keen 6 Report post Posted May 3, 2009 My sons 1998 e39 540 has this problem He has asked me if I can help so I'm posting this to see if there is someone who might know. the car is in Ahbu Dahbe so I can't take it into some like Glenn to get it analyzed.So some educated guess would be nice. he says that the car shuts down after driving about half an hour,straight away you can turn the key again and it will turn over but not fire.Give it a few minutes try again and it starts and will run fine for five or six minutes then turn off again. and that will repeat if you go through the same process. leave it to cool down and it will run for half an hour again and repeat the same process. This may be a red herring but the starter motor has become labored and the A/C is not working. those are the symptoms he has given. Can anyone help here? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
*Glenn* 854 Report post Posted May 3, 2009 There must be a BMW service agent in Ahbu Dahbe....surely ? It really needs to be scanned first I would guess at crankshaft position sensor Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
entscheidend 0 Report post Posted May 3, 2009 1. Crankshaft Sensor (under car - trans/engine mount) 2. Vacuum leak somewhere 3. Camshaft sensor(s) 4. Fuel Pump / Filter 5. EGR valve 6. Charcoal canister?? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
keen 6 Report post Posted May 19, 2009 This was taken into a service agent in town and the fault codes supposedly read they showed nothing wrong, so the car was road tested for about 50 to 60 km's and it did not show the fault again. My questions are if it was a crank sensor as Glenn thought, could this be a intermittent problem? which would not show up on a code read? Could the sensor be replaced easily eg remove one bold and unplug? or is it difficult to get to? and how much would a new one cost here ( I could send it to him) he says that everything there is very expensive. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
*Glenn* 854 Report post Posted May 19, 2009 The problem could be a number of things. It may not throw a fault code which only means its not a faulty sensor, it doesnt mean a sensor is reading within scale. If its out of scale & still sending a signal to the DME, it wont throw a code. The scan tool is a tool...you need a brain as well to check live data readings. It could also be a mechanical fault which wont throw fault codes, however live data should indicate where the fault is. Pay my airfares..... I'll go fix it Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
keen 6 Report post Posted May 19, 2009 Thanks Glenn I like your humor but if this forum is any indication of your work I'd say your far too busy to take time off and go fix one car otherwise the invitation is very tempting. Would you suggest changing the crank sensor just the same to eliminate that or is that just going to be a waist of time? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
*Glenn* 854 Report post Posted May 19, 2009 Thanks Glenn I like your humor but if this forum is any indication of your work I'd say your far too busy to take time off and go fix one car otherwise the invitation is very tempting. Would you suggest changing the crank sensor just the same to eliminate that or is that just going to be a waist of time? He could try the CS sensor...however that may not be the problem. Was it a dealer he took it to ? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
keen 6 Report post Posted May 20, 2009 Yes it was a dealer he took it to but he says that they are not the same as over here their standards are not as high and he does not trust them to much.Also he says that if you break down away from the city you are pretty much on your own.he has a 30min drive to his work place and although it has not cut out since the last time over 2weeks ago he's not too trusting of the car at the moment. Should these cars on the whole be reliable? its done about 116000kms. the heat over there is pretty hard on all cars and the A/C is full on all the time Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
*Glenn* 854 Report post Posted May 20, 2009 Yes it was a dealer he took it to but he says that they are not the same as over here their standards are not as high and he does not trust them to much.Also he says that if you break down away from the city you are pretty much on your own.he has a 30min drive to his work place and although it has not cut out since the last time over 2weeks ago he's not too trusting of the car at the moment. Should these cars on the whole be reliable? its done about 116000kms. the heat over there is pretty hard on all cars and the A/C is full on all the time I would try another dealer ..if there is one. The other concern... is there a language barrier ? A dealer should be able to identify the problem Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
