Engine Malfunction Warning... here then gone.

All,

Got the dreaded "Engine Malfunction - Reduced Engine Power" light this morning on the way to work: 2008 335i Sedan, 7K miles, iDrive. Immediately thought, ok... this is my first HPFP gone bad.

Got to work, called and made a service appt for Thursday morning. Then, got in the car to drive home and no check engine light... all systems go.

Car seems to be running fine... even when the CEL light came on, there seemed to be no noticeable difference in the way it drove. Drive the 16 miles home, no issue. Immediately went to Pep Boys and threw in a bottle of Techron for good measure.

So, my question... Was this just a fluke thing? Should I still take the car into the dealer or just wait to see if the light comes on again? I'm not sure how this "throwing codes" thing works with Bimmers.

Thanks!

Here's a stupid question, right before you got the engine malfunction light, you didn't fill up on gas?

From time to time when you refuel your car, if u delay in screwing back on the gas cap, the service light comes.

After a few days it usually goes away.

Just a thought.

Martin

Not a stupid question... I've heard of that before. However, I think that my car has a specific warning light related to that. Either way though, I had not recently filled up.

Thanks for your help though, perfectly valid question.

Any other thoughts from others???

I had a similar experience a few weeks ago. Got the yellow check engine light on my 2008 335i with about 13,000 miles (manual tranny, no iDrive). It appeared within a few minutes of starting the car one morning - I was accelerating a little harder than normal as I merged with traffic. Didn't notice any loss of power.

Pulled over a few minutes later and shut off the car. Restarted - no warning light since. Decided to hold off on taking it to the dealer. So far, so good. The car seems to be running normally. My only theory is that the engine wasn't warm enough when I jumped on the gas. RPMs got a little higher than normal because some traffic was bearing down on me. I usually shift around 2,500 RPM until the car is warmed up. Did you have a similar experience by any chance?

Hopefully we both just experienced a fluke. Good luck.

Thanks for the reply... makes me feel a little better.

Originally Posted by SAM67

Did you have a similar experience by any chance?

Hopefully we both just experienced a fluke. Good luck.

Short answer to your question is no. I was 12+ miles into my 70+mph daily commute, so my engine was warm. However, my experience was the same as far as the engine light going off. It came on as I was exiting the highway then disappeared when I restarted the car later that day to return home.

I had this on my car a couple of weeks ago and brought it to the dealer. My light would come on in the mornings or after work when the car was sitting for 9 hours. It idled rough when cold. They ran the codes and found a misfire code. They updated the DME software and it's working fine now. Crossing my fingers!

Originally Posted by Perfectus

They ran the codes and found a misfire code. They updated the DME software and it's working fine now. Crossing my fingers!

Thanks for that info! You answered my my question perfectly. In other words, a software update may be in order. Therefore, I should keep my service appointment as there is a relevant course of action despite the light no longer being on.

Originally Posted by ctt335i

Thanks for that info! You answered my my question perfectly. In other words, a software update may be in order. Therefore, I should keep my service appointment as there is a relevant course of action despite the light no longer being on.

Yes also the car will store fault codes, so it may still be there when you bring it into the Svc. Dept.

Originally Posted by ctt335i

Thanks for that info! You answered my my question perfectly. In other words, a software update may be in order. Therefore, I should keep my service appointment as there is a relevant course of action despite the light no longer being on.

any updates? my car has been running fine since the software update.

I've had the CEL light come on and experienced reduced power for being a quart low on oil and another time when service was due on the car. Seems like each time it came on right after full throttle acceleration.

Same thing here, with 550 miles on the odometer I started the engine and let it idle for several
minutes while I was paring my Blackberry, got the yellow engine light, turned off the engine
and restarted it, no light, no light since.
I've got 4 years of warrantee so I'm not worried.

Had same thing happen..Turned out to be the unplugging of the exhaust flap sensor in the trunk to make the dual exhausts work from startup (kinda like golf tee mod). Happened only once and when I was at the dealer, he filled me in as to the culprit and code thrown for the CEL at the time

Good luck. I've had turbo replaced and this week the vanos was replaced. Been in shop 4 time in last year for the limp mode problem. 2007 335i 40K miles.

This happened to me multiple times before I finally took it in and got my new HPFP. It seems to intermittently fail in some cases I guess.

Originally Posted by speed_330i

Here's a stupid question, right before you got the engine malfunction light, you didn't fill up on gas?

From time to time when you refuel your car, if u delay in screwing back on the gas cap, the service light comes.

After a few days it usually goes away.

Just a thought.

Martin

I had the same thing happen yesterday... I was wondering if it had to do when i filled the gas... I had just filled it and was driving 45 and it came on out of no where... I turned off the car at the light and started it back up and havnet seen the light since...

With a BT cable you could read the extended code, and then we could give better advice.

Originally Posted by thkfast

I've had the CEL light come on and experienced reduced power for being a quart low on oil and another time when service was due on the car. Seems like each time it came on right after full throttle acceleration.

Is an old post but I want to give my 2 cents. Yesterday I took a 140 mile trip, most of the miles are on Interstate, flat straights, it was early in the morning and its been awhile since I pushed my 335, so after about 100 miles on a lone straight I push the pedal flat, all I can say is I was going VERY fast for probably 3 minutes then I let go, cruised at 90-100 for another few minutes then pushed it a bit again but not as hard and only for a bit then let go again and that is when the light came on, lost 50% power at least. In panic I called BMW road assitance, they told me if the light was yellow I could still drive it to the closest dealer. So I did, cruised at 75 mph for another 35 miles, steady 2500 revs but car had no responsive power. So I reached the dealer service bay area, no one around, left engine on but after no one appeared I turned off engine and went inside to look for some SA, found one , I explained the problem and he says, ok, lets see it. Turn on the engine and guess what, Nothing, gone. He said it could be a glitch on the system and if I wanted to leave it for diagnostic, which would take 3 hours and no loaner. So I decided just to drive away, everything fine, no light, power ok. Then I tought it could be low oil, I checked it and it was in between the min and max marks, so I guess about half quart low.

Here's the nice part, I drove back to the dealer so they can pour HALF DAMNED QUART OF OIL. They would not do it, they wanted to charge me for a full quart. I complaint saying it was part of the emergency service, warranty, maintenance, etc.. but the SERVICE MANAGER, said no, and not for the triple price of the oil, but for pure pride I leftm bought a quarter at a store pour half in and level went to max.

So, here I am, I will drive back home today, hopefully the problem was the low oil but if the light comes up I will stop, restart and drive and of course car will go to Service immediately . By the way, the ECU has been updated on my car at least 3 times, once because of the Fuel Pump replacement and they put the bad update, I complaint and they took it back to original, then on another service they programmed it to the latest which is not as bad.

Good Luck

hope its the the dreaded fuel pump issue.

Martin

I had the issue when in Dec of '08 (it was frakin cold for a Floridian/Texan), I was in Omaha, and the CEL comes on almost immediatly after turning on the car. I was taking my family somewhere, but on the trip home it did not come on. I still call up the local dealer, (I have a 10 hour drive to get home, so I dont want anything happening in the weather at the time) take it in, and they say it is the O2 sensor, and I dont need to replace it if the CEL isnt coming on again. It's been fine up until this winter when TX got into the 20's, on the way home from work, CEL light as I turn on the car, I stop at the closest gas station, turn the car off for 2 mins, start it back up, no CEL. If it happens a 3rd time, its going to the shop!