So my car stranded me today...

[integra891]

2011 135i DCT (build Oct 2010) only mods are PPK and Perf Exhaust

Filled up gas, pulling away from a stoplight, felt violent shaking, initially thought i was driving over rough road or that ruptured a tire, then i lost power, the assisted steering failed, on a major highway. I luckily was able to drift onto and down an onramp and to a side street safely. This happened at 745am. Called bmw roadside and surprisingly got a tow within 30-45 minutes so that was nice. Left the car with the tow guy and went to work (I had procedures to do and patients waiting so I couldnt stay with the car). Called dealership in advance to let them know car was coming. Car arrived at dealership at 1015am, got a call saying so. I called at 330pm and still no idea whats going on.

what do you think? Vanos bolt failure? From the description I have read, sounds almost like an HPFP failure. I guess we will see tomorrow.

Rented a car today, dealer said they couldnt provide a loaner until they knew what was going on and how long it was going to take to fix. Dealership is 45 minutes away from me anyways, so I needed immediate transportation. I guess I need to buy a "reliable" second car for these kinds of occasions.

[xShadows]

I wouldn't worry about buying a "reliable" car. These cars are very reliable.. and any other car could have random issues too. I'd just check this off as random, get it fixed and not worry about it. Let us know what the issue is.

[Dackelone]

Sounds like bad gas to me. When our car's experience a misfire... it feels like your driving on four square wheels! It's a very violent. Perhaps a bad injector or coil. But since you had just bought fuel... I'm thinking bad contaminated fuel. You might want to call that gas station and see IF they had any problems. Sometimes they put diesel in the wrong underground tank. IF that's the case, time to open a claim with your insurance company. But wait to see what your dealer says.

Btw... how many miles away from the gas station to where your car broke down?

[integra891]

it was less than one mile from the station, so i guess that could be it. hmm, i would have never thought, I always fill up at Shell stations, I thought they were "quality" gas. What kind of bad stuff can happen to the engine with contaminated gas? How would the dealer be able to figure it out?

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by integra891

it was less than one mile from the station, so i guess that could be it. hmm, i would have never thought, I always fill up at Shell stations, I thought they were "quality" gas. What kind of bad stuff can happen to the engine with contaminated gas? How would the dealer be able to figure it out?

They will need to take a fuel sample. Less than a mile... sounds like 99% chance of bad/wrong fuel. I would inform the dealer of this. Also contact the gas station - maybe they will come clean. I am sure there were a bunch of cars dead on the road near that station today.

When the station gets a fuel delivery... sometimes a new driver mixes up the tanks and puts the wrong fuel into the (underground)gas station tanks. Sucks, but it happens.

On a direct injection car this will really be expensive to repair. Your looking at six new injectors($200 each), fuel pump(low pressure fuel pump: LPFP) inside the tank. LPFP has no replaceable fuel filter... so you would probably need a new LPFP. Then your shop gonna need to flush the fuel lines and check the HPFP. You might need a new HPFP too. This will run into the thousands. So... like I said... IF this is fuel related... contact your insurance company. I believe its covered under your comp insurance coverage.

Have the dealer document everything(photos and saved fuel samples) and proceed from there.

Dackel

[integra891]

And the plot thickens...

Went to the gas station to ask if they had any issues and saw this on the pump. Talked to the clerk asked why no premium, they are servicing the filters. Told her i just filled up this morning and my car died on me, she gave me the main office number.

Will call dealer tomorrow to let them know. Dackel you were probably right on the ball.

[lastMleft]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

They will need to take a fuel sample. Less than a mile... sounds like 99% chance of bad/wrong fuel. I would inform the dealer of this. Also contact the gas station - maybe they will come clean. I am sure there were a bunch of cars dead on the road near that station today.

When the station gets a fuel delivery... sometimes a new driver mixes up the tanks and puts the wrong fuel into the (underground)gas station tanks. Sucks, but it happens.

On a direct injection car this will really be expensive to repair. Your looking at six new injectors($200 each), fuel pump(low pressure fuel pump: LPFP) inside the tank. LPFP has no replaceable fuel filter... so you would probably need a new LPFP. Then your shop gonna need to flush the fuel lines and check the HPFP. You might need a new HPFP too. This will run into the thousands. So... like I said... IF this is fuel related... contact your insurance company. I believe its covered under your comp insurance coverage.

Have the dealer document everything(photos and saved fuel samples) and proceed from there.

Dackel

Your the man Dackel

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by integra891

And the plot thickens...

Went to the gas station to ask if they had any issues and saw this on the pump. Talked to the clerk asked why no premium, they are servicing the filters. Told her i just filled up this morning and my car died on me, she gave me the main office number.

Will call dealer tomorrow to let them know. Dackel you were probably right on the ball.

Hahhh! Well... now we know.

I hope everything works out for you. Please keep us updated.


Dackel

[fcman]

took a whole 14 minutes to diagnose that, jesus. Good shit Dackel

[dcaron9999]

Probably will take the dealer 14 hours to figure out what's going on if the OP doesn't tell them ... LOL

[3002 tii]

coilpacks?

[Stvee]

I highly doubt running regular fuel as opposed to premium is going to make the car run that poorly. Maybe these cars are hyper sensitive, but with most performance cars you can get away with it (in the short term) if you aren't driving the car hard.

[sparky1_2007]

Originally Posted by Stvee

I highly doubt running regular fuel as opposed to premium is going to make the car run that poorly. Maybe these cars are hyper sensitive, but with most performance cars you can get away with it (in the short term) if you aren't driving the car hard.

I dont think it is an issue running regular.

pretty sure he filled up with premium, went back to the same gas station the next day and the premium/mid grade pumps were broken and his car broke down the day before.

Probably bad gas/incorrect gas put in the premium tanks below.

[TJ710]

Originally Posted by Stvee

I highly doubt running regular fuel as opposed to premium is going to make the car run that poorly. Maybe these cars are hyper sensitive, but with most performance cars you can get away with it (in the short term) if you aren't driving the car hard.

It probably wasn't just that non premo fuel got in there. Maybe diesel leaked in or particles from the underground tank caused the problem. I don't know what the filters do at gas stations but I'm guessing that was the problem

[MightyMouseTech]

Their premium tank probably got flooded with water, or filled with diesel. Have seen both happen.

Hopefully it's water. Drain tank and fuel system, fill with fresh fuel and a crap load of gas line antifreeze and off you go. Diesel? Not so much, real PITA to clean out, and usually means replacing the cats too. Luckily, it sounds like water, if it was diesel, it would have sort of run for a while, and belched out huge clouds of smoke.

[JimD]

I've mistakenly filled the tank on my n52 with regular and the car ran fine. I think it lost power but in normal driving I really couldn't swear it did. I know the turbo motor is different but I am also pretty sure it would run on regular, just with reduced power. The engine control should reduce ignition timing to avoid pinging but that should be the only effect. At the post there would be pinging but not an inability for the car to run.

[MightyMouseTech]

You can run our cars on regular just fine, premium is only Recommended.

[red914]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

You can run our cars on regular just fine, premium is only Recommended.

This is from the manual of my 2009 N54.

[Deutsche-Broke]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

Hahhh! Well... now we know.

I hope everything works out for you. Please keep us updated.

Dackel

Another primary reason why I keep visiting this site on a regular basis..

Thanks Dack..

[BrokenVert]

Originally Posted by sparky1_2007

I dont think it is an issue running regular.

pretty sure he filled up with premium, went back to the same gas station the next day and the premium/mid grade pumps were broken and his car broke down the day before.

Probably bad gas/incorrect gas put in the premium tanks below.

The few times ive been in Maine and gotten stuck putting 91 in the tank my car has run horribly. And thats with fuel that the car should be able to run on.

I cant imagine what would happen if 87 ended up in the tank.

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

Their premium tank probably got flooded with water, or filled with diesel. Have seen both happen.

Hopefully it's water. Drain tank and fuel system, fill with fresh fuel and a crap load of gas line antifreeze and off you go. Diesel? Not so much, real PITA to clean out, and usually means replacing the cats too. Luckily, it sounds like water, if it was diesel, it would have sort of run for a while, and belched out huge clouds of smoke.

I hope I am wrong... but I think it was diesel that the gas station had filled in its tanks by the delivery fuel truck. Could also be that their water separator for their underground tanks went bad. I guess soon we will know.

@MightyMouseTech good tip about the cats. I would not have thought about that. IF the OP's car is an N54 thats four expensive cats to replace. N55 has only one.

Dack

[edisapimp]

That is a sucky thing to have happen! If it turns out it was diesel I would explode their gas station (but that's just the terrorist in me.) This is ironic to mention, because I have always been filling up with Shell V-Power because of how awesome everyone says it is, and how shell is the official fuel of F1, etc. blah blah. I've even traveled very far out of my way to get Shell fuel sometimes. Over the last few weeks I'd been experiencing some misfires - changed plugs with no change. Then on a whim changed fuel to BP invigorate (which is actually Aamco fuel), and the car feels so much better versus the shell fuel, I'm left with some pretty solid motivation to never visit a shell station again, and then this story...