[knl538]

Okay, so yesterday morning on my way to work I experienced a weird mechanical breakdown on my 1998 528. I was driving about 65 mph on the Interstate when the car just lost power. It went down to 50 mph while I was still pressing the gas pedal and then all of a sudden took off an caught back up to 6o mph. This freaked me out. Suddenly, it did again and then once more until it finally just totally lost power. I coasted over to the side of the road and came to a stop. The car was off. I attempted to start the car again and it would not start. So, I called a tow truck. While waiting on the tow, maybe 10 minutes, I started the car but it only stayed on for maybe 10 seconds.

The dealer called me today saying that they were unable to get the car started. I was sitting on the phone thinking 'duh' that's why it was towed in there. So then they said that my EWS needed to be replaced because it couldn't read the chip in my key. I asked if I needed to just bring another key up there. They said that the technician said that he was pretty sure that it was the EWS and not the key. I then asked if this EWS problem could cause my car to lose power and surge like it did before cutting off in the middle of the darned freeway. They said 'maybe.' I was thinking when I took it in there, that it was going to be a fuel pump or something related. So, I told him not to do anything until I brought another key up there to rule out the other key being bad. So far, they haven't called me back but my concern is that they are going to try to nickel and dime me to death. I had no problems with the key. Even when the car wouldn't start it turned over and attempted to crank but it didn't seem to getting any fuel. I thought that if the EWS or key were bad that it wouldn't try to crank at all.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? All advice is appreciated.

 

[knl538]

Update

SS, I don't recall if all the lights came on. I was to busy trying to coast off the Interstate and avoid a multiple car collision.

The Service Advisor called me yesterday evening and told me that he agreed with me on my argument that it didn't really seem like my EWS was bad. He said that he was going to get the service manager involved because he didn't feel comfortable with me having the EWS replaced when the symptoms don't point to that. I still think it's fuel related (ie, fuel pump, fuel filter, fuel injector, etc.) but I'm not a mechanic.

 

[knl538]

Update

Just like I thought, after "replacing" the EWS they are now saying that it's the fuel pump. Honestly, I believe that's what was wrong the hold time. It didn't cost me anymore, because my service agreement paid for it, but they still ended up getting over on the warranty company. After they replace the fuel pump, I wonder if they'll try to come up with more phantom problems.

 

[knl538]

WTF is going on with these people!!!!

Ok. So I went to pick up my car yesterday from the dealership. They installed a new EWS (which was unnecessary) and a new fuel pump. The SA goes to pull my car around and he discovers that the engine light has come back on. I got a call from him yesterday evening and the SA told me that the car has 2 fuel pumps. :dunno: Does anyone know if this is true? He was very apologetic about the service that I had recieved to date. In the back of my mind, I'm wondering if they screwed up my car somehow and are now launching some big coverup. How can they possibly be this clueless about a 1998 528? It took them 4 days to get a fuel pump. Meanwhile, I had called around to three other dealerships in the city and they all had fuel pumps in stock for my vehicle. Can anyone help me with this 2 fuel pump business?

 

[knl538]

The first fuel pump was $117 plus labor.