Car dies while driving -- any ideas?

[chelley]

I have a 99 328i 5-spd; it died twice this morning when I was driving to work. I have a bad habit of putting the car into neutral and coasting when coming to a stop -- this is what I did both times it died. Granted, I should work on not coasting in neutral, but I am looking for an actual explanation as to why this is happening. I've done some searching and have seen a bunch of suggestions for why this might be happening, but no posts that seem to point to a clear reason.

The car did this once about 6 months ago and hadn't done it again until this morning. This morning it did it twice -- once while I was exiting off the interstate.

Any ideas?

[jmejiaa]

What happens when you press the clutch and coast, does it turn off? My car had a similar problem and it was the ICV. I replaced it though. I think the old one was stuck closed

[chelley]

Yep, turns off.

I've been told it was driver error and I only need to stop coasting...seems like there's an underlying issue besides the driver error.

[sweet e36 pimp]

could def. be the icv. if its dirty it'll take a bit for it to react from load at whatever rpm, to neutral. try cleaning it with some throttle body or carb cleaner.

[e46grocerygettr]

My car was doing this with the check CEL coming on. It turned out to be my camshaft position sensor.

[nathancarter]

1) Is your check engine light on? I don't think a stuck ICV (Idle Control Valve) will light it up. If th light IS on, have the codes read (AutoZone and AAMCO will do it for free) and show us the results.


2) I don't understand why you wouldn't want to coast. Who told you that coasting is bad? In any case, coasting definitely shouldn't cause the engine to stop; as far as the engine is concerned, it's the same as idling in your driveway. And, coasting/braking is (arguably) better for your car than downshifting and engine-braking.

[chelley]

No check engine light. I'm starting to wonder if it is perhaps a dirty ICV -- will check it out.

My understanding on the coasting is that it's generally unsafe -- what happens if you are coasting and need to suddenly maneuver away from something? The reaction time to get it back into gear and get out of the way would be higher than if you already had it in gear.