e39 540 6 speed help needed

[frisko415]

hello, can anyone please explain what happened to my car.
i have 1998 e39 540I 6 speed manual and i was going to work today and after about 15 miles away from the house on the freeway my car speed was automatically dropping i was going 70 mph so i had to change lanes and pull over to the side as soon as i pulled over and did a complete stop my car died. i tried to start the car, it started and died within 1 second, tried this like 15 times and same result. i waited 15 minutes and tried to start again it worked for like 3 minutes and then started shaking and died. i waited another 30 minuttes and car worked fine. now i drove car home and it was running perfect. one thing that i noticed is for some reason i can change gears without pressing clutch while the car parked and now check enginge light poped up. please let me know what it can be. Oil level is fine, gas is fine, coolant is fine. any other fluids that i gotta check and why does my gear box does it ( changes gears without pressing clutch)
thank you so much.

[crown14]

AWESOME INTERENET DIAGNOSIS

clearly you ran out of gas, and after you left someone topped it off. and when you got home your clutch disc broke, and go ahead and get new cats and oxygen sensor. knightrider said so.

[///Metal]

AWESOME INTERENET DIAGNOSIS

clearly you ran out of gas, and after you left someone topped it off. and when you got home your clutch disc broke, and go ahead and get new cats and oxygen sensor. knightrider said so.

He may have also switched bottoms. What do you think, crown14?

[///Metal]

one thing that i noticed is for some reason i can change gears without pressing clutch while the car parked

you mean you can do this while the engine is running?

[frisko415]

no only when it is parked, and no i did not ran out of gas had 1/4 of a tank.

[///Metal]

no only when it is parked, and no i did not ran out of gas had 1/4 of a tank.

By "parked", do you mean with the engine OFF or do you mean just not moving but with the engine turned ON?

[frisko415]

engine is off. and before it would never switch into gear when the engine is off

[///Metal]

engine is off. and before it would never switch into gear when the engine is off

Ok. That's NORMAL. You're supposed to be able to get a car into gear with the engine off without depressing the clutch. You probably just never noticed it before and now you're ultra sensitive and think the every little thing is a sign of big trouble. Don't worry about your clutch. Your problem seems electrical/electronic in nature. If your check engine light went on, you should be able to pull an error code which will tell you exactly what the problem is.

[frisko415]

i am 100% positive it never shifted before because i tried to put it into gear when the engine was off and i couldnt. hmmm will any shop read the error or should i take it to bmw shop.

[tacurt]

if your cel is on you can take it to advance auto and have the code read for free. if you sweet talk them they will sometimes turn the light off.

[frisko415]

cel? what is cel? i guess its check engine light? anyway where is that shop located?

[MontanaRob]

I vote pre-cat O2 sensors are bad at least. You may also have a vacuum leak. Have vacuum system hoses closely inspected for cracks.

[atl540i]

CEL = Check Engine Light. Has anyone checked your fuel filter(s)? I have seen other cars behave that way when the fuel filter gets clogged. When it sits for a bit some of the debris that is clogging it falls off the filter. once fuel starts flowing again it reclogs the filter and shuts you down...