Still Stalling..

[Murphyslaw]

My e39 540 Auto continues to stall, regardless of sensors and fuel filter being replaced. As I'm starting to lose faith in the reliability of the car, I thought I would ask if anyone here knows what it might be.

Symptoms:
Driving along, come up to a roundabout and occassionally when I go to pull away, I lose all power and the engine stalls. Put it into manual whilst it's coasting along and try to restart the engine, sometimes it fires up first time, other times it makes a horrid sound. The sound is hard to explain but it makes you cringe. It does not sound like metal rubbing on metal, more like the starter motor turning but nothing else firing up.

Other times, I am driving on the motorway (70mph - nothing extreme) and the car will start to jolt, almost like its starving itself of petrol. Try to tap the throttle and the revs drop even more dramatically (slows it down too, quite rapidly!!)

The sensor I have had replaced (that are relevant) is the Crankshaft position sensor. I have had it checked by 2 different garages, of which one was a $tealer, neither were able to get any errors off the ECU, clean. I have heard stories of the Camshaft position sensor fixing problems, but I do recall there being registrations of the fault code in the ECU.

HELP! used

Iain

[Furious]

very tough. you problem could be a slue of things. from a problem in the fuel system, air intake and exhaust system, working parts even the ecu. have you called the stealer back and explained what has happened? if so what are they going to do about it?

i think at least they can do is scan the car for free again.

im assuming that your not getting any fault lights right.

[Murphyslaw]

Hiya, I have been given the name of a $tealer not too far from where I live.. apparantly they have real engineers and not just mechanics so im hoping they can point me in the right direction. You are right that I have no lights on to give anything away.

Will get back to you

Thanks

Iain

[Speedfreak]

I'll be interested to hear the solution.

[WindowPro]

Originally posted by Murphyslaw@Oct 31 2004, 07:25 PM
My e39 540 Auto continues to stall, regardless of sensors and fuel filter being replaced. As I'm starting to lose faith in the reliability of the car, I thought I would ask if anyone here knows what it might be.

Symptoms:
Driving along, come up to a roundabout and occassionally when I go to pull away, I lose all power and the engine stalls. Put it into manual whilst it's coasting along and try to restart the engine, sometimes it fires up first time, other times it makes a horrid sound. The sound is hard to explain but it makes you cringe. It does not sound like metal rubbing on metal, more like the starter motor turning but nothing else firing up.

Other times, I am driving on the motorway (70mph - nothing extreme) and the car will start to jolt, almost like its starving itself of petrol. Try to tap the throttle and the revs drop even more dramatically (slows it down too, quite rapidly!!)

The sensor I have had replaced (that are relevant) is the Crankshaft position sensor. I have had it checked by 2 different garages, of which one was a $tealer, neither were able to get any errors off the ECU, clean. I have heard stories of the Camshaft position sensor fixing problems, but I do recall there being registrations of the fault code in the ECU.

HELP! used

Iain

[snapback]221846[/snapback]

Murphyslaw,

Is it missing / backfiring? How many miles are on the car? New spark plugs?

Over the weekend I had very similar symptoms like you are describing. I just got my car back this evening. Mine turned out to be the spark plugs. My mechanic suggests purchasing new plugs from the dealer instead of aftermarket. He had to do "replacements" of plugs he had initially installed for one BMW owner. I personally have never heard of owners having trouble with "quality" aftermarket plugs however, I do know my car is running 1000% better.

BTW -- how's the gas mileage? Poor?

Please let me know how this turns out.

Jim

[unjustjust]

I had a stalling problem recently, but not when the car was moving. I would drive for say 30 minutes, turn the car off, turn it back on, let it try to idle and it would stall..my problem was the Cam sensor (so the service dept)

might want to get that checked out as well...

-j

Originally posted by WindowPro+Nov 2 2004, 06:04 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(WindowPro @ Nov 2 2004, 06:04 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-Murphyslaw@Oct 31 2004, 07:25 PM
My e39 540 Auto continues to stall, regardless of sensors and fuel filter being replaced. As I'm starting to lose faith in the reliability of the car, I thought I would ask if anyone here knows what it might be.

Symptoms:
Driving along, come up to a roundabout and occassionally when I go to pull away, I lose all power and the engine stalls. Put it into manual whilst it's coasting along and try to restart the engine, sometimes it fires up first time, other times it makes a horrid sound. The sound is hard to explain but it makes you cringe. It does not sound like metal rubbing on metal, more like the starter motor turning but nothing else firing up.

Other times, I am driving on the motorway (70mph - nothing extreme) and the car will start to jolt, almost like its starving itself of petrol. Try to tap the throttle and the revs drop even more dramatically (slows it down too, quite rapidly!!)

The sensor I have had replaced (that are relevant) is the Crankshaft position sensor. I have had it checked by 2 different garages, of which one was a $tealer, neither were able to get any errors off the ECU, clean. I have heard stories of the Camshaft position sensor fixing problems, but I do recall there being registrations of the fault code in the ECU.

HELP! used

Iain

[snapback]221846[/snapback]

Murphyslaw,

Is it missing / backfiring? How many miles are on the car? New spark plugs?

Over the weekend I had very similar symptoms like you are describing. I just got my car back this evening. Mine turned out to be the spark plugs. My mechanic suggests purchasing new plugs from the dealer instead of aftermarket. He had to do "replacements" of plugs he had initially installed for one BMW owner. I personally have never heard of owners having trouble with "quality" aftermarket plugs however, I do know my car is running 1000% better.

BTW -- how's the gas mileage? Poor?

Please let me know how this turns out.

Jim

[snapback]223310[/snapback]

[/b][/quote]

[billB]

Murphyslaw

Let us review for a sec:

1. The car is missing.
2. The car is jolting.
3. Sounds like some sort of electonic/injectors/electrical problems etc etc

In this case the computer ought to complain to you and thus the ECU MUST give out some Fault Code/s; don't you think? Unless of course the ECU and/or the scanner CANNOT communicate with each others (i.e.PATH) as such without a scanner and hence FAULT CODES everyone's guess is as good as the other's. Check it out for whatever its worth before spending money on GUESS work.

Good luck
billb

[WindowPro]

Originally posted by billB@Nov 3 2004, 05:36 PM
Murphyslaw

Let us review for a sec:

1. The car is missing.
2. The car is jolting.
3. Sounds like some sort of electonic/injectors/electrical problems etc etc

In this case the computer ought to complain to you and thus the ECU MUST give out some Fault Code/s; don't you think? Unless of course the ECU and/or the scanner CANNOT communicate with each others (i.e.PATH) as such without a scanner and hence FAULT CODES everyone's guess is as good as the other's. Check it out for whatever its worth before spending money on GUESS work.

Good luck
billb

[snapback]223830[/snapback]

This is exactly the same problem I had with my car two days ago. No code, jolting, missing. What about the spark plugs? Changed? Depending on mileage you may want to start there?

[andymarshal]

when i had my 99 540ia 63000 miles i was driving and came to traffic lights and it just cut out. i tried to start it again and the engine would not start, the starter just kept kicking in. amyhow it turned out it was the fuel relay or pump, the stealer had to take out the back seats and empty the tank to fix it, the wire had come loose, i would say that this is your problem as mine stuttered before it cut out.

not sure what exact part it was but i know it was in the fuel tank.

no one has sugested this but i guess it is worth a try as your problem sounds like fuel supply

andy

[billB]

Amdymarshal

Glad to hear your problem is sorted out. Cheers!
billb

[andymarshal]

Originally posted by billB@Nov 5 2004, 10:02 PM
Amdymarshal

Glad to hear your problem is sorted out. Cheers!
billb

[snapback]225321[/snapback]

thanks bill, i found this forum very very helpful with my problem. I love my car and this forum. I still have a minor problem though, my car seems to miss fire very rarely at a random point, think it needs new plugs and also my service lights are all still all on, the last time it was serviced was 10000 miles ago - surely this aint right, maybe the stealer accidentaly reset it when messing around with fault codes. so maybe a service will sort this out.

boy those e39's are sweet the nicest looking bmw's ever made (imho) once youve been driving a 540 you can never go back, evrything else just feels ordinary.

nothing beets the feeling of pulling up at the lights in a more or less stock looking 540 next to a boy racer in an escort cossy or xr2 fiesta and just leaving them standing.
sorry to hijack, i just love my motor

andy

[BeelZibub]

Originally posted by andymarshal+Nov 6 2004, 01:07 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(andymarshal @ Nov 6 2004, 01:07 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-billB@Nov 5 2004, 10:02 PM
Amdymarshal

Glad to hear your problem is sorted out. Cheers!
billb

[snapback]225321[/snapback]

thanks bill, i found this forum very very helpful with my problem. I love my car and this forum. I still have a minor problem though, my car seems to miss fire very rarely at a random point, think it needs new plugs and also my service lights are all still all on, the last time it was serviced was 10000 miles ago - surely this aint right, maybe the stealer accidentaly reset it when messing around with fault codes. so maybe a service will sort this out.

boy those e39's are sweet the nicest looking bmw's ever made (imho) once youve been driving a 540 you can never go back, evrything else just feels ordinary.

nothing beets the feeling of pulling up at the lights in a more or less stock looking 540 next to a boy racer in an escort cossy or xr2 fiesta and just leaving them standing.
sorry to hijack, i just love my motor

andy

[snapback]225381[/snapback]

[/b][/quote]

Odds are whilst buggering about with your computer trying to get the fault codes out they then reset the computer rather than just clearing the fault codes - judging from my service records each service comes at around 7000-7500 miles approx. (obviously this is dependant on car, driving conditions etc, ect, etc but is a rough guideline). Perhaps people with 540's could advise you of the rough mileage's between services they are getting - 10000 is a bloody long time to not have so much as an oil service on a beamer.

[andymarshal]

Originally posted by BeelZibub+Nov 6 2004, 12:30 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BeelZibub @ Nov 6 2004, 12:30 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'>

thanks bill, i found this forum very very helpful with my problem. I love my car and this forum. I still have a minor problem though, my car seems to miss fire very rarely at a random point, think it needs new plugs and also my service lights are all still all on, the last time it was serviced was 10000 miles ago - surely this aint right, maybe the stealer accidentaly reset it when messing around with fault codes. so maybe a service will sort this out.

boy those e39's are sweet the nicest looking bmw's ever made (imho) once youve been driving a 540 you can never go back, evrything else just feels ordinary.

nothing beets the feeling of pulling up at the lights in a more or less stock looking 540 next to a boy racer in an escort cossy or xr2 fiesta and just leaving them standing.
sorry to hijack, i just love my motor

andy

[snapback]225381[/snapback]

Odds are whilst buggering about with your computer trying to get the fault codes out they then reset the computer rather than just clearing the fault codes - judging from my service records each service comes at around 7000-7500 miles approx. (obviously this is dependant on car, driving conditions etc, ect, etc but is a rough guideline). Perhaps people with 540's could advise you of the rough mileage's between services they are getting - 10000 is a bloody long time to not have so much as an oil service on a beamer.

[snapback]225389[/snapback]

[/b][/quote]

i thought that myself as its a pretty advanced engine, think i willl get it serviced asap

andy

[andymarshal]

Originally posted by andymarshal+Nov 6 2004, 12:32 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(andymarshal @ Nov 6 2004, 12:32 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'>

Odds are whilst buggering about with your computer trying to get the fault codes out they then reset the computer rather than just clearing the fault codes - judging from my service records each service comes at around 7000-7500 miles approx. (obviously this is dependant on car, driving conditions etc, ect, etc but is a rough guideline). Perhaps people with 540's could advise you of the rough mileage's between services they are getting - 10000 is a bloody long time to not have so much as an oil service on a beamer.

[snapback]225389[/snapback]

i thought that myself as its a pretty advanced engine, think i willl get it serviced asap

andy

[snapback]225391[/snapback]

[/b][/quote]

btw beelz how is it going in northfield?

[billB]

Add to it this: PREVENTIVE maintenance is essential on those cars.

Wishing you the best of luck

billb