I have an 04 R50 CVT.

Craziest thing happened the other day. I came to a complete stop, the needle on the tach kept bouncing up and down. Then at one point it went all the way down to like 200 RPM's, car shaking and all!!! Both SES and EML light came on for about two seconds then everything returned to normal??

Automatics should not be showing signs of stalling haha

As a side note, the car has been doing the whole 'needle goes up and down on the tach' for some time with minor shaking, but this last time was just horrible.

Anyone have any ideas what the problem/s could be
Thanks

 

Sounds like a possible fluctuating vacuum leak or one of the leads on your coil pack going bad. Pull the plug wires off the coil pack and check all the leads.

When you get a chance, run to advanced auto and borrow their OBDII scanner, plug it in and see if it stored any codes from when your SES light came on. If it did, write them down, google them and it should help you find the fixes for the problem.

Good Luck!

 

Didn't even consider the coil pack, I replaced that at 64k miles. Car is creeping close to 100K

I should be getting a scanguage today or tomorrow. From what I remember I think that thing can read codes...just have to learn how to use it haha.

Thank for the quick reply! I'll check the coil pack later tonight when I get home...I know lead #3 tends to be the one with the most corrosion.

 

Yes Scangauge can read codes. I purchased one, and I haven't fully installed it yet, but when I got the SES and EML light, I pulled it out of the package and plugged it in. Scanning is pretty easy, I hear configuring the other stuff can be tricky

 

Scanning was easy haha...no codes found

Will check coil pack as soon as gf brings the car back..if there is nothing wrong with it then I'm at a loss as to what the issue can be.

 

Gen 1s have a history of faulty throttle bodies and faulty engine wiring harness which will cause limp mode or stalling. Ive experiemced both. Got EML and SES lights both on and same fault both times. I forget what the P code was for the fault but essentially if I restarted my car all would be well until a week or month down the road that it would reappear.

Hope this is not the case with you but if your Ses light came on it has to store a fault. Perhaps you accidentally cleared it while checking for faults? Oh well. Hope it drives fine Nd continues to do so for a while!

 

I thought I messed up scanning too but nope, it says no codes found??

And I know I went through the procedure correctly because prior to scanning the R50 I had to clear a code on my R58S after I installed an oil catch can and found the code and cleared it.

I might just take it in to a mini/bmw buddy of mine in a few days to get a free diagnostic haha
All I know is I'm not getting rid of this car regardless if the fix is pricey..I love it too much hahaha

Thanks for all the help and input. I'll mention the throttle body and engine wiring harness to him so he at least has somewhere to start!

 

Could be an EVAP purge valve self-test. If there were no codes, the test passed.

 

Not sure youre friend will be able to help ya, if youre not seeing any faults then I doubt he'll find any either. Weird scenario but by the sounds of it, at least its running fine for the time being!

 

Yea very true...it is driving fine now. If this scenario happens again hopfully I can actually get some codes from it. Idle still does fluctuate though..will keep my eye on that!