[AndrewBall]

So i have about had it with this **** box. Every problem my car has is an intermittent demon.

Recently i drove my car some where. parked it. and when i returned it would not start. it would turn over just fine, it would even start sometimes. run very rough, fluctuating rpm and then stall within seconds.

Then it worked fine for 4 1/2 weeks. In fact i drove the car 1,200 miles to Myrtle Beach and Back. Without a single issue. Then last night it decided that it wanted to strand me at dinner. So I came back to my car went to start it and it started, ran rough, then stalled. Tried again. It just turned over and over and over.

I checked the error codes. Nothing.

eventually it started reluctantly at first and then it came to life and ran perfectly fine for about 15mins. where it lost all power, started to shut down and then it came back to life. Ran fine got almost all the way home and my transmission error light came on. Not trusting my car one bit i continued home. Turned it off, checked the codes. Nothing. Went to start it. Started right up ran fine. No error codes. Turned it off and went to sleep.

my girlfriend drove me to work this morning because it wouldn't start.

So here i am trying to decide does it get a big for sale sign. or do i try and diagnose and fix this problem on a car with 152k on it.

Most would say fix it, its probably something simple. I say my car has a history of whacky intermittent problems and im convinced that i will go home tonight and the car will work fine and continue doing so for another 6 weeks.

Just last year, i spent 3 months with my car in a shop chasing an intermittent cylinder 3 misfire. Problem was, when i drove the car there it barely ran. and when they went to look at it, it worked perfectly. They never fixed anything, and it still works to this day. Aside from this new issue.

i've considered cam position sensors, but i havent gotten an error code. is there a history of them failing without giving a code on these cars?

 

[Zchild]

Sounds like an ignition issue, the sure sign is your dashboard display. What lights are illuminating on your dashboard when it starts and which ones are displaying when it's not. I recently solved intermitent start issues, sometimes it started and sometimes it didn't. I finally noticed that not all of my dashboard lights were coming on with the key in the second position. Just a suggestion...

 

[AndrewBall]

so, i just tried the car again after returning home for work. at first it started idle very rough and then stalled and it will not do anything but turn over now.

i still have No codes, no abnormal lights, anything. just doesnt start, and wont tell me why.

i have considered trying to do cam position sensors, but i find it weird they failed and didnt give me a code. and on top of that should i replace intake or exhaust or both? i dont really want to just replace them when i dont know if they are bad or not.

 

[teamdfl]

What code reader are you using? You probably need something more than a typical OBD2 reader to read emerging stored faults that BMW wants to hide from you.

EDIT: I have experienced bad cam position sensors that would not trigger a check engine light. The car would occasionally buck, stall, and even fail to start without ever throwing a light. The car was at the dealer for an unrelated warranty fix (control arms?) when I mentioned the intermittent problem. When I picked it up, they claimed that they found cam position codes and replaced one under warranty which solved the problem. At the time, I did not have a Peake Tool so I don't know it it will see this sort of hidden fault code.