Hello,

I just picked up my first BMW, well first European car for that matter, last night from the Acura dealership I work for. I saw this car come in on trade and had to have it, between its great looks, massive power, and great handling, I figured I'd give it a try as I typically only keep a car for one year anyhow. It is a 2004 BMW 545i with 99k on it. Well the mileage did scare me, the car itself was well pampered and is in mint condition. The previous owner had the 100k maintenance plan so all scheduled maintenance was up to date. After putting it through our shop, I decided to put on 4 new tires due to the old ones being slighly chopped, and had a four wheel alignment done. I also had them put a set of new platinum plugs in as wellsince it is required at 100k anyways. So I ran to the gas station yesterday, filled up up with super, and took it home for my first ride home. After driving the 22 miles home, I parked it in my driveway to snap a couple of pictures and left it running. When I re-entered the car, the service engine light soon was on and the i-drive said incresed emmissions. Coudl this be due to the new plus perhaps, or maybe not screwing the gas cap on properly? I did notice at about 72mph crusing on the highway, there would be a slight shake as well, almost a shudder. Is this a transmission issue maybe? I am a bit nervous since this is my first BMW and I know they can be costly to repair and any advice would be greatly appreciated!


Thanks,
Jim

 

First of all, welcome to the BMW world of iDrive failure messages ...Although its a great car, and we all love it, It doesn't have Acura reliability...

For as the emission warning, could it be the spark plug change? Are you sure the platinum plugs are the right ones?
Putting super in the car should not matter...

I'm a total nerd ( in the bad way) when it coms to technical knowledge, but surely someone else will chime in..

 

When I had increased emissions light for the first time I was told by the dealer to check the gas cap first.

 

increased emissions can mean alot of things. gas cap, thermostat, fuel vent, pressure regulator cap, etc.... best way is to hook it up to a diagnostics and get the exact problem..

 

I'm having my shop downstairs take a look at it this afternoon so I should know more later. I've driven the car roughly 100 miles and restarted it at least 10 times, so my guess is that if it was the gas cap it may have already reset itself but I could be wrong. As far as the shudder goes, I'm hoping it has to do with the new tires being out of balance or out of round. Should know that soon and with any luck keep the cost down.

 

The vibrating could be a bent rim. Just a suggestion.

 

It is not a gas cap. The iDrive will give you a separate message if the cap is not on tight. 2exclusive is correct - there are a number of issues that will trigger SES light. On my car (which is a 2004 545 just like yours) the light came on due to faulty thermostat (twice) and engine vacume leaks (twice).

Regular OBD II scanner may give you an error code; however, BMW codes quite often are different from other brands and you may not be able to diagnose it without a proper tool. Check out Bavarian engine code reader at www.bavauto.com.

 

Well the shop said it read some sort of code reading lean fuel or something like that. They didn't shut it off thinking I would take it over to BMW to get properly diagnosed, but when I went to turn it on last night to go home the light was off and has stayed off so far. let's hope it was only the gas cap or bad gas.

I did have the tires road force balanced but the shake was the same so I have a wheel guy looking/reparing for possible two bent rear rims, and then re-balanced. My tech said this would be an easy car to slighly bend the wheel on and feel it through the car since the tires are 275/35/18's. Let's hope this fixes it as I truly love the car and want to make sure it drives the way it is supposed to. What a machine!!

 

I'm not an expert here but try cleaning your Mass Air Flow sensor and check the cable that gets connected. If its loose or if the sensor is dirty it may be sending an intermittent signal back.

They sell a specific cleaner for it and it works well. You may also want to replace the filter with a BMW filter... BMW's are pretty picky from what I understand.

Good Luck!