Engine problem at 200mi.

I received my 330i this Saturday (2 days ago), and took it out for a small loop around the block at lunch today. I'm slightly below 200 miles, and while driving at roughly 50-60mph and slowing down to a red light, a significant vibration started to reverberate around the car, and transmits right into the gear shift. The car is shaking even at idle, and the check engine light turned on. At the red light, I turned off the ignition and restarted the motor, but at idle it's still shaking.

Called BMW of Mountain View today, see what they can do. UGH. 200mi!?!?!

Bad coil pack?

Originally Posted by operknockity

Bad coil pack?

How can I find out?

I just went back out to the car, and restarted the car (it was off for about 10 mins). Car is back to normal now. Guessing I should still go to the dealership, but I'm not sure the problem can be reproduced. I sat in the parking lot in neutral and gased it up to about 2-3k, but the idling is still okay right now. Hmmmm.

Not sure if I want to wait until the next time it's shaking that badly.

Originally Posted by ktc

How can I find out?

Take it to the dealer or an indie BMW shop for diagnosis.

Didn't you post in another thread earlier that you raced an Acura TL from a stoplight, but kept it under 4K rpms? Full throttle acceleration is also off limits during the break-in period. You might end up with more than you bargained for if you don't follow the recommendations .

If a check engine light came on, then the car's ECM will have logged the error codes for it. A simple hook up to the OBD-II should tell BMW what is going on with the car.

Originally Posted by markl53

Didn't you post in another thread earlier that you raced an Acura TL from a stoplight, but kept it under 4K rpms? Full throttle acceleration is also off limits during the break-in period. You might end up with more than you bargained for if you don't follow the recommendations .

Hard for me to keep a sense of humor right now, but my "race" is probably equivalent to "ginger break-in driving" for most people in this forum. I never even came close to the range gas pedal range, and I never exceeded 4k rpm.

Even when the car is broken in I'm rarely that kind of driver. But, I do know that for $40k I expect to not have problems like this.

Originally Posted by operknockity

Bad coil pack?

I have an '04 325 (~ 10 months old) with 8000 miles on it. Its generally pretty warm here in Atlanta, but a week ago everything was liberally coated in ice for a couple days. A few days later it rained, and my car became quite unhappy. My symptoms were exactly the same as ktc's - it seemed like the clutch was slipping at low RPMs, which turned into general engine vibration, erratic idling, and the "service engine soon" light. I brought it in to the dealership today, with the official word being a bad coil pack. I'm not sure if this can be chalked up to bad weather or poor quality control, but I'm glad that I didn't have to pay for it. This is the second warranty work that has been done - the first was a faulty day-time running light circuit that was draining my battery... I think that my switch from VW to BMW brought over VW's questionable electronics.

ktc, call up a dealership and the work should be covered under warranty.

Originally Posted by Ack

If a check engine light came on, then the car's ECM will have logged the error codes for it. A simple hook up to the OBD-II should tell BMW what is going on with the car.

For what it's worth, SES codes are NOT passed on to ODB2. BMW only passes as much info on to ODB2 as it requires to be compliant.

I have an AutoEnginuity ODB2 reader... when my coil pack went out and SES light illuminated, ODB2 said I was all clear.

Originally Posted by ynniv

ktc, call up a dealership and the work should be covered under warranty.

Sorry to hear about your problem. It's always weird to hear a piece of modern electronic sound so temperamental.

I did end up going to the dealer; they had the service manager immediately drop what he was doing and hooked up the car to the computer. They indicated that the engine only recorded 1 misfiring of cylinder #1, and that it did not record the usual data expected (didn't record air temp, engine load, etc.). It also did not register more than 1 misfiring despite how the car vibrated for 3-4 mins. I felt that they did a pretty thorough inspection, and I was okay with their prognosis that it's probably a 1-time event (ie: valve stuck during engine break-in), and that if it ever happens again I'll bring the car in. So far I haven't had any more problems (2 weeks and 700mi later).

Bad engine coil we hope, but you never know. Check this post out

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69045

I asked this before, but never got a full answer
so here we go again
this break in period that you guys go about, i was dumb enought not to follow it. revved it up high, raced with people waiting at traffic ligths, and many other things.
but no problem so far
what should i expect and what could be problems in the future of my stupidity
325i sedan is my car
hope my stupidity does not cause me too much head ache
thanx in advance
burak

Originally Posted by Burakfb

I asked this before, but never got a full answer
so here we go again
this break in period that you guys go about, i was dumb enought not to follow it. revved it up high, raced with people waiting at traffic ligths, and many other things.
but no problem so far
what should i expect and what could be problems in the future of my stupidity
325i sedan is my car
hope my stupidity does not cause me too much head ache
thanx in advance
burak

Sounds like something Borat would do.

Supposedly you will burn more oil than normal, but you'll also have a bit more HP/torque as well.

Originally Posted by Burakfb

I asked this before, but never got a full answer
so here we go again
this break in period that you guys go about, i was dumb enought not to follow it. revved it up high, raced with people waiting at traffic ligths, and many other things.
but no problem so far
what should i expect and what could be problems in the future of my stupidity
325i sedan is my car
hope my stupidity does not cause me too much head ache
thanx in advance
burak

Today, there is hardly a thing as a break in period for most cars, other than for BMW's M cars or other top end sports cars.

Production today is sooo exact that the need for moving parts to adapt during a certain period of time is virtually zero.

You can drive you bimmer hard from day 1 if you want to and not be punished for it after 150 000 km's. Don't worry!