2009 135i engine question

[pinklea]

I was driving on the freeway last week and about 10 minutes into the drive, I started to feel my 2009 135i shake slightly and run rough. This can't be good, I thought, then the yellow engine light came on. REALLY not good, so I pulled over and checked my manual, which said that it was okay to keep driving, but moderate speed, be careful and get the car checked A.S.A.P. So I continued on to my destination, going no faster than 80 km, and the car kept shaking. It felt like it was only firing on 4 cylinders or something like that. I called my dealer (of course, this was a Sunday and the service dept. was closed), then brought the car in and wrote a note for the service tech to see on Monday morning.

The next afternoon, the tech called me and said that they didn't know what happened or why. They exchanged spark plugs 1 and 3 and also ignition coils 1 and 2. They tested everything, the car was running great, and the yellow engine indicator light was off. He sounded almost apologetic, and urged me over and over to bring the car back if the problem reoccured (duh). Since then, my car has been running perfectly.

My question is (actually I have two questions!): has this happened to anybody else? Does anybody have any ideas what happened there?

Thanks a lot!

[raisemyrent]

sounds like they screwed up something on delivery then...

[warmtoes]

Have not experienced anything like that. Hopefully it was just a spark plug thing.

[Chewyjr15]

hpfp failure?

[Shepposki]

Cars are like women, they go all screwy on you sometimes for no apparent reason and then are perfectly fine the next day.

But to answer your question i haven't had anything like that happen to me..

[dkdurham]

Symptoms sound like HPFP failure. That's exactly what happened to my 135i on Boxing Day. Since receiving the new hpfp, i've had no issues.
Are you noticing the engine having to turn a few more times before starting up?

[pinklea]

No, I haven't noticed the engine turning over more before starting, but I have noticed that when the engine is idling, there is a "ticking" noise. I don't know if this has always been there, or if it has just started, or if it's related to the rough running. I guess I should get that checked out? Also, I only have about 2000 km on my car, so I doubt any of this is due to overuse, is it?!

[Lester]

Could have been a loose gas cap. They might have tightened it at the shop. If it was the hpfp, it will probably act up again soon, then you can have them replace it.

[135iUSN]

sorry, but what is hpfp?

hope your issue does not return.

[warmtoes]

High Pressure Fuel Pump. The on-going issue of it failing and making the car go into limp mode.

[135iUSN]

hummmmm thanks a bunch! so far so good

[pinklea]

A couple of people now have mentioned the gas cap thing to me as a possible cause. Forgive my ignorance, but how would a loose gas cap affect how the engine runs?

Also, a friend told me about "something" (naturally I can no longer remember what the "something" was or where he got the info from - maybe the Roadfly site?) that was malfunctioning on the 1 series and causing the car to run in "limp mode" (love that term, Warmtoes!), but apparently BMW is aware of this and is working on a fix. Wonder if it's the HPFP?

Happily, the problem has not (yet) reoccurred - but then, it's only been 9 days since I had the car in the shop. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

[jotapeh]

I was under the impression that a loose gas cap has a different warning light entirely from the Check Engine light, but who knows.

[Addict...Nah Im A Junkie!]

If the gas cap is loose then the pressure in the gas tank is different, which equals check engine light. If you top off the gas tank the same thing can happen. My e36 m3 and M Roadster were the same way.

[warmtoes]

From the sounds of your symptoms it doesn't sound like a loose gas cap as that only usually triggers a warning but no performance issues.

[135iUSN]

Originally Posted by jotapeh

I was under the impression that a loose gas cap has a different warning light entirely from the Check Engine light, but who knows.

'check gas cap' light

[gnpower]

Originally Posted by Shepposki

Cars are like women, they go all screwy on you sometimes for no apparent reason and then are perfectly fine the next day.

But to answer your question i haven't had anything like that happen to me..

If only my girlfriend had a spark plug I could change. Life would be awesome.

[pinklea]

Well, it just happened again! Same symptoms, same "check engine light". This time, I hopped out of the car and checked the gas cap. Perfectly tight. So it may very well be the HPFP.
I've isolated the circumstances a bit more now, too: in 6th gear, at about 120-130 kph. I got where I was going, rough running all the way at about 80 kph. On the way home about 4 hours later, I kept to that same speed and the car ran normally but the engine light stayed on.
Back to the dealership tomorrow - armed with a little more information this time. Thanks, everyone, for your input so far. I'll let you know what happens.

[M3Newbie88]

Heres a question for you all while we are on the topic.. It seems that there are 2 different CEL's.. one that appears on the upper right hand side and the one that appears on the temp/milage gauge in the middle.. which one did your's appear and whats the difference if anyone knows?

[warmtoes]

I believe the CEL at the upper right is for non-critical issues and the one in the middle is for critical ones.

[pinklea]

1LazyBmw - it was the CEL on the upper right of the display.

Warmtoes - I hope you're right about that CEL being the non-critical light, because I've been driving my car today and will be driving it to the dealer tomorrow morning (more freeway, which is where the rough-running issue seems to occur), and I'm just hoping that I'm not damaging anything. I don't think so, judging from how the car sounds and feels, but I'm no mechanic, so I don't know.

[chef]

I would bet on a HPFP, sound exactly what happened to mine.