Z4 engine problem? Advice please!

[dan101smith]

Hi all,

Just had a call from SWMBO, she's got this light come on the dash of her 04 Z4 3.0.



Not sure what this means off the top of my head - can anyone enlighten me? I've told her not to drive it yet.

TIA
Dan

[Andy G Bmth]

i believe its for emmissions.

this came on on mine 3 weeks ago, its ok to drive and thee is a good chance it will go out after a couple of days and not come on again - which is what mine did.

It's more than likely one of the sensors playing up, if its still on after a week take it to a dealer.

Andy

[noneedtolift]

That'll be the check engine light. Should be Ok to drive though. If the car is in limp mode which you will notice when driving it'll be better to see the dealer rather sooner than later.

[8Tech]

That is, as correctly stated, the "Check engine lamp" which means that the engine management system has detected and stored a fault in the memory. The car might go into limp mode, depending on what fault it has detected.
If this is the case, the ECU will work from an approximate value to carry out its calculations for fuelling and timing.
Any competant garage with a code reader should be able to download the fault code and tell you what triggered it.
It is usually safe to continue driving the car but treat it with respect until the fault is either rectified or the code reset and not recurring.

8Tech.

[z4m iain]

Had that light on my Z4m twice in the last 2 months, had 2 lamba sensors replaced by the dealer. Car is ok to drive as it is only a yellow warning light but the stealer needs to look at it as it may well be a problem with the engine management.

[sjp63]

02 sensor wild guess

Edited by sjp63 on Tuesday 20th November 11:51

[gwatson]

I had this three months ago and it was a faulty spark plug. It came on when using 3/4 to full throttle at higher revs. Switch the ignition on and off quickly clears it until next time. Failing that speak to BMW and make sure your car had the coils replaced in it's early days, coil failures can be common on these cars.

G

[carlosvalderrama]

It can be almost any sensor on the engine. It could be either a lack of a signal from a sensor or an intermittent signal. If it drives normally it may be a glitch with a sensor and the ECU will reset and the mill light will go out. If it does, you'll miss out on knowing why it came on, so get it to a garage and get it on the diagnostic tool.

If it doesn't drive normally, lacking power and being 'fluffy' you're missing an important signal and the fuelling goes all to cock. It will default to a rich setting to prevent detonation, this will foul your plugs in time, so get it on the diagnostics as soon as you can.

[dan101smith]

Thanks for all the replies - turns out it's a spark plug and an injector.