BMW E90 330d engine cutting out at speed.

[Niffty951]

I bought a 60k mile old 1 owner 330d from a garage and the following day it died at speed.

Symptoms:

Full tank of fuel. Engine cuts out regardless of speed/rpm/load (v.dangerous!), no warnings on the dash, all electrics operating properly, no rough running/misfire/smoke or sound warning prior to failure.

Hit the starter button and the starter motor just runs and runs with no hint of starting.

Remove the key and put it back in, the car fires up faultlessly and runs smoothly before dying again in exactly the same way.

The first time it happened it ran for another 140 miles before dying. Second time 5 miles. After that it will only run for a few seconds.

The garage have full BMW main dealer level diagnostics and have since replaced the fuel filter, ECU from BMW and injectors. The fault code is still reading injector fault but the fault keeps moving. They are now replacing all 6 injectors (at their cost) but I highly doubt this is the problem!

I've found the following threads which seem to suggest the same issue but with many parts changed and no solution:

http://www.bimmerforums.co.uk/forum/f125/2006-e90-...

http://www.bmwland.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&...

Any help much appreciated!

[Niffty951]

I'm sure the key would bring up a warning of some variety 'key removed' or at least I'd lose the electrics like the radio.

I'm convinced it's a fuel starvation issue or crank sensor so the engine doesn't know what cylinder to fire. Just not sure on the cause. Was hoping one knowledgeable might have solved this previously, as the issue seems to crop up on forums a lot.

[Niffty951]

Actually cutting out on the inside lane of a blind bend after sharp turn so I had no speed to roll on was probably the worst situation.

It's been a long time since I've been in a situation with a completely immobile car. It has been an absolute nightmare and not one I expect from a 60k old bmw!

Apart from the odd freak occurance, a car dying at speed and becoming completely immobile should be on the list of severe failures to be engineered out at the design phase. How can they justify leaving so many single component failures that could possibly cause this?!

[Niffty951]

Superb. That is the kind of reply I had hoped for. Thanks Mits.

Will get them to try next

[Niffty951]

Well the replacement of all 6 injectors seems to have made it run. They 'think' the ecu failed and killed all the injectors, which were tested and found to be 'failing to open and close'. I'm not convinced any fault could have caused all 6 to fail.

I would suspect using bmw's mean time between failures the probability of 6 injectors failing simultaneously. Having been running smoothly prior to the fault would be many orders of magnitude to 1.

However.. 7miles down and fingers crossed.

[Niffty951]

As you've lifted this thread from the archives I can confirm that injector fault was also the cause of my cars troubles, they couldn't figure out which so they replaced all 6 (at their cost under warranty) but it ran like a dream after this.