Car died on left turn - 0 RPM

[LeiZ]

Update: Defect Located. Problem Solved! Eccentric Shaft Sensor! Changed the valve cover gasket and spark plugs while there. Engine never dies again (2 days! Knocking the wood!) Guess how much total I paid for parts & labor?


It happened to my 07' X3 E83 this morning. So I think I better bring it up here since there are many talented minds here.

Right after it died, I tried to restart it. No problem starting, but it went to 0 RPM right away. Seems it's not idling. Tried 3 times. The 4th time I gotta hold the gas pedal for about 20 seconds before slowly releasing it, and then it became normal. Pulled back in the garage right away and changed my beloved X5. Oh man....... you don't know how much I love my X5 now. lol

Any advice is greatly appreciated. No any symptom before except if the car sits too long, it got a flat battery. Last time when the same code appeared, I charged the battery and cleared the code, problem solved. This die-on-me in the middle of intersection really freaked me out.

Thank you guys!

Update: Thanks so much for the feedback, guys! That'll give me a pretty good checklist to start with.

4.13.2013 : Just something more to update. The most scary thing happened today: it died on my ON HIGHWAY today!!! I was driving 65MPH, and suddenly it's like fuel cut or starter shut down. So I carefully pulled over to the shoulder, and again, it won't hold RPM, dropped to 0 right after started up. Waited about 3 min, and it started fine.

It scared the shit out of me...............



Note: Error Code: P1017 & P1030. Disappeared after restart.

[Dudewanarace]

Sounds fuel related to me..

Did you recently buy fuel that may be bad? I once purchased 20 gallons of gas and got 10 gallons of water. Not cool.

Maybe the fuel filter is clogged?

I would measure the fuel pressure at the fuel rail first.

[Naz24]

Happened to my 4.6is... ended up being a dislodged air intake...

Check the simple things first

[TerminatorX5]

is the X3 3.0?

could be ICV - idle control valve... for that thing, temporary fix was to rev engine to redline, real quick, like 2-3 times - vrooooom, vroooom, vroooom, then let it go, it should idle normal... however, eventually you need to replace the valve...

[Big "J"]

Another possible cause is CPS...Camshaft position sensors? Although, when it happened to me in my X5 3.0, it started right back up without idle issues.

[Gurjit]

Check fuel filter

[mrbmwx5]

Originally Posted by TerminatorX5

is the X3 3.0?

could be ICV - idle control valve... for that thing, temporary fix was to rev engine to redline, real quick, like 2-3 times - vrooooom, vroooom, vroooom, then let it go, it should idle normal... however, eventually you need to replace the valve...

+1

[bcredliner]

Sound like the air flow meter is acting up. Easy to pull and clean. It doesn't usually fix itself--as in return to normal.

[LeiZ]

Thanks so much for the feedback, guys! That'll give me a pretty good checklist to start with.

Just something more to update. The most scary thing happened today: it died on my ON HIGHWAY today!!! I was driving 65MPH, and suddenly it's like fuel cut or starter shut down. So I carefully pulled over to the shoulder, and again, it won't hold RPM, dropped to 0 right after started up. Waited about 3 min, and it started fine.

It scared the shit out of me...............

[Big "J"]

Good thing you were in a heavy safe vehicle... Even tho it had no power.

I'm leaning towards the fuel pump being on its way out.... Same thing happened to me about a year ago.