MinervaBtfl

I tried searching and I've seen several similar problems, but nothing that seems to be exactly the same as the issues I am experiencing.

The car is a 2004 525i, 83k.

The first time it stranded me was about a month ago. I drove it down the street to a restaurant, had dinner with a friend, left about 40 minutes later, it cranked and then died when I was backing it out of the parking space. (There had never been ANY symptoms up to this point - just totally out of the blue.) I tried cranking it again, and it would crank up, but couldn't stay on...it would sputter out and die, even if you revved it. System check was normal, no SES lights, all electronics were functioning properly. Smelled like gas outside the car, but we were trying to crank it for like 20 minutes straight (with reasonable breaks in-between). Couldn't get it started, so my friend took me home and I returned later that evening with my fiance.

We wound up getting it to start after trying for about 5 minutes, but it ran very poorly. The RPMs would spike and fall repeatedly and it was obviously wanting to die. I drove it around the empty parking lot with it running rough....it surged forward and then lost power, surged forward and lost power. I drove it a few miles down the empty road to the BMW dealership with it doing that. It was nearly undriveable; dangerous even with no other cars on the road. About 3/4 way there, it was basically fine again. Being that I knew they would tell me they couldn't replicate the problem, I decided to try my luck and take it home.

I had assumed that there was a temporary fuel blockage that had worked itself out, since there were no symptoms beforehand, no codes, and it had ran fine for the next month.

This morning, it randomly acted like it didn't want to crank. It was sputtering like it was before, but not as badly. I backed it out of the driveway with it acting funky and drove it a little ways down the road. I got to a red light and it totally died as I was sitting there. Tried to crank it back up and it was toast. I tried cranking it several more times, to no avail, and it finally produced error messages. It flashed the ABS light, displayed the traction control light, and displayed the battery icon. The iDrive screen displayed this:





As you can see, the display is very faint and it also had lines running through it. It says "BRAKING / DRIVING STAB. - Brake and drive control systems malfunction! Reduced braking and driving stability. Avoid hard braking." It also had "Drive moderately!" at one point.

The screen eventually wouldn't work with the key in the accessory position, or would come on faintly intermittently (for like two seconds and then flicker off). The trip mileage, gas mileage, date, etc. also reset itself at some point when I was attempting to crank it, which to me is clearly battery-related. But I'm thinking it's battery AND something else. Any ideas?

I wound up getting towed on my own dime....three hours late for work on a Monday, almost got rear-ended more than once while the car was immobile in a 55 MPH zone, almost rear-ended someone else before it died (because of the sudden jerking / surging accelaration)......this is the second time this car has left me totally stranded in just three months of ownership. I've never had problems like this with my other cars.

If anyone has any insight, I'd love to hear it. It's sitting at a local European repair shop until I get off work and have time to sort things out with the shop.

Thanks in advance for your help.

porsche911targa

This could be anything from a battery, to alternator, to a fuel pump. G/L, keep us posted.

vegadonovan

The last time mine did something like yours was when I had my Sprint booster on. Maybe that just didn't fit well into my car.

And yes : It wouldn't start. after about 20 times. No error messages. And it will lose all throttle response at whatever speeds I was on.

I took it out. No more problems since then. Its been 3 months now.

The last merc I had also did the same thing but it was related to the trigger board ( something like a controller for electrics).

I hope you find your problems soon as its really dangerous from the way you describe it.

Good luck

MinervaBtfl

Thanks for the input, guys.

I picked it up yesterday from the shop. They said when it arrived, the battery was very dead. They jumped it off and drove it around, but after they turned it off for a short time, the battery was dead again. I took it home and replaced the battery ($200), and so far it's running okay. That doesn't mean ANYTHING though, sadly....it could still die at any time and I have to just wait and see if I am going to be left stranded again. This sucks.

vegadonovan

Well, that's a good find. Just lay low for the time being and stay on the slow lane for a couple of days and monitor. =)

MinervaBtfl

Alright, I'm back......the new $200 battery is dead and can't even be jumped off. With no codes, my next best guess is the starter. Perhaps it failed or seized. Has anyone replaced the starter themselves? My fiance and myself are plenty mechanically inclined, but I don't have an FSM, so a write-up would be fabulous. I didn't find one in the search or anywhere else online, but that's not to say there's not one out there, because I'm sure there is.

Oh, and by the way, I'm totally getting rid of this car after I get it fixed well enough to sell. As much money as I'm spending on payments each month, this is inexcusable. I haven't the time nor the patience to deal with such a tempermental car that may or may not run properly on any given day.

MinervaBtfl

Also, the traction control light came on the other day while driving when the system had no reason to engage, so I'm assuming it was a malfunction of some sort. It went off shortly thereafter and hasn't come on since. That could have been a symptom of imminent power failure, though....when the charge is weak, it will make all systems go haywire before the car actually shuts down.

Any suggestions as to what the hell is wrong with my car are more than welcome.

mag75

These symptoms sound like the alternator to me. If you replaced your battery and are still have power issues...change the alternator.

pukka

If you replaced the battery and its already drained I'd be looking at the alternator. The alternator provides electrical power to the car while its running as well as recharges the battery. If this is bad then the car will draw its electricity directly from the battery - which explains why your new $200 battery is dead so soon. There's no telling what idrive errors would show up in this condition - ironically there isn't one that says "Power Failure".

One of my pet peeves about the E60 is the lack of critical instrument guages (oil pressure, battery voltage, etc.) I'm surprised the repair shop didn't replace both. No matter what you are going to have to buy ANOTHER battery.

Hope this helps - GL