Mysterious issue with 2003 530i

[thphon]

Hi all,

I'm having a weird issue that can't be diagnosed on a 2003 530i with 161k miles I bought 6 months ago. It was a one owner with full service records from a dealership close by, the last one a month before I bought it.
Let me explain the weird issue first and then I'll explain how I got to this conclusion: basically when I drive it over an hour and it's hot, it can get to a point that loses throttle completely, a bunch of lights come on the dashboard and the car shuts down. Sometime later (perhaps as little as 30 minutes) the car starts again, no lights on dashboard and drives just fine.
As soon as I bought it, when driving it to the DMV, I stopped at a light and the red oil light came on and a few moments later it went away. I took it to my mechanic and he couldn't find anything so I didn't bother too much about it. Since then it happened one or twice but just as briefly as the first one. Now I look at that as a bad omen hehe. Not sure if it's related but wanted to throw it out just in case.
Going to the main problem, a couple of months later I drove it for the first time for around 100 miles and the car lost throttle, several lights came on the dashboard (that had nothing to do with each other) and within a minute shut down completely. I took it to a mechanic my mechanic recommended and he told me the computer didn't show anything wrong, he checked the battery as well and it was fine. The next day I drove it back home and it happened again a few blocks before getting to my house. Knowing what happened last time, I waited a few hours and I was able to use it again. After that it happened a day before I left town for 2 weeks, so I left the car to my mechanic, he ran the diagnosis and nothing came up again. He drove it for a while trying to reproduce the issue himself but wasn't able to. Since then I haven't driven it more than I have to and I never have to drive it for long distances, plus I think the hot weather of Orlando, FL has something to do with it.
I didn't post this before because it's like I learned to live with it but I really like to fix it, specially now that I sold my other car.
I thought of driving it until it happens and then tow it to my mechanic, but his shop is an hour away and the tow truck has to pick it up before, so I know by then the car will start again without issues.
Did anybody experience anything similar to this? Could this be an ECU issue? Any idea or theory of what could be wrong is welcome.


Thanks,
Leo

[GenericUserid]

Hi all,

I'm having a weird issue that can't be diagnosed on a 2003 530i with 161k miles I bought 6 months ago. It was a one owner with full service records from a dealership close by, the last one a month before I bought it.
Let me explain the weird issue first and then I'll explain how I got to this conclusion: basically when I drive it over an hour and it's hot, it can get to a point that loses throttle completely, a bunch of lights come on the dashboard and the car shuts down. Sometime later (perhaps as little as 30 minutes) the car starts again, no lights on dashboard and drives just fine.
As soon as I bought it, when driving it to the DMV, I stopped at a light and the red oil light came on and a few moments later it went away. I took it to my mechanic and he couldn't find anything so I didn't bother too much about it. Since then it happened one or twice but just as briefly as the first one. Now I look at that as a bad omen hehe. Not sure if it's related but wanted to throw it out just in case.
Going to the main problem, a couple of months later I drove it for the first time for around 100 miles and the car lost throttle, several lights came on the dashboard (that had nothing to do with each other) and within a minute shut down completely. I took it to a mechanic my mechanic recommended and he told me the computer didn't show anything wrong, he checked the battery as well and it was fine. The next day I drove it back home and it happened again a few blocks before getting to my house. Knowing what happened last time, I waited a few hours and I was able to use it again. After that it happened a day before I left town for 2 weeks, so I left the car to my mechanic, he ran the diagnosis and nothing came up again. He drove it for a while trying to reproduce the issue himself but wasn't able to. Since then I haven't driven it more than I have to and I never have to drive it for long distances, plus I think the hot weather of Orlando, FL has something to do with it.
I didn't post this before because it's like I learned to live with it but I really like to fix it, specially now that I sold my other car.
I thought of driving it until it happens and then tow it to my mechanic, but his shop is an hour away and the tow truck has to pick it up before, so I know by then the car will start again without issues.
Did anybody experience anything similar to this? Could this be an ECU issue? Any idea or theory of what could be wrong is welcome.


Thanks,
Leo

Sounds like dodgy wiring to me somewhere in the fuel delivery system.

Have you thought of mounting a GoPro/Camera somewhere to capture the effect when the problem repeats itself?




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[pleiades]

Get the codes read and report back. Your car sounds like it's going into failsafe mode. It does that when the engine or trans are considered to be at risk of catastrophic failure. A bad throttle body can do that but it's not so common on your model-year. Low oil pressure will probably shut the car down. Check your oil and oil pressure. At that mileage the oil pressure sender/switch on the oil filter housing may be faulty or plugged with sludge. Not too hard to replace and it's an inexpensive part. In any case, you probably should not be driving this car until you identified and fixed what's causing it to go into failsafe.

Hi all,

I'm having a weird issue that can't be diagnosed on a 2003 530i with 161k miles I bought 6 months ago. It was a one owner with full service records from a dealership close by, the last one a month before I bought it.
Let me explain the weird issue first and then I'll explain how I got to this conclusion: basically when I drive it over an hour and it's hot, it can get to a point that loses throttle completely, a bunch of lights come on the dashboard and the car shuts down. Sometime later (perhaps as little as 30 minutes) the car starts again, no lights on dashboard and drives just fine.
As soon as I bought it, when driving it to the DMV, I stopped at a light and the red oil light came on and a few moments later it went away. I took it to my mechanic and he couldn't find anything so I didn't bother too much about it. Since then it happened one or twice but just as briefly as the first one. Now I look at that as a bad omen hehe. Not sure if it's related but wanted to throw it out just in case.
Going to the main problem, a couple of months later I drove it for the first time for around 100 miles and the car lost throttle, several lights came on the dashboard (that had nothing to do with each other) and within a minute shut down completely. I took it to a mechanic my mechanic recommended and he told me the computer didn't show anything wrong, he checked the battery as well and it was fine. The next day I drove it back home and it happened again a few blocks before getting to my house. Knowing what happened last time, I waited a few hours and I was able to use it again. After that it happened a day before I left town for 2 weeks, so I left the car to my mechanic, he ran the diagnosis and nothing came up again. He drove it for a while trying to reproduce the issue himself but wasn't able to. Since then I haven't driven it more than I have to and I never have to drive it for long distances, plus I think the hot weather of Orlando, FL has something to do with it.
I didn't post this before because it's like I learned to live with it but I really like to fix it, specially now that I sold my other car.
I thought of driving it until it happens and then tow it to my mechanic, but his shop is an hour away and the tow truck has to pick it up before, so I know by then the car will start again without issues.
Did anybody experience anything similar to this? Could this be an ECU issue? Any idea or theory of what could be wrong is welcome.


Thanks,
Leo

[thphon]

thanks for your replies guys, sorry only now I'm writing back. I was convinced I set this to get updates by email and never actually came back to the thread...(facepalm)
I kept driving the car and the same issue happened a few times, I put 11k miles since I bought it year and a half ago. The last time it happened I had an OBDII scanner and after the engine shut off I got back code P1343.
I looked online and found https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...iring-when-Hot which is the closest to what's happening to me. I noticed that when it's about to happen the car is idling like that post, the main difference is mine actually shuts off after a minute of misfires and his keeps running rough. The solution in that post is replacing the camshaft position sensor but since mine shuts off I want to check before I start throwing new parts at it.
By the way, now I'm able to reproduce the error if I want, I have to leave the car idling for a couple of hours, drive it for a mile, leave it idling for another 10 minutes or so, the misfires start and when I hit the gas pedal the engine eventually shuts off.
Finally, I went over the service records and this same thing happened to the first owner 3 times in 2015, BMW Fields of Orlando was not able to reproduce the error or fix it. Sadly he "forgot" to mention this minor detail to me haha.
I'm ready to sell the car because I bought a replacement but I don't want to sell it until I can fix this problem, I don't want to "forget" as well...

Thanks in advance for the help,
Leo

[mattmar1]

with the high cluster thats in that car, are you getting any alphanumeric faults showing up on it? p1343 is a cylinder 1 miss with fuel shut off, just for grins id swap the coil and plug tween 1 and another cylinder, or divide the parts tween 2 different cylinders and see what you get the next time it faults. any inactive or shadow codes stored in the DME? id also verify the oil pressure with a secondary gauge. itd be nice to know what all other lights came on, any way you could catch em with a camera?

[thphon]

with the high cluster thats in that car, are you getting any alphanumeric faults showing up on it? p1343 is a cylinder 1 miss with fuel shut off, just for grins id swap the coil and plug tween 1 and another cylinder, or divide the parts tween 2 different cylinders and see what you get the next time it faults. any inactive or shadow codes stored in the DME? id also verify the oil pressure with a secondary gauge. itd be nice to know what all other lights came on, any way you could catch em with a camera?

I have a video with the other lights that came on, I'll look for it. The car has no codes right now and when this issue happens only P1343 shows up, but only for a while. In half an hour or so the car starts again and no codes show up, worth mentioning that it will start after half an hour but in 10 minutes or so the issue will happen again. The longer I leave it the longer it takes to get to that point again

[thphon]

I have a video with the other lights that came on, I'll look for it. The car has no codes right now and when this issue happens only P1343 shows up, but only for a while. In half an hour or so the car starts again and no codes show up, worth mentioning that it will start after half an hour but in 10 minutes or so the issue will happen again. The longer I leave it the longer it takes to get to that point again

I don't know how it will look but basically when it happens "service engine soon", "battery" and "oil pressure" lights come on at the same time
error-lights.jpg

[E39 Newbie]

Something doesn't add up. Whenever the SES light illuminates the computer always stores a code. Very few of these codes go away until cleared by a scan tool. I find it difficult to believe that the mechanic puts a legit scan tool on it and finds nothing. BTW, an OBD-II scanner isn't worth a lot in these cases.

If it is going into failsafe mode, you will hear a sort of Ding from the car, and the display will have triangles on the left and right ends, and it will say Engine Failsafe Mode or Trans Failsafe Mode. Is this happening? From the looks of the pic, it is not. But an SES light will trigger codes. If there are truly no codes stored once the car cools down, perhaps it's a thermal failure of the ECU?

[thphon]

Something doesn't add up. Whenever the SES light illuminates the computer always stores a code. Very few of these codes go away until cleared by a scan tool. I find it difficult to believe that the mechanic puts a legit scan tool on it and finds nothing. BTW, an OBD-II scanner isn't worth a lot in these cases.

If it is going into failsafe mode, you will hear a sort of Ding from the car, and the display will have triangles on the left and right ends, and it will say Engine Failsafe Mode or Trans Failsafe Mode. Is this happening? From the looks of the pic, it is not. But an SES light will trigger codes. If there are truly no codes stored once the car cools down, perhaps it's a thermal failure of the ECU?

Before my mechanic looked at it, I had to take it to a BMW dealership in Tampa, they couldn't find any codes stored either. None of the triangles or things like that are happening. Something related to temperature with the ECU was my first thought because it's like the car goes crazy. I'm really puzzled by it...

[Chedley]

Definitely, you need a BMW specific diagnostic tool -such as INPA- to scan the car for error codes. Any"BMW specialist or dealer or "stealer" would have that tool or similar to diagnose it.
But based on what you describe, I suspect a bad low battery, a faulty alternator, a bad fouled coil /spark plug, and probably a couple few other defective sensors. Again reading the error codes should point to the actual problems.

Do not sell the car...and do not guess what is wrong with it. Diagnose and test.

[jclausen]

I like the fuel system idea because if the fuel pump goes out there will be no stored faults, have the tech install a fuel gauge tape it to the outside of the windshield and drive it if it acts up you can check the fuel pressure straight away

[E39 Newbie]

^^^ Good point

This isn't too hard to DIY. Harbor Freight has a kit for about $30. You should have something like 51 PSI at the rail at idle. I assume the 2003 specs are the same as 2002.

[thphon]

Definitely, you need a BMW specific diagnostic tool -such as INPA- to scan the car for error codes. Any"BMW specialist or dealer or "stealer" would have that tool or similar to diagnose it.
But based on what you describe, I suspect a bad low battery, a faulty alternator, a bad fouled coil /spark plug, and probably a couple few other defective sensors. Again reading the error codes should point to the actual problems.

Do not sell the car...and do not guess what is wrong with it. Diagnose and test.

It shows no codes after a while, only the moment it shuts off and for a brief period of time, that's the worst part about it.
I took it to bmw specialists and dealers/stealers and the diagnostic tool shows nothing. I'm the one that uses a crappy OBDII scanner.

- - - Updated - - -

I like the fuel system idea because if the fuel pump goes out there will be no stored faults, have the tech install a fuel gauge tape it to the outside of the windshield and drive it if it acts up you can check the fuel pressure straight away

Interesting, I'll look into that

^^^ Good point

This isn't too hard to DIY. Harbor Freight has a kit for about $30. You should have something like 51 PSI at the rail at idle. I assume the 2003 specs are the same as 2002.

I'll see if there's a video, I'm not mechanically inclined (to put it lightly haha)

Thanks!

[thphon]

I ended up selling the car before trying anything else. I bought online another e39 and had to get rid of this one because of space in the garage.
Took a big hit on the price because I told the buyer about the issue but at least I'm not part of the problem
As for the new car I got a 2000 540i sport package 6 speed manual and I'm very very happy with it
Thanks for helping me on this, hopefully I won't have crazy problems like this in the future.

[balidawg]

The main problem was that you never got a BMW-specific scanner and read trouble codes from ALL the control modules. So you never had any clues about what was wrong. I would have hooked up BMW Scanner 1.4 and read codes from the DME, ABS, and EGS modules.

I would have initially focused on fuel pump, ABS module, camshaft and crank sensors and associated wiring.

[thphon]

Maybe it was lost in the thread but my mechanic, a dealership in Tampa and another one in Orlando did scan it several times across several times with proper tools and nothing showed up

[JimLev]

Maybe it was lost in the thread but my mechanic, a dealership in Tampa and another one in Orlando did scan it several times across several times with proper tools and nothing showed up

Looks like the dealer took the easy way out.
The DME has a shadow memory that keeps codes stored in them even after old problem codes are fixed.
These codes can be viewed by the dealer and with INPA.

Good luck with your 540, I have the same car.