BMW 530d AUTO 2000 Running Problem

Joined: Aug 26, 2008 Posts: 1

Can anyone help me please as Im tearing my hair out. Over the last month my diesel bmw 530 has been acting strange. When started it ticks over ok then it will start huntering. Sometimes it cuts out at traffic lights. To stop it ticking over stupidly you can put your foot down no power then it will kick in and take off, when running at 40 - 70 mph it feels as though its running on 5 cylinders. No power then power. Its not using anymore diesel. I took it for an MOT and the guy at the garge said its the Air mass, so i changed that and its the same. The head gasket is fine and its not using water. When started up in park it still ticks over badly and when you put your foot on break and change to D it wants to pull forward but the whole car shakes I have tried to describe the fault as best as i can but its hard to as i do not really know how to describe it, I could video the problem and upload to youtube if this helps? I tried some diesel cleaner in fuel but that did nothing. It feels like timming is out but sometimes it runs ok I did 100 miles yesterday but it feels like its being driven over a cattle grid. Please help before i take it to a service centre and get murdered by the cost of the repair.

External Since: Aug 24, 2005 Posts: 281

keptboy wrote:
>Can anyone help me please as Im tearing my hair out. Over the last
>month my diesel bmw 530 has been acting strange. When started it
>ticks over ok then it will start huntering. Sometimes it cuts out at
>traffic lights. To stop it ticking over stupidly you can put your
>foot down no power then it will kick in and take off, when running at
>40 - 70 mph it feels as though its running on 5 cylinders. No power
>then power. Its not using anymore diesel. I took it for an MOT and
>the guy at the garge said its the Air mass, so i changed that and its
>the same.

Air mass sensor is a good guess, and if you changed that, I'd still guess
it has something to do with an intermittent air leak somewhere. Check
the hose and everything between the air mass sensor and the throttle body
for any kind of crack. Poke around all the vacuum hoses and check for a
vacuum leak. It can help to have an unlit propane torch, poking it
around while the engine is running. When you get near the vacuum leak,
it will draw propane in and the engine will surge.

The head gasket is fine and its not using water. When
>started up in park it still ticks over badly and when you put your
>foot on break and change to D it wants to pull forward but the whole
>car shakes I have tried to describe the fault as best as i can but its
>hard to as i do not really know how to describe it, I could video the
>problem and upload to youtube if this helps? I tried some diesel
>cleaner in fuel but that did nothing. It feels like timming is out but
>sometimes it runs ok I did 100 miles yesterday but it feels like its
>being driven over a cattle grid. Please help before i take it to a
>service centre and get murdered by the cost of the repair.

Well, the first big thing to do is to pull the codes off the computer.
I assume the guy at the garage did that before anything else? What
codes did he come up with that made him think it was the AMS?
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."