

121 height adaption (Error Load registration) - Unsure what this is for but I assume its related to the two.

175 Output suction pipe-switching - This I understand is DISA Related?

I cant seem to nail down if its the front two sensors or the ABS unit the culprit or some relay.

Any input appreciated.

FIXED!
 

Hi everyone, I have some fantastic news. All my issues have been fixed and the root was ASC & ABS. I did the ABS repair, and just went for a drive, no more misfires, no more hesitations! no more issues, didn't even need to disable the ASC. All is working great!:biggrin:

So I went after the ABS module today, took the electronic controller part off, cut the plastic housing open using a angle grinder (can use a dremel rotary tool) I found the dry solder joints. I re soldered it all then put the lid back on and plastic welded it (you can use the soldering iron plus some left over abs plastic to do such repairs) then cleaned it off with the grinder a bit and sealed it with some plastic epoxy just for good measure.


I also found a fuse (IIRC fuse 21 5A/32V I believe?) that was blown. Thanks to that fuse blowing I was able to narrow it more down to the ABS/ASC as I believe the solder joints after the speed bump were so lose that it was intermittent when the engine was pulling hard the ABS must had enough of a kickback/jerk to loosen the solder joints inside, then same applied going uphill and shorting that eventually lead blowing the fuse months later, which thankfully disabled the ASC and the car was able to just drive fine.

But now all is running fine, the ABS & ASC works fine and the lights have gone. The down side was when putting it all back together one of the ABS lines are now cross threaded which I will have to repair! Haha! I could had done the repair without taking the abs lines off (a little bending will be required). Something I will attempt to solve tomorrow or this week when time allows but for now I am so happy that my little Red Ti is working fine. Now I can leave this here in NZ as my holiday car!

Anybody having misfire issues, kindly check the code and for any codes, then this code I had 121 Height Adaptation Load Management (which is not well documented online at all) this error code was all due to the ASC MK20 ABS module having bad solder joints inside that made things intermittent!