Headwaters

Hi guys,
Nice to be here. I'm quite new here.

I drive a 2004 530i of 207,000 mileage.

Yesterday morning, I drove about 10km and I got an error message on the iDrive screen that says "Engine malfunction. Reduced Power"

From that moment, the car began to misfire like jacking, lost proper acceleration and could not move as it ought to.

So I parked it somewhere till the following morning.

When I started the engine the following morning, it still displayed that error message and was misfiring. Then I switched off the engine and started it again.

By the time I started it the second time, the message disappeared. I drove it for over 100km without issue. The message didn't reappear and the car didn't misfire till this moment.

However, that morning before I embarked on the trip, I scanned it here is the specific result that has to do with the Engine among other results. Full scan report attached.

SYSTEM
DME (Engine-Motor
Electronics)

CODE
281D

DESCRIPTION
Digital Motor Electronics (DME): BSD (Bit-Serial
Data Interface) generator, signal

STATUS
Present

I read about it though and what i found out is that the Alternator is Overcharging and some other technical information about BSD that I don't really understand about mechanics and electronics.

May I ask, who has had this problem before and when scanned had the same report and what did you do and how you solved the problem.?

Attached is the full Scan Results in PDF

Awaiting replies

Thank you

seanjordan20

I would say the alternator is failing. Replace it. You can verify by seeing what voltage it's putting out

Headwaters

Hi, thanks for your response, however, I just checked the voltage of the Alternator, it ranges between 14.31 and 14.62. Wish i consider normal.

Is it possible for the alternator to be bad and yet having normal voltage output?

seanjordan20

It is a possibility to have a flaky alternator but you find that out by a long enough test. If your alternator tested good and you are sure then move to the next thing.

Headwaters

Thank you very much. I will continually test and observe.