3.51 engine fault sign

J

Johnbmwz4

Active member
 North Yorkshire
Hi, I've had my car now for 8 months and loving it. I was driving today in sport plus mode having a blast when the bong came on and it said engine fault, possible to drive but restricted power. Go to dealers ASAP. Any way pulled over with engine running and fault sign still on and plugged in my code reader but it said no faults. I turned the engine off then back on and the fault had gone. Went for a drive, put it back in sport plus and everything fine, no restricted power just normal. This has happened to me twice before in the 8 months I have had the car. I'm not too concerned at the moment as when I turn the engine off the fault disappears . This only happens when it is in sport mode. It has never done it in normal driving mode.
Any ideas?
 
Does the engine go into reduced power mode or just throw up an error saying that?

If it drives as normal while the light is on then it's most likely an underboost problem. Probably deteriorated vacuum line somewhere and the turbo waste-gates aren't closing. Very hard to guess though as the brief is a little vague!
 
Actually, now you mention it, the car doesn't feel any different when the warning is on but didn't drive too fast. I had a test drive in a X6 a couple of years ago and that went into reduced power mode and wouldn't go over 40mph i dont think.
 
Johnbmwz4 said:
Actually, now you mention it, the car doesn't feel any different when the warning is on but didn't drive too fast. I had a test drive in a X6 a couple of years ago and that went into reduced power mode and wouldn't go over 40mph i dont think.
Click to expand...

Certain faults won't cause "limp mode". When the car goes into it's reduced power safety mode it runs incredibly rough. This mode is just designed to prevent any damage and get you to a safe position on the road.

Emissions related codes to do with the catalytic converters and some codes related to the efficiency of the turbochargers will throw up errors but nothing will change with regards to performance.

If you have a warranty then pop to a dealership. If not then use something like INPA, ISTA or BMWLogger to pull the codes out with your laptop.
 
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