HELP!

[superfly]

Hi,

Happy New Year to all!

I was driving back tonight from NYE's party along the PIE and my low fuel indicator had come on (it came on when the needle was halfway between the 0 and quarter tank mark). I didn't think much of it as I felt I could get back home and refill. About 20-30 minutes later, I felt a loss of power as I stepped on the accelerator while cruising at around 90km/h. Although there were no warning lights, everytime I depressed the accelerator, there was no power and the car was starting to jerk slightly. At that point, I looked for the nearest exit on the PIE (and fortunately the Stevens Rd exit was just coming up). I pulled into Stevens Road and just *barely* managed to get into the Esso station on Stevens Road (the car was starting to jerk more and still no power from depressing the accelerator). As I drove into the Esso station, I could also feel a loss of steering power.

Once safely parked, I turned off the engine and tried restarting again and the red battery and engine oil pressure warning indicators came on, and the car could not start. I waited a while, and then restarted the engine, this time without any problems. I then refueled my car to half tank. When I started the engine again, everything seemed to be fine and drove another 20km home without any problems.

Anyway, I am hoping that the sudden loss of engine power is due to the lack of fuel and nothing more, but I wonder if it is something more serious than that since my fuel indicator did not reach zero yet (it was only slightly less than halfway between the 0 and quarter tank mark by the time I reached the Esso station). Could it be a fuel pump or fuel line issue? Should I get my car checked? Thanks!

Not a great start to the new year...

[Huton Benz]

Hi there,

Happy New Year 2006! I reckon your fuel gauge is faulty. You can ascertain when the fuel level reaches almost the same mark in a couple of days and see if you encounter the same occurence again. If it does I suggest you visit the workshop soon to rectify/replace the fuel gauge.

Happy motoring!
Huton

[BMWPSG]

I had the same problem with my previous e46. Happened to me 3 times. Once along NS highway. Its the quarter tank problem. Just need to top up petrol to reach the nearest gas station. As least that was what the BMW emergency team did the first time. Since then, until I had it fixed (some regulator needs to be replaced), I never allow the petrol to fall below the quarter mark.

[hcsiow]

Replace your fuel pump, same thing happened to me and was resolved with this

[glenyang]

I had some massive and sudden power loss issue on my ol' e39. PML checked and checked. PML says "I can't check out any problem.....It's like that one". I almost wanted to show him the middle finger. So I went over to my good ol mechanic in SinMing. 2 hours and everything's done. What's the fault? A couple of spoilt O2 sensors. One on the induction, one on the exhaust.

My current e60 is now behaving like motorboat when engine is cold. RPM goes up and down, up and down until engine warms up. Let's see what PML is going to say soon.

[BlackStealth]

If one really takes the time to read over all the comments that our forum members wrote;

PML really cast a image that they have a bunch mechanics who walk the walk, talk the talk and with all the high tech equipment that PML supplied themselves with - THEY ACTUALLY KNOW NUTS ABOUT BMWs!!!!

Amazing..

[ersalle71]

If u frequent keeping ur tank to almost dry, be prepared that ur fuel pump will die earlier. Whenever your tank is low, the petrol level in there is maybe 1/2 covering the fuel pump. The fuel pump needs to be cooled and keeping the level high will lengthen the lifespan of the fuel pump theoretically. If you do careful reading in the owners manual, they would state "Avoid sporty driving if your fuel tank is below 1/4 level", why? the more you press the accelarator pedal the more the fuel pump needs to work thus it gets too hot and tired heheheheheh . As for me, i have made a practice never to let my tank go below 1/4 level because i know of the consequences. Juzz imagine my car is 15yrs old already and still running on the original fuel pump :-p