what is happening???????????

phillym5 · 28th November 2002, 04:03

driving on the road and my service engine light came on. the car is still running fine. getting on the highway its good untill fourth gear at about 80mph. the thing hits the breaks and wont rev past 3,000 rpm. so i pull over, take the key out restart the car, and then the light is gone and i have full strength again. so im cruzin along untill a couple street racers pull up(lancer and a ml55) we get to a nice straight, i downshift to third, coming up to 7,000rpm, shift to fourth, and at about 6,000 rpm the car hits the breaks again. now i cant rev past 3,000 but there is no service light. i turn the car off, start it back up, and everything is fine. this has happened a few times. about six months ago i had a new vanos put in, eventhough we found out it was the exhaust cam sensor(i think thats what they called it)put a new one of those in, and now im back to this. any suggestions?thanks, josh.

rvacha · 28th November 2002, 04:17

That really sounds like the cam sensor again. You've got two of them, so I'd guess the other one died.

greg · 28th November 2002, 08:16

Could be as simple as a bad load of gas. The situation you describe is prime kock territory. If the fuel was bad, or dirty (fuel filter clogged) your engine might not be able to make full power without knocking - at which point the computer tries to compensate. But if the onset is too sudden, the computer decides something is MORE wrong and it lights the light. The poor power is the "limp-home" mode designed to protect the engine from further damage dramatically reducing the power the engine is allowed to make. GO GET THE OBC read out at the dealer. The stored codes will tell much.

phillym5 · 28th November 2002, 09:14

thanks guys. im going to spain tommorow for three weeks. when i get back ill plug it in at the dealership and le you know. wish me luck cuz i hate to fly.

AndyS · 28th November 2002, 11:36

My last M5 had exactly the same problem. Nearly caused a serious crash on the M1 (one of the busiest roads here). The engine management system was giving false information regarding the cause. It was indicating misfires on various cylinders, fuel starvation, air sensor problems and Cat failures. My local dealer replaced the entire fuel system from the fuel tank forward. Catalytic converters were changed along with many other parts. After a month and the fault occuring 13 times, BMW UK took the car out for a test drive with the dealer principal, service manager, chief technician and the troubleshooter from BMW UK. The car did it twice on a short run causing the troubleshooter to remark "that car is seriously dangerous".

The car was taken to BMW Bracknell (UK headquarters) where after several weeks the engine management system and air sensors were replaced. A special software version was sent from Germany to solve the problem. The fault took 2.5 months to solve.

I hope that you have better luck with the diagnosis than I did.

Andy.

AJ · 28th November 2002, 22:40

well, reboot the sucker

alex
02 gts
few other cars

phillym5 · 3rd December 2002, 22:28

dang, i hope that isnt the case with mine. it seemed to be doing it fairly often. maybe ill sell it and move to barcelona. im here and the place is the best. no gangsters trying to check me all the time and the city is awesome. i havent seen one m5 though. the fastest vehicles here are all the scooters. take care and ill give you an update on my cars situation after dec. 16th. josh.

Gustav · 4th December 2002, 00:12

Loooks like the plane ride went OK

Barcelone is nice? Fun, big city!