Munki

I have a 2005 545i and iv had nothing but problems with this car. This has got to be the worst car I have ever owned! Anyway..., today I was driving and once I stopped at a light my check engine light started flashing. Before, the check engine light was on and the error was, increased emissions... Now the light is flashing and now I have an error saying, engine malfunction, drive moderatly... below are pics of the msg.



It seems like the car is stuck in limp mode now. I have almost complete power loss and if I want to take the car up to 10mph+ I literally have to floor the gas pedal for about 10 sec and the power will finally come back. The car is also idling rough and is misfiring...

So what iv done is park the car to let the engine cool down and I disconnected the battery to reset everything. I noticed that for about 3 sec the car is fine, I can push the rpm to 6k with no probs whatsoever. .. but after the 3 sec the light comes on and I can no longer rev the engine freely... I thought maybe one of the plugs or injector went out but like I said, I can rev freely with full power for about 3 sec... same thing with the fuel pumps, if those took a crap on me they wouldnt be working at all...

What do you guys think the prob is? And has anyone had the same problem? If so what did you do to fix this?

e6t.lab.rat

So..., you had an "increase emission" CEL and decided to ignore it and obviously did nothing about it.

Now the car is telling you "engine malfunction".... and so you hate this car?!

I too drive an 05 545 and yes we have our share of problems but, what vehicle nearly 10 years old don't? What'd you expect? Cars, like every machine on this planet require REGULAR maintenance, more so as they age. So when you see a CEL, don't just sit there and pray it'll go away, DO SOMETHING like getting the code read. Why don't you start there and report back.

Munki

I've kept up with maintenance on this car... Actually I think I have had almost every part that's bolted on the engine replaced. I just had all the cooling system replaced, now this problem came up. Once I fix one problem another pops up... maybe the previous owner didnt take car of her? Idk...

And the increased emissions light, that one comes and goes. Took it to the dealer and they couldnt do anything about it since it disappeared once I pulled into the dealer.

anyways..., if anyone else had this problem before post up your experience! I'll also try to get the codes pulled and see what we get.

e6t.lab.rat

I understand your frustration. The intermittent increased emission light may be indicating your thermostat is on it's way out. How many miles on your 5er? I had the same intermittent CEL increased emission warning until it stayed on constant. I had a P0128 code, replaced the thermostat and been good since. good luck

Munki

Right now I have about 128k on the clock. And I just changed the water pump but not the thermostat about 200 miles ago... would a thermostat really put this car in limp mode though?

Dremers

Here is a stupid question.......Are you above a quarter of tank of gas? When i purchased my car i let it dip below a quarter and i got the same engine malfunction and the car was shaking. Yes, i almost ran out of gas. stupid move on my part.

Munki

I always keep my tank full. I actually ran my truck close to empty a few times and it killed my fuel pump. But i haven't let the 545i come close to being empty...

Another thing i was thinking... Maybe i blew out one of my exhaust manifold gaskets? I noticed the engine bay was hotter than usual when i pulled over.

Hopefully tonight i can see what codes the car is throwing.

Quarta2six

Most likely a misfire on more than one cylinder. I had the samething happen to me when I replaced coils forget didnt connect the connector on two coils completely. when I started car up check engine light started to blink and I got the same message. Car sounded and ran like sh!t, read the codes and check my connections found the loose plug, problem solved. As e6t.lab.rat said get the codes read and take it from there no point in guessing could be a number of things. Ever changed plugs or coils at 128k ur due. More than likely misfires tho.

Munki

I think you are correct. I just checked the coils and #2 isn't firing! I'm gonna go ahead and pick up a new one and see what happens from there and of course scan the codes.

For ignition, the only thing I have replaced were the plugs... So im sure the coils are on their way out...

I hope this solves the problem because my benz is also down at the moment and the only other car i have to drive is a v10 gas guzzler!

Munki

Wasnt able to get the codes ran but I did find something else! Does anyone know what this is??



The part circled is vibrating like crazy and is making a loud whinning noise...