2001 530i Newbie question

[jsbihn]

Hey guys,
New to the german car scene and have to say so far me likes.
Anyways, I am curious..... Are there any problems that are prone to the 2001 530i. I have just had a bad experience with the car. It has 54k on it and has had the service engine soon light on for about 500-1000 miles. I was working to get it into the dealer (which sadly is 1 hour a way) but then it went off. So I was like 'Ok, maybe it was a fault and it reset itself. Damn OBD'. Ok well then the light was off for a while and then it turned back on. Just after that the car just died. It would run at idle but then if I put it into drive it would die. Reverse was Ok. Weird huh? Then finally after about 15-20 minutes it started up and worked in drive. Everything was fine. Ok, so later that night I go out and start her up, no problems, and I start driving down the road and I see the battery light light up, but the faster I go the more it flickers on and off. The I get to cruising speed and it is off. It doesnt come back on again. Ok, so that was yesterday, I jump in the car today and it starts just fine, no lights or anything, drive down the road and start to make a turn, and the car dies. I have power for radio, fans, and everything else, but the car will not start. Will not even turn over. I call BMW roadside to have them come pick up the car. After a few minutes I decide let me try the car, this time it sounds like it wants to start but doesnt and I can hear the battery wear down. Next I turn the key and it just goes click click click. Now when I bought the car, the dealer said they pulled the code for the check engine soon light and they said it was the crank position sensor. Now I dont know if they were right or wrong since this wasnt a BMW dealership but a Toyota. Anyways, I guess I am trying to find out 1) if there are any recalls, 2) are there any problems to watch out for, 3) what might you think is wrong with my car?

OH yeah, before I forget, is there any way to get the BMW service manuals for the car, and if so are they worth it and how much do they cost. I have the factory service manuals for my Toyota (no not the Haynes manuals, but the real OEM factory service manuals) and they are WELL worth it, so I figured I can get them for the B'mer. Anyways info on this would be great too

All or any help is appreciated
Thanks!!

 

[bahnstormer]

crank pos sensor could def do what u've described. also your alternator/battery might need to be looked at. take it to the stealer, have them do a full service on it to get out all the kinks. as far as manuals go haynes sucks big time and i haven't seen the oem service manuals ever. there are some etk and service CD's floating around the forums and sometimes ebay

 

[jsbihn]

Thanks!
Get this. Tell me please if BMW's are worth it. I mean in the short time I have had the car I love it, but it has been about 2 weeks and it has spent more time in the shop then with me. Here is the run down from the dealership. Ok, They tow it in and replace the fuel pump. Supposedly that is what made the car die on me, and the check engine light come on. Ok they replaced the fuel pump drove it, it was fine, towed it back to my house and I load up into it. I get about 300 yards down the road, basically the same spot it broken down last time, and I see all the lights in the car light up (except for the check engine and the EML and such on the left side display). The radio kept going off and on so, I said screw it and turned around and drove it back to my house with almost like NO power. I have it towed back to the dealer. Now the dealer tells me that the alternator is gone. Well I did kind of tell them that the first time, but they said it checked out. OK no biggie, so now they fix the alternator and test drive it again and now the check engine light is back on, the thermostat is stuck open. So they replace that. Call me today and tell me that my car is ready and they are going to bring it back to me, well I start waiting and I get another phone call. They are like, ummm sir the check engine light is back on. So it is still at the shop. This time I dont know what it might be doing, but the light is back on. So, should I just let them fix it and keep the car, or do yout hink this car has some gremlin in it? I mean I have 46k on the warranty, but I cant afford to keep doing without a car if it is int he dealership all the time. I mean are BMW's usually pretty reliable? Should I keep this one, or go find another? I dont knwo these cars, so i cant say anything. If it was a Toyota I would say it is just a glitch and keep it. what do you guys say?

 

[MrElussive]

Welcome to the forum. You really shouldn't have driven the car for 500-1,000 miles with the service engine soon light. That warning is not a joke and you can really kill your car just by ignoring it like that.

 

[jsbihn]

I read in the manual and have been told by others that the CES light means get the car in BUT doesnt mean it is catastrophic. Now if it was any of the RED lights OR the EML then I heard that was bad. Besides the CES light would come on and go off, so I couldnt tell if it was faulting or really a problem. I dont think it killed an engine because I am sure there are so many failsafe's that if the car went into a serious condition it would stop the car. Either way, now I am faced with a dilemma of is this car reliable?
Anyone have comments?

 

[Dinan55]

My car had the same problem except without any mechanical issues at all. The check engine light would come on and then just go off so I ignored it. Eventually, it just stopped coming on at all... I guess it fixed itself. A problem you may have soon though is the thermostat breaking. My thermostat broke for no reason and I replaced it (it was quite a bitch though) so just be ready for that, even though it might not even happen.

 

[CosmosBlack]

I'm wondering why the dealer couldn't read the codes and keep replacing parts.
Did they check the Mass Airflow sensor? That is a common culprit.
If it's dirty it could cause many weird problems like what you experienced,
If it's bad, the engine will not even start.

 

[jsbihn]

Actually, Dinan guessed the right answer
The BMW dealer finally figured out the problem. Ok those who have been following here is what happen.
I told them that the Toyota dealer that checked it out came back with a crank position sensor that was bad. Ok please understand that....
Ok. I get my car back and so far so good. I asked what was wrong with it. Well the alternator went out in it, but because it was bad it cause the fuel pump to not work, so the car died. Of course, why I dont know, when BMW found this out, they pulled the new, but now used (by about 50-80 miles) fuel pump out and put the old one in. Ok, so they replaced the alternator, but the car's check engine light still came on and the car was still acting weird. Reason, like Dinan said, the thermostat was stuck open. So they replaced that. Then they still had a check engine light, and so the last thing they decided to check was the crank position sensor. So that was replaced.
Just kind of stinks that it all goes bad at once, but again my question is

Now that I have the car back and it is running, how reliable are BMW's?
Given I have 46k left on my warranty, but I dont want to have to bring it into the shop every two weeks or every year because it is breaking.

Any thought?