Engine - M50.
A long read.
Well, it all started on the way to Bimmerfest, so we'll start there.
Approaching border (50 feet away) the car acts like I had just turned off the ignition with the three beeps. I think that's odd, then the radio cuts out. Car dies. I try to crank and nothing. After thinking, it's collectively decided that the alternator isn't charging the battery. A new battery or swapping of batteries is done to limp it as far as possible before I use AAA.
For the remainder of time the car seems fine after I replace the alternator, although hard bumps do cause the car to hesitate as if the car is shorting out from a loose ground, but I've checked everywhere I can think of. After tightening down a battery cable again things are peachy. When I get back to AZ the car randomly would start to surge and go down on power, strangely enough, a downshift to 4th and flooring it got rid of the issue... weird.
Fast forward, car is back in AZ and I take it to work for 1 day. On the way to the office it's fine. On my way home it starts to surge and come down on power out of nowhere, I manage to get it home. Again I downshift to 4th and it's fine until I start to let off or even at WOT it would hesitate out just enough to make me think it is going to die. It has happened at random rpms.
Now, I don't recall when the fuel pumps or filter were changed, so that's first on the list. My worst fear is it's electrical and it's going to be a pain to track down the cause. Could an ignition switch cause this? A short? Vanos?
A long read.
Well, it all started on the way to Bimmerfest, so we'll start there.
Approaching border (50 feet away) the car acts like I had just turned off the ignition with the three beeps. I think that's odd, then the radio cuts out. Car dies. I try to crank and nothing. After thinking, it's collectively decided that the alternator isn't charging the battery. A new battery or swapping of batteries is done to limp it as far as possible before I use AAA.
For the remainder of time the car seems fine after I replace the alternator, although hard bumps do cause the car to hesitate as if the car is shorting out from a loose ground, but I've checked everywhere I can think of. After tightening down a battery cable again things are peachy. When I get back to AZ the car randomly would start to surge and go down on power, strangely enough, a downshift to 4th and flooring it got rid of the issue... weird.
Fast forward, car is back in AZ and I take it to work for 1 day. On the way to the office it's fine. On my way home it starts to surge and come down on power out of nowhere, I manage to get it home. Again I downshift to 4th and it's fine until I start to let off or even at WOT it would hesitate out just enough to make me think it is going to die. It has happened at random rpms.
Now, I don't recall when the fuel pumps or filter were changed, so that's first on the list. My worst fear is it's electrical and it's going to be a pain to track down the cause. Could an ignition switch cause this? A short? Vanos?
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