Engline light + sputter + hissing + irregular idle -HELP!!

[czechT698]

Hello everyone,

Today I had the most unfortunate thing happen to me. Until now my car never had any difficulties. On the highway I gave it some gas in 5th gear, about 140kmh, when sudenly a car popped up in my lane so without depressing the clutch I floored the brake going down to about 100kmh (noticable deacceleration but nothing hardcore). After I floored it again, the yellow outline of an engine came up solid on the dash (dont know when exactly). There was more shaking then ussual and a loss of power. I immidiately pulled over to a gas station and popped the hood. The symptoms:

- irregular idle
- slight rattle coming from intake/DISA combine with loud (!!) HISSING (like an air leak - sounded like a pissed off snake)
- sputtering (misfire?)
- knocking (like backfire) in the exhaust

I left the car off for a while and then started again, the symptoms were still there, however the engine light was not present anymore.I decided to finish my short journey in 2000rpms in 5th gear and take it ASAP to BMW but the strange thing is, that when I stopped at a red light, the engine was running excellent again, no problems or these symptoms anymore... :? The car ran OK again. Will visit BMW tommorow.

Anyone have an idea of what the hell just happened with my car? - DISA? Coils? Vaccum leak on intake??
PLS HELP

 

[czechT698]

oh and its a 2003, 2.5i, with 142 000 on the clock

 

[czechT698]

 

[paddy wright]

could be a faulty coil pack

 

[MR_ZEE]

Not sure about the hissing, but rest of the symptoms sound like faulty ignition coil.

Happened to me a few weeks after I bought my Z4 - my friendly mechanic diagnosed it was running on 5 cylinders and told me to pop to BMW to get a replacement part (which he fitted for me in 2 minutes).

Hope this helps.

 

[czechT698]

I hope it is the coild pack then... the disa was rattling awfully and the hissing may have been caused by the lean misfire mode I hope everything turns out ok

 

[czechT698]

while I am at it Ill also tell him to throw a new disa... coudl it be anything besides the coils? I heard that a fautly camshaft position sensor can wereck havoc

 

[Smokin]

'03 2.5s had a problem with the coils. My 325Ci had one fail and it's scary, but easily fixed. Ran like a champ when they were replaced. I'd do that first before I jumped on the DISA.

 

[czechT698]

OK Ill let them diagnose it and hopefully it will be the coils.

What amazes me is the most is that the engine fealt like its totalled judging by the sound. After doing about 20 slow kilometers it was better, and after arriving home it was running like new again... Is that a symptom of the coils going bad? I think that I have the 03 OEM Bremi crap ones. Hope that a set of fresh Bosch can fix this.

Thnx for the help Smokin, !!!

 

[Shipkiller]

I find it strange that it started just when you had to do a braking maneuver.

IF, it is a COP (Coil on Plug), then the problem will return at a later date. Also, since the engine was bucking a lot (my interpretation of your description), was the CEL on steady or blinking???

An intermittent misfire will light the CEL steadily, but a real hard core misfire, ie. a bucking engine, the CEL will blink. Also, an misfire will be stored in the DME for six drive cycles and then cleared if it does not return.

Don't just jump to the conclusion that it is a bad COP.
BUT, if you know you have the Bremi COP's, then BMW has a recall/SIB on this issue and they should replace them for free.. but don't bank on it...

I don't think your DISA would cause this issue unless you sucked the pin into the engine. Since the problem went away, I don't think that happened either. If your DISA is noisy, then replace it.... You can tell if the DISA going bad by disconnecting the electrical cable to the DISA while the engine is running. If the noise goes away, that's your culprit for THAT issue... Remember, the DISA only deactivates (rotates the butterfly valve to the open position) at approx. 4100 RPM and above. Under 3700 RPM, it just sits there, closed. I am going to make an assumption that at 140kph, your engine RPM was around 3400-3600 RPM. Since your engine RPM was not at the deactivation point, the valve was closed anyway so HOW did it cause a 'lean condition'?

Camshaft position sensor. You may be actually talking about the Crankshaft Position sensor. I am not going to get into that here.

I have just addressed all the wild ass guess's that you have already read.

Now, let me make a wild half-ass educated guess..... Let's go back to the initial conditions. Hard braking... COULD, just a thought, you possibly have a little water in the fuel tank????? and that small amount of water was moved to fuel pump pickup because of the braking and it took just a little bit of time for the engine to pass that crap out?? Not sure, certainly plausible. Don't know.... :scratchhead:

There really is NOT ENOUGH information to make a diagnosis.... really there isn't. DON'T start throwing parts at the problem because the engine had one hiccup...

Take your car to BMW and have them hook it up to the computer and read the stored DME error codes. There MAY not be any. This could have been a fluke and you will never know what happened...

OR

The codes stored will point to a problem and you can get it resolved with minimal $$$$

 

[czechT698]

OK, since the problem went away the dealer and I have decided to let it drop with the case that if it comes back I would come drop it in for diagnostic.

Everything was fine until yesterday, when I had the same thing happen to me again - was tailgating an Audi TT uphil for about a minute in second gear and 5000rpm. After I stopped at a red light I had the same issue going on as before Sorry for the quality bud it was my unique chance. I restarted the car a few times and everything went back to normal - WTF??? Will visit the dealer, but i wont have time to do that for the next 174 days. In the meantime - anyone have an idea of what the hell is going on? Shipkiller?

 

[czechT698]

sorry 14 days

 

[Shipkiller]

sorry, at work and cannot get to the video. I will look at it tonight.

 

[EdButler]

This sounds EXACTLY like what happened to my old VX220, but with that, the throttle was totally unresponsive untill you very quickly switched the ignition off/on again... Basically it had an air leak in the inlet manifold/throttlebody connection...

When coming to a junction youd drop the clutch and like yours the revs would drop abnormally low. At this point youd here a *click* as the throttle plate slammed shut (this is because the MAP-MAnifold Pressure sensor is reading the wrong vacuum pressure due to the leak as unmetered air is now rushing into the inlet). At this point however the throttle had jammed on the VX, throwing an eml, however it still seems responsive on yours.

What is essentially happening then, is that the engine is being choked of air and the HISSING you can hear is the engine sucking air past a closed throttle as its gasping to stay running. The ECU however 'thinks' that the throttle is in the correct position, as the manifold pressure all checks out ok.

Have a search for 'Vacuum Leak' on google and there are many methods to track them down... Good luck!!

 

[Shipkiller]

Good description.

I would think that if this is the case, if the rip/opening in the intake will be on the intake boot, and the rip will be rather large. I had a ripped intake boot on the roadster. No drive-ability issues but a constant whistling/hissing from the tear in the rubber.

IF you do have an intake leak, it will unless it is audibly noticeable (as EdButler says), then it will take some time to track down.

Just thought of something. Just for giggles, check the rubber intake boot as it fits over the throttle body and make sure it is tight and not leaking. Since the bottom is hidden, the boot could have slipped off the lower lip of the throttle body. This would introduce a LARGE vacuum leak. These are the obvious things to check. Do a really good visual inspection and use your hands to feel around for anything that does not feel right.

 

[EdButler]

Yeah nice one Shipkiller... It could quite likely be located on the DISA gasket too as ive heard about this a few times. Look at this thread to see what they found:
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=576774

 

[Shipkiller]

There is a pattern here. Everyone who has had a large intake leak, has reported some kind of error code....
A small leak will not set off an error code nor will it cause the driveabilty issues that the OP has reported other than fuel economy reduced and possible sluggishness...

I have not seen the video yet but I am wondering if is not fuel delivery related. Could you have a marginal fuel pump or partially clogged fuel filter?

It seems that the problem occurs only when you have been "On It" for a while, then you reduce the strain on the fuel pump, the pump then is not feeding enough fuel to the engine then after a restart of two (power removed from the fuel pump) it starts to work normally. Not saying these are the problem. Either way, it will take some time to do.

I will have to investigate, really how the fuel delivery system works. The question I need to find out is this:

Is the fuel pump a constant pressure/flow pump and is the pressure regulated by a fuel regulator (regenerative feedback type or bypass type). Maybe the regulator is faulty!

 

[JimmyPop]

I had the same problem today. Pulled out of the driveway and felt that it was driving a bit rough and not as responsive/powerful as it should be. Engine light was flashing yellow and then stayed permanently lit (yellow). When I was sat at lights idling it felt really irregular as well. I just picked up the car one month ago (to the day ) from a BMW garage where it went through a service/MOT and had the exhaust manifold replaced. I phoned the garage who unhelpfully told me they wouldn't be able to look at it until next Wednesday. Phoned back and spoke to the service manager who apologised and told me he would phone me back before 10am tomorrow with a time later this week.

I'd imagine whatever the problem is will be covered by warranty from the garage (the only reassuring thing about buying used from a BMW dealer!). In the meantime, should it be ok to drive with a permanently lit yellow engine light? I really need it for work - won't be doing much more than 30 miles/day but public transport to and from my work is practically non-existant.

 

[JimmyPop]

Quick update - service manager called back today to say he could send someone to pick it up tomorrow. Decided I would just take it to them in the morning on my way to work and they have arranged for someone to take me from the dealership to work. fingers crossed it'll be a sensor and not much else...

 

[EdButler]

Jimmy, unfortunately mate i cannot make that call for you, if the car is rough when driving (not what the OP described) there can be many things causing it. A few that immediately spring to mind:
Loose exhaust manifold - does the car make a 'ticking' noise at all? - un drivable, dangerous exhaust gas leaking, plus O2 getting exhaust causing over-rich running.
Bad Lambda - Maybe they werent fitted properly with the new exhaust. If you check your spark plugs and exhaust tip they will probably be black wit soot after a short period - car probably drivable but dont drive it much!
Bad Coilpack - If it sounds like the engine is running on less than 4 cylinders, its probably this - Do not drive.
Bad MAF - Drivable, but hard to diagnose without a scanner.

Good luck with getting her running correctly!