e46 rough idle and check engine light flashing

adocholiday

Hi all,

I was reversing my car this evening up a slight incline and my car suddenly started running really rough. Then the engine management light started flashing and then stayed on. There was a small loss of power and when accelerating but not much. I drove the car home (only about 2km) and parked up.

I started it again and the engine management light started flashing again and stayed on. It didn't seem as bad then but it still isn't right.

I know the first thing to do is get the codes read but that's not an option until tomorrow. Anyone know what the issue might be off hand?

I'm thinking possibly coil packs/spark plugs/injectors but I'm bricking it that the timing chain is damaged.

George Dalton

More than likely a faulty coilpack.

Foxhole Norman

I had the same problem with my E39, one morning it ran like there was a bag of spanners in the engine bay, had a faulty coil on cylinder 6.

adocholiday

George Dalton wrote: »

More than likely a faulty coilpack.

Yeah that's what I'm thinking myself. Had a similar but less severe situation with my old focus and it was 2 bad spark plugs causing it.

adocholiday

Anyone have an idea how much a coil pack replacement is? Have to get a mechanic to do it really need the car for the weekend

Foxhole Norman

adocholiday wrote: »

Anyone have an idea how much a coil pack replacement is? Have to get a mechanic to do it really need the car for the weekend

Mine was €50 from OTTO. You can do it yourself in about half an hour, it's one of the most simple things you can do. Is it a 4 or 6 Cylinder model?

unkel

Same issue here a few weeks ago on my 6 cylinder E60 BMW 520i. Cheapo diagnostic scanner said it was coil on cylinder 2. Got a Bosch coil from the local motorfactors (€40) and fitted it myself. Problem sorted

adocholiday

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

Mine was €50 from OTTO. You can do it yourself in about half an hour, it's one of the most simple things you can do. Is it a 4 or 6 Cylinder model?

Wow that's quite cheap I was expecting a couple of hundred. It's a 4 cylinder 2002 318ci

Foxhole Norman

adocholiday wrote: »

Wow that's quite cheap I was expecting a couple of hundred. It's a 4 cylinder 2002 318ci

Yeah, coils are pretty cheap, get the code read so you can see which coil it is, takes about 20 minutes to replace if you know nothing like I did, sorted.

adocholiday

Anyone know if it's safe to drive a car behaving like this to get fixed? There's a service place that is not even a 2 minute drive away from my apartment that said they can do the diagnostic at least. Just afraid that those 2 minutes could do a lot of damage. When I start the engine the light comes on then about a minute later it starts flashing irregularly. It will go back and forth between flashing and solid then. Flashing orange usually means it's serious

George Dalton

Yes it's fine to drive over a short distance.