Limp mode Cause?

S

Swizzle

Member
 Hornchurch
Hi all, my car went into limp mode 3 times at the weekend, is there a way I can tell what was causing it? it reset fine every time with a quick off & on, I checked for codes with my scanner and there's none showing, does the car need to be in limp mode when scanned or do I need something better than my ancient ebay scanner?

to set the scene I had done about 40 miles of cold, damp and dirty cross country driving, dropped the top when the sun came out, pulled over on an dual carriageway to put the top up, gave it the full launch from the layby, hit the limiter in 3rd and it went into limp, the next time was gentle acceleration to overtake on a dual carriageway, and the 3rd time was just cruising, car is an E85 manual M54 2.5,

thanks in advance for any help
 
Hi there mate - you need a scanner that can read the codes properly. For example a C110 which is about £35.

You are based in Hornchurch? I am in Forest Gate, we could meet in a supermarket car park as part of the essential weekly shop and I can lend you mine to read? Can also bring laptop with INPA.
 
Thanks for the info, will try buying one as i’m sure it will get more than one use, looking forward to getting to some meets once we’re allowed :thumbsup:
 
I am surprised you didn't find any codes set, if you think the code reader you used is iffy on the BMW then best use a known reliable reader that works on BMW's. As suggested above C110 will do the job if you want a hand held unit. Personally I use a laptop with both BMW INPA and BMW Scanner 1.4 for a hand held scanner I use an App called Torque on my phone plugged in to a Wifi ELM327 emulator which is available on ebay for little money. All my kit works on both my Z4 and Z3 cars, the Z3 requires a 20pin to 16pin OBD2 cable changer to plug into the under bonnet diagnostic on that to read all modules as the 16pin OBD socket inside the cabin only reads the engine module. With your current problem I would suspect a camshaft sensor going bad, if it was it should have set a code.
 
Swizzle said:
Thanks for the info, will try buying one as i’m sure it will get more than one use, looking forward to getting to some meets once we’re allowed :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Great. C110 perfectly useable for reading codes (some go for the C310 which has slightly higher functionality). Let us know what the codes are!
 
C110 arrived and plugged in, loads and loads of faults stored, im assuming they stay stored until they’re cleared even if the fault is no longer there? Ive cleared the codes so will see what comes back if and when it goes back into limp mode
 
Thats the way to do it, having cleared all the codes some of which may be historical its best to start with a clean sheet, run the car for an extended journey then rescan to see if anything has set codes. Once you have recent codes then its a matter of investigating the cause, be aware some codes may well be set as a result of something upstream or downstream of the sensor that set a code and upset that sensor triggering it to set a fault code. Lateral thinking is one way of describing what you need to do to find the root of some problems.
 
Might be the MAF sensor. try unplugging the MAF and seeing if the problem goes away.

when my MAF was failing it particularly didnt like full throttle runs in cold conditions, got all a tizzy. many will say you need to buy a proper OEM hella MAF for £200 or so, but i fixed mine with a £45 ebay special.
 
You were lucky @brillomaster getting a result from a cheap ebay Maf, exact opposite of my experience doing the same, ebay one didn't work out of the box, oem Bosch unit at great expence through BMW cleared my running problem straight out of the box. I got a refund on the duff ebay Maf when I sent it back. I always stick to oem brands for any sensors since then old hands on here will always advise use oem parts otherwise you can end up paying twice to sort your problem.
 
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