# Faulty Ignition Coil



## ArchaicRelic (Jul 1, 2003)

My car was recently at the dealer for a defective ignition coil. I spoke to the mechanic, not my service advisor, and was told that this has been fairly common. Has anyone else experienced this?


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## Argo (Sep 29, 2003)

Hello, fellow Bimmerfest members.
Before I share my experience regarding the thread topic, I would like to say what a great source of information this forum has been and will be to me and I hope I will be of any contribution to the Bimmerfest.

I purchased my car (04 325CI, SP, MT) in last May and have driven about 8000 miles so far. About a month ago, Service engine soon light came on when the car was accelerated quickly (full throttle) to about 5500rpm from 1st gear (rest from a stop light), followed by severe power loss and pulsations when accelerated. I pulled the car on the side of road and restarted the ignition. The light went off and the car operated like usual.
Because this happened right after I filled up from almost empty tank (I know..I usually don’t do this), I assumed that there might have been a bit of water or something that caused it and didn’t bother to have it checked out.

About a couple of weeks later, Service engine soon light came on again when the car was fully throttled from 1500 rpm (in 2nd gear) to about 5500~6000 rpm, followed by power loss & pulsations. Again, I pulled the car on the side of road and restarted the ignition. The light went off. However, the throttle response became very slow and the engine shuddered around 2000 ~ 4000 rpm at free revving and during driving.

I brought the car in to a local dealer (30 min. away) for diagnosis and was shocked to hear that the car had been in Transport Mode since the delivery  . The diagnosis showed two misfiring codes (cylinder 1&6) and they told me that this Transport Mode seemed to be the cause of the problem. They changed it to Normal Mode and voila…nothing improved. It was almost at the end of the day and they wanted me to come back about a week later. The service manager told me that they couldn’t do anything sooner and it would be fine to drive around for another week like this. Sure it wasn’t his car.. 

At this point, I was afraid that having been in the Transport Mode for so long might have caused a major damage and called the dealer where I bought the car (1 hour away) next day. They were surprised to hear about the Transport Mode story and ask me to immediately bring in the car. It rained very hard and the SES light came up again on the way to the dealer.
The diagnosis showed faulty ignition coils (Cylinder 4&5) and they were replaced. I told SA about the previous diagnosis which showed misfiring with cylinder 1&6 and asked if those coils should have been replaced as well. The master tech. claimed that he checked the other coils and found them normal :dunno: . And since the other dealer cleared the previous records when they did the Mode change, they could only do the ones with faulty codes .
Regarding the Transport Mode fiasco, the assistant service manager told me that he was informed by his master tech that the Transport Mode software would have shut down the car at 5000 miles, and that what the other dealer said didn’t make any sense. At this point, I didn’t know whom to believe. Anyway, I took a test drive and it seemed to operate flawlessly.

It’s been a few days and I could notice very subtle differences from time to time. And because those were so subtle I thought it must have been in my head. Yesterday, it rained all day and I experienced not so subtle engine shudder :thumbdwn: . No SES light though. And the idling was very rough in the morning. I think the ignition coil 1&6 are NOT normal.
I am planning to have them check out...but not sure which dealer to go to..  

Sorry it had to be so long, but I wanted to give you the full history. Did anyone else have faulty ignition coil problems? Or better yet, Transport Mode story like mine?


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## wmndriver (Jun 3, 2003)

ArchaicRelic said:


> My car was recently at the dealer for a defective ignition coil. I spoke to the mechanic, not my service advisor, and was told that this has been fairly common. Has anyone else experienced this?


What were the symptoms that made you bring your car in? I'm having my '03 330xi looked at next week because my ignition doesn't catch right away when I try to turn it on (it has 2,400 miles on it, but this has been a problem since I got the car). Is this what you experienced?


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## MG67 (Aug 19, 2003)

the ignition coil 1&6 are NOT normal.


About two weeks ago I was driving to the introduction of the new 5 series and while driving in sportmode on the 134 freeway doing about 80 - 85 mph my check engine light came on and the engine started shuttering without power (45 mph). 
When I came to Century West BMW there was no technician available and they told me it was no problem driving back to Pasadena. 
When I started the car, all was fine and I drove back without a problem.
While checking out the new 5, I was talking with a lady and she told me that here 330i had the same problem the week before and they fixed it. Faulty Ignition Coils too... 
I brought my car to the dealer were I bought the car and they changed the coils on 1&6, the problem didn't return untill yesterday, I was accelarating from 30 to 70 mph in sportmode and the same thing happened again.... 
I already have an appointment set up with Assael BMW in Monrovia so I hope they can fix it again and make it go away.... 
I will let you know what happens next...


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## Argo (Sep 29, 2003)

mgorgel,

I am going to dealer on 23rd. I will also post how it turns out. 
Since I haven't had SES light on, I will have to convince the dealer there IS still something wrong  
I wonder if it's just due to bad ignition coils or there is a root problem that causes ignition coils to go bad.


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## e46shift (Oct 12, 2002)

lemon law..


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## Orient330iNYC (Jul 30, 2002)

what the heck is transport mode?


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## car_for_mom (Jul 15, 2002)

Yep, I experienced an ignition coil problem in March, 2003 (about 4 months after I picked up the car):

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27713

Symptoms were as previously described in this thread - car shakes, loss o'power, 'SERVICE ENGINE SOON' light comes on (occasioning thoughts of "will it be the tow truck or the paramedics that arrive first?"  )


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## Argo (Sep 29, 2003)

Orient330iNYC said:


> what the heck is transport mode?


That's exactly what I said to the dealer  
All cars are put on "transport mode" when shipped from Germany or SA. Transport mode may restrict some functions such as radio, AC, engine performance (earlier rev limit), and etc.. in order to protect cars from being abused during transport and to conserve battery (this info. is from dealer). Before delivery, this is supposed to be changed to "normal mode" at the dealer. Apparently this never happened to my car until 7000 miles according to my local dealer, and the dealer that I purchased from claimed it was impossible for my car to have reached more than 5000 miles if it had been in transport mode. :dunno:


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## Argo (Sep 29, 2003)

car_for_mom said:


> Yep, I experienced an ignition coil problem in March, 2003 (about 4 months after I picked up the car):
> 
> http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27713
> 
> Symptoms were as previously described in this thread - car shakes, loss o'power, 'SERVICE ENGINE SOON' light comes on (occasioning thoughts of "will it be the tow truck or the paramedics that arrive first?"  )


It took just about four months for me, too. Coincidence? :dunno: 
Have you had any subsequent problems after the fix such as rough idling at morning start-up and intermittent vibration during acceleration..?


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## car_for_mom (Jul 15, 2002)

Argo said:


> It took just about four months for me, too. Coincidence? :dunno:
> Have you had any subsequent problems after the fix such as rough idling at morning start-up and intermittent vibration during acceleration..?


No, Argo - haven't had any problems ever since, and Karl Bimmer has just about 25,000 miles.

My car was built in Rosslyn, South Africa, a 5-speed 325i


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## Argo (Sep 29, 2003)

car_for_mom said:


> No, Argo - haven't had any problems ever since, and Karl Bimmer has just about 25,000 miles.
> 
> My car was built in Rosslyn, South Africa, a 5-speed 325i


I am glad to hear that Karl Bimmer is doing fine.
For the past three days, my car hasn't had rough idling in the morning  . Maybe she knows the dealer visit is coming up soon  
I have started taking a video clip with my dig. camera at every morning start up, hoping to catch the gremlin..


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## MG67 (Aug 19, 2003)

Argo said:


> I am glad to hear that Karl Bimmer is doing fine.
> I have started taking a video clip with my dig. camera at every morning start up, hoping to catch the gremlin..


Argo,

I dropped of my car this morning at the dealer, told him again that the "check engine soon" light came on again on monday. I totally forgot to tell him the last time that the light came on in sport mode... 
They are also changing my left from xenon because it was not working... 
They did however give me a 330i Dinan 3 as a loaner car which I think is very cool!!

Mike


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## Argo (Sep 29, 2003)

Wow, Dinan 3 loaner :yikes: :thumbup: 
I've had two loaners from my dealer so far, 325i with step and Dodge Neon.
After driving 325i with step for a day, I was just so glad to have my car back.
And Neon was just a disgrace :thumbdwn: 
I wonder what I will get next week..
Please let us know what you find out from the dealer with your car.. meanwhile enjoy the heck out that nice ride


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## rwebbe (Jan 20, 2002)

My contribution to this mess: Tech Center delivered my car in beautiful shape and for 1 1/2 years and 20K miles not one problem other than fuel senders or whatever. It appears not all Dealers face up to their responsabilities in preparing our cars as BMW NA has outlined.


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## MG67 (Aug 19, 2003)

Well, I brought the Dinan 3 Back and picked up my car...  
They did not find anything in the cars computer that showed the cars check engine light came on...? They fixed the other issues with the car and it's driving great. The only thing I have with this is that I feel a little uncomfortable, at anytime the "check engine soon" light can go on and the engine looses power...  
Next time it happens I will drive to the dealer right away with the light on and the engine out of whack....


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## Argo (Sep 29, 2003)

*light switch center recall?*

I finally got my car back after four days at the dealer (my loaner was NOT dinan 3   ).
They ended up replacing all of the old ignition coils. Following is from the service invoice,

"Perform smooth running test. Setpoints were not reached cyl. (1,2,3,6). Values were not within specs. Replace coils for related cyls. Recheck system. All clys. test ok"

The faulty fuel sending units were replaced and the gauge is now working properly.

And also they recoded the light switch center as a recall. The reason for recall was bettery drainage. Anyone got informed of this recall?

After I picked up my car, I realized that it had been driven 120 miles during the service  . I spoke to my service advisor about this and he agreed that it was a bit excessive, but swore that the car was not taken out for anything other than service purpose (They had my car for four days since they had to wait for two days for fuel sending units parts, at least according to them).
It is utterly incomprehensible that it needed to be driven that much miles for service purpose. I sent an e-mail to the service manager and am waiting for a response. This really sucks  
By the way, my dealer is Westspringfield BMW (MA) like OBS3SSION.


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## e46shift (Oct 12, 2002)

www.dealerrater.com


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## RChoudry (Jan 13, 2002)

sister is picking up her 325xi after 2 ignition coils were replaced today for similar symptoms.


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## TGD (Aug 7, 2002)

*Me too*

I have problems too (316ti). The first coil died in June (45000km). Two more died on Saturday (54000km), destroying to new spark plugs (I changed the plugs at the end of July). Do you know if there is a service bulleting for my 4-cyl as there was for the 7-series, so I can claim compensation?


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