M5 engine cutting out - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

futie · 17th February 2003, 18:17

Hi all, please be gentle as this is my first time .. i've had a 2000 M5 for 6 months or so now, and it's been behaving oddly for the last couple of months.

At first it started to run badly now and then, for a couple of minutes, then it would clear itself. I see a lot of people have had similar symptoms. My local dealer had the car in, changed a camshaft sensor and reset the maps.

All was ok for a couple of weeks (it actually ran better) but then it started to get rough again, and at the weekend it actually cut out at about 5500 rpm and then stubbornly refused to go above 3000 rpm until I got home.

I turned the engine off, waited 10 sec, then back on again, and it was fine. Took it to the dealers this morning and left it there.

Anyway, just wondered if anyone else has had these symptoms; I hear that a likely culprit could be the 'o-rings' in the VANOS. Something about oil leaking past them. But since i've no idea what these are, I don't know if this is plausible. What do you think?

TIA,
futie

AVOXO · 17th February 2003, 19:28

dont rev it in the yellow cold

futie · 17th February 2003, 19:31

Quote:

Originally posted by AVOXO
dont rev it in the yellow cold

AVOXO, I don't! I was about 15 mins into a journey when it cut out - all the lights were out.

My other car is extremely sensitive to wide throttle openings when cold and i'm very careful not to use high revs when the engine is cold. Of course, the M5 helps by indicating what safe revs you can use ..

AVOXO · 18th February 2003, 02:14

GOTCHA BUDDY

Richard in NC · 18th February 2003, 02:44

Futie;
I've not experienced those symptoms yet but they can be caused by a lot of things based on posts over the last few years. The camshaft sensor causing misfires is a likely cause. Maybe they replaced the wrong one? Does the SES light come on? BTW, limp home mode would keep the revs low. "Rebooting" the car by turning it off and back on probably cleared the condition and allowed it to run fine. Hopefully the error codes would still be in the computer and a BMW service center can properly diagnose it the next time. Do a search for more info.

futie · 18th February 2003, 10:42

Thanks for the info, guys. The garage called last night to say that they have a 'hunch' it's the fuel filter. Perhaps they did change the wrong camshaft sensor - seems a little odd, though.

One thing they did show me last time was all the printouts from the diagnostic equipment - about 20 pages! One of them showed the output from the 'black box' part of the ECU which records faults. It's odd that it seems to overwrite bits of old faults if there are too many recorded. So they have to 'guess' at what the problem is....

Oh, before I forget .. no SES light. Nothing odd on the dash at all, except I couldn't get that big needle over 3000 rpm! I've done lots of searches here, but all I can find is the 'rough running' which lots of you guys seem to report. Nobody reports the 'get home' mode (that I could find!).

Once again, thanks for the info! Will post any results here.

Futie

AndyS · 18th February 2003, 14:41

Quote:

Originally posted by futie
Thanks for the info, guys. The garage called last night to say that they have a 'hunch' it's the fuel filter.

Uh oh. Thats where my problems started. My dealer spent 6 weeks changing parts starting with the fuel system trying to fix this fault on my 2000. After 6 weeks, the car was sent to Bracknell and BMW themselves spent 4 weeks trying to fix it. In the end it had new software and VAS sensors. Not sure why it has had new software to this day. In the end BMW replaced the car.

During the 6 weeks at my dealer, the car had a number of items changed including fuel pumps, fuel senders, pump filters, relays, carbon filters and pressure regulators.

Good luck with your fix.

futie · 18th February 2003, 15:33

Andy, were the symptoms the same as the ones I have had?

I am desperately trying to find anyone else with the same symptoms so I can get the name of the dealer who was trying to fix or sorted the problem. Then I can get my dealer to contact them directly.

TCM · 18th February 2003, 19:29

futie:

It sounds as if your car went into "limp mode" while on the highway that day. I have also experienced this in the M5. Obviously, the code was only temporary as it reset itself when the car was shut off. I think you may be looking at a VANOS sysytem but that is only guessing.

AndyS · 18th February 2003, 23:29

Quote:

Originally posted by futie
Andy, were the symptoms the same as the ones I have had?

Yup, the car entered limp home mode as I was driving. It usually happened when I was at motorway or fast A road speeds. In total it occurred about 14 times. If you've got the same problem, get the dealership to contact Ken McCrurie from BMW UK. He's the technical troubleshooter that experienced the problem 1st hand in my car. It did it twice to him while test driving my car with the dealer principal and 2 senior technicians. The techs said that it scared the hell out of them all.