[jingai00]

So I'm driving straight at around 45MPH and approach a stop light.. as I'm braking, the engine just completely shuts off and steering felt locked (though it probably just cut off power steering).

I have an appointment for tomorrow with the dealership, but this makes me /very/ nervous now.. there is a fun turn that I opted not to take today, and I'm very glad I did.. I would have gone off the road for sure had it happened there.

I don't want to be an alarmist.. but this makes me feel really uneasy. Even after it's fixed, I don't know that I'll be able to drive it like I used to without worrying that this will happen at a bad time :/

Anyone else with automatic 328i have this happen? I've also noticed the car bucks in 1st and 2nd gear (and others, but not as hard), though I thought before it was just characteristic of the car. Now I'm not so sure. Maybe an early symptom?

[HyperM3]

Did you get any warning lights on the dash when this happened?

[kalch]

Interesting..
This sounds like my event:
driving along; lose air conditioning; red battery light; lose power steering; stall

Dx: cracked power steering pulley; cracked idler pulley. Shredded alternator belt.

Rx: order new parts to fix.

I took my car in on August 29th. They still have it. The parts seem to on back order for another week.

I see you're driving a 328, mine is a 335.

Don't be surprised if it's a power steering pulley, idler pully, or both.

[Revlis]

What's the big freaking deal? It happens to ANY car with power brakes and power steering, engine dies, things get difficult. No big Surprise and nothing new at all.

You should take it easy but unless you are expecting your car to SUDDENLY find itself in a wicked set of "S" curves, it's no big deal. Car will still turn, brakes will still stop. Though it will require some grunt.

No worries, unless you suck at providing grunt. In which case, have it towed.

[DaveStinsman]

It's the same as a car with manual steering and no power brakes. When the car is moving your fine. The GRUNT comes when the car is stopped and you want to turn the wheel. Good luck and keep us informed.

[kalch]

only problem is in emergency turn/stop conditions

[SoYank]

My first car had power steering; took all the power I had to steer it.

[H0bb3z]

Originally Posted by kalch

Dx: cracked power steering pulley; cracked idler pulley. Shredded alternator belt.

That sounds pretty drastic for just driving around in a relatively new car -- do you suck a squirrel into the engine compartment or something? Yikes.

[PiperD]

Originally Posted by DaveStinsman

It's the same as a car with manual steering and no power brakes. When the car is moving your fine. The GRUNT comes when the car is stopped and you want to turn the wheel. Good luck and keep us informed.

Mostly true, except that a power-assisted car with failed/inactive power steering/brakes is much harder to operate than a car with manual steering and brakes.

[Bimmer335i07]

Originally Posted by H0bb3z

That sounds pretty drastic for just driving around in a relatively new car -- do you suck a squirrel into the engine compartment or something? Yikes.

Or maybe a cat? Check out this thread.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81271

[AndrewAZ]

Yes happened to me.. I was the first to have this issue, then a few weeks later another person had a similar issue but I never found out if we had the same problem.

My car did it twice before they could get usable codes.. Anyways it was found out to be a bad crank position sensor CPS sensor for short.

[jingai00]

Originally Posted by Revlis

What's the big freaking deal? It happens to ANY car with power brakes and power steering, engine dies, things get difficult. No big Surprise and nothing new at all.

You should take it easy but unless you are expecting your car to SUDDENLY find itself in a wicked set of "S" curves, it's no big deal. Car will still turn, brakes will still stop. Though it will require some grunt.

No worries, unless you suck at providing grunt. In which case, have it towed.

No need to be an ass about it. You're telling me that if at the apex of a turn, powering out, your steering suddenly DRASTICALLY changes.. you'd not have an issue?

Well, good for you. I for one do NOT expect that my engine to just suddenly die during potentially dangerous times. I can see it dying if it overheated or something, but I'd notice that BEFORE it stalled out. Having the engine die with NO warning at all is nerve-wrecking, to me, at least.

[jingai00]

Originally Posted by HyperM3

Did you get any warning lights on the dash when this happened?

Got the "service engine soon" light after it stalled. Went away after restarting the car.

[jingai00]

Originally Posted by PiperD

Mostly true, except that a power-assisted car with failed/inactive power steering/brakes is much harder to operate than a car with manual steering and brakes.

I can attest to that. It was so stiff I would have sworn it locked the wheel.

Regardless, if that had happened while I was having.. fun.. it would have ended badly, I'm sure.

[jingai00]

Originally Posted by AndrewAZ

My car did it twice before they could get usable codes.. Anyways it was found out to be a bad crank position sensor CPS sensor for short.

If service departments would ever take suggestions from customers.. I'd have them look at it. Alas, they usually think the customer is just trying to tell them how to do there job, which is unfortunate as I just received the dreaded call, "We are unable to reproduce the problem."

[Andrew@ET]

what happend after you stoped the car? did you try to restart if so what happened? did it restart..

[AndrewAZ]

Originally Posted by jingai00

If service departments would ever take suggestions from customers.. I'd have them look at it. Alas, they usually think the customer is just trying to tell them how to do there job, which is unfortunate as I just received the dreaded call, "We are unable to reproduce the problem."

Yep first time around you will get this.. Second time it happens your car will freak out even more and more.. By then you will get warning lights like an Xmass tree.

You can go back to them and tell them it happened again and tell them you dont want the car back until the problem is found.. And to check the CPS sensor since one of your buddies car had the same issue and it was found to be a bad CPS sensor..

[jingai00]

Originally Posted by miamibusta69

what happend after you stoped the car? did you try to restart if so what happened? did it restart..

Yes, it restarted immediately, though it idled rough for a few seconds.

[jingai00]

Originally Posted by AndrewAZ

Yep first time around you will get this.. Second time it happens your car will freak out even more and more.. By then you will get warning lights like an Xmass tree.

You can go back to them and tell them it happened again and tell them you dont want the car back until the problem is found.. And to check the CPS sensor since one of your buddies car had the same issue and it was found to be a bad CPS sensor..

Thanks for the help. Sucks I won't be able to really drive the car though until I get a definitive fix for this..

..btw, do you think my rough shifts could be the same problem? It's rough in all gears, but mostly noticeable from 1st thru 3rd (automatic, btw). I have a 328i loaner right now that seems to do it a little bit, but not as consistently as my own car does. It's annoying because the car tends to "hunt" between 1st and 2nd when braking (and consequently bucks mildly 2-3 times), making me look like I can't manage the brake pedal to any passengers traveling with me..

[voltron1011]

Originally Posted by jingai00

No need to be an ass about it. You're telling me that if at the apex of a turn, powering out, your steering suddenly DRASTICALLY changes.. you'd not have an issue?

Well, good for you. I for one do NOT expect that my engine to just suddenly die during potentially dangerous times. I can see it dying if it overheated or something, but I'd notice that BEFORE it stalled out. Having the engine die with NO warning at all is nerve-wrecking, to me, at least.

He wasn't being ass, he was merely stating that when the engine dies out, generally you lose (a) power-steering (b) power-brakes... As a driver, you gotta be ready to roll with the punches, and that includes losing the engine.

[Andrew@ET]

dam ok i was hoping this is what happend to my car guess not.

[AndrewAZ]

Originally Posted by jingai00

Thanks for the help. Sucks I won't be able to really drive the car though until I get a definitive fix for this..

..btw, do you think my rough shifts could be the same problem? It's rough in all gears, but mostly noticeable from 1st thru 3rd (automatic, btw). I have a 328i loaner right now that seems to do it a little bit, but not as consistently as my own car does. It's annoying because the car tends to "hunt" between 1st and 2nd when braking (and consequently bucks mildly 2-3 times), making me look like I can't manage the brake pedal to any passengers traveling with me..

Yea my car seems like crap compared to the loaner cars in terms of smoothness.. Lately I have been having my car hit the rev limiter in 1st to 2nd shifts.. The brakes you cant fix its like that on all 3 series.. Overall I am happy with the car but its the little things like this that drive me nuts and make me say this is my last BMW ever. Yet I said that with my E46 and ended up with an E90 party because of a dead cheap lease rate.