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2001 530i E39 Repeated Misfire Error Codes - Limp Home

Car has 90,000 miles. I run with 89 octane or better almost all the time. This was definitely true for this last incident today. I have had the car about 13 months. The first misfire codes (Cyl #2 and Cyl #5) occurred at fairly high revs in 2nd gear in last October. Since them I have have same error codes on same cylinders about 3 times. I stored the car from Jan 1 to March 15. Today for the first time I found a misfire cyl#1 code. The car goes into Limp Home Mode and then seems to reset itself, if I turn the ignition off for a couple minutes. Seems to me the likeliest candidates are the coil, plug and the connector between the two. But now that it has affected three different cylinders, I am thinking maybe it has to be something upstream of the coils? I don't like that thought. Any thoughts? Many Thanks, Mark

Reply to
mark barron
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"mark barron" wrote

The spark plugs are 100K items and you're really close to that. IME, 60K is a better interval - my mileage improved markedly after changing them at 120K (were changed originally at 60K).

FloydR

Reply to
Floyd Rogers

There have been two service bulletins issued on the coils. The first was to replace any failed coiled, the second was to swap out the whole lot of 'em. Have you had the coils replaced? I think with the recall it would be a freebie, even though you're over warranty.

Given that, you're about due for new plugs. 100K is just about the absolute limit on the plugs and you're 90% of the way there.

Recommend you contact local dealer and determine if you're entitled to coil replacement. If that doesn't solve the problem, then plugs are plan B.

R / John

Reply to
John Carrier

Dear Floyd, I thank you so much for taking the time to reply. Being a novice, I can not figure out what the 'IME' is after search both Bentley Volumes and using Google searches. I thought it might be Ignition Monitoring somethingorother, but that theory has not produced a module with that acronym. Could it be the lambda sensor? Thanks again. I will have new plugs tomorrow. I have one new coil and one new coil-to-plug connector to use in tests. Obviously, I will carefully examine differences in the six coil-plug assemblies. Mark

Reply to
mark barron

"mark barron" wrote

IME is the net abbreviation for In My Experience.

FloydR

Reply to
Floyd Rogers

Thanks, so very much for your thoughts. I contacted a BMW dealer here in Michigan. He informed me that there are no recalls for coils or on matters that could relate to misfires. I believe you and not him, so I plan to try a different dealer. Thanks, Mark

Reply to
mark barron

I have a '01 330xi. Same exact engine you have. There has *NOT* been a recall on my car/engine. If you search the NHTSA database, you will also note that there have not been ignition coil recalls, for your car or mine.

I don't know where Mark is getting his info from, but it's incorrect in this case.

FloydR

Reply to
Floyd Rogers

A service bulletin is NOT necessarily a recall.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

True. Mark specifically mentioned "bulletin", but the OP mis-interpreted that to be "recall". The OP needs to be clear on that; his dealer also needs to be clear on what the OP is asking for.

FloydR

Reply to
Floyd Rogers

My bad for using the word "recall." There have definitely been service bulletins issued for coils. I've gone through the replacement bit twice.

R / John

Reply to
John Carrier

Thanks Floyd. Talk about a dumb question!

Reply to
mark barron

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