X5 died today while driving

bigx5er · #1 02-04-2009, 03:39 PM

2008 with 10.5K miles. Had been driving for 10 minutes and exited a freeway. About a minute later while traveling at 45 MPH, the tac jumped to over 3000 RPMs and the accelerator quit doing anything. A few seconds later the engine shut down and I was in the left lane with no power steering. I was able to glide it onto a side street. All attempts to restart failed, it would run for 1/2 second and die.

Just refilled it last night, so fuel was full. It was -6 here, but it has been much colder.

BMW Assist had a tow truck out in 35 minutes and my dealer has it in the queue.

Anyone else experience this? Very scary to go through.

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rh71 · #2 02-04-2009, 03:44 PM

scary indeed but shocked by the response time after hearing of other horror stories. Did it already go through the annual checkup?

poleposition · #3 02-04-2009, 03:58 PM

sounds like bad gas.

M6X · #4 02-04-2009, 04:15 PM

Wow shocking. please keep us updated...

AzNMpower32 · #5 02-04-2009, 04:23 PM

The variable that might have caused this is the fact you filled up last night. I want to say there's something wrong with the petrol.

bigx5er · #6 02-04-2009, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rh71

scary indeed but shocked by the response time after hearing of other horror stories. Did it already go through the annual checkup?

I've only had it for seven months, so no checkup yet. As some others have noted, the fuel is sure suspicious but that would surprise me since the place I purchase it from does a high volume and is well regarded here. Still, I can't disagree with the theory.

I will post back when I hear back from the dealer. Sounds like it may be a day or two due to their backlog.

mwares212 · #7 02-04-2009, 06:10 PM

This definitely sounds that bad gas. A few years back, a gasoline tanker operator mistakenly put diesel in the regular unleaded underground gas tank at a gas station in my town. Needless to say, many people (I believe about 2 dozen) had their car engines seize up. Hopefully your situation isn't as bad.

Zoich · #8 02-05-2009, 02:13 AM

Most likely it's your fuel pump. What you described sounded very much a fuel delivery problem.

bigx5er · #9 02-05-2009, 12:23 PM

Just heard from my dealer. It was the fuel pump that died. They are ordering a new one and hope to have it by tomorrow.

My service adviser also mentioned that he has seen a few of these in recent months -- I wasn't the first. Obviously 10.5K is an early death for a fuel pump.

Great work by my dealership so far. Very happy with their service.

davidy1688 · #10 02-05-2009, 12:28 PM

Thanks for the information! Hope your car will be OK.

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