Good day fellow Fantics.
My E39 540 (1998 non-Vanos) has recently developed an intermittent problem, and I am hoping that a Guru-Fanatic has come across this before and knows the cause & solution.
The symptoms are fairly simple - she'll occasionally "stall" while either stopped at a traffic light, or while creeping slowly in very heavy traffic. At first I thought my clutch-work was dodgy, but then I noticed she'll also do it while in neutral.
A quick swing of the starter, and she is back to life, no further issues.
But then I saw that she would also "stall" - but more like just a cut-out - while cruising on the highway at a hundred and plenty. The stall or cut-out - call it what you will - is only very brief, maybe just a second or less. But is absolute, almost as though you have turned the ignition off and then on again. Because of the momentum and being in gear, she starts again (a second or so later) with no further problem. Until the next time.
During this very brief cut-out / stall period, I noticed that the econo-meter swings all the way to the right (maximum), whereas if you take your foot of the accelerator while cruising, the needle would naturally drop to zero.
A road trip this weekend to EL from PE, this happened 5 times during the 300km-odd trip. When driving in town, say a trip to the shops, I'd see it once or twice. Sometimes not at all. The ride back from EL, it only happened once.
Needless to say, it is quite alarming when this happens mid-way while overtaking and a big truck is heading towards you.
In closing, no work has been done on the car recently, so it's not that. Yes, I did disconnect the bowden cable from the ASC servo-motor to the throttle-body, thinking it might be something dodgy there, but no, that made no difference.
Anybody out there who might have come across this before?
Much thanks.
My E39 540 (1998 non-Vanos) has recently developed an intermittent problem, and I am hoping that a Guru-Fanatic has come across this before and knows the cause & solution.
The symptoms are fairly simple - she'll occasionally "stall" while either stopped at a traffic light, or while creeping slowly in very heavy traffic. At first I thought my clutch-work was dodgy, but then I noticed she'll also do it while in neutral.
A quick swing of the starter, and she is back to life, no further issues.
But then I saw that she would also "stall" - but more like just a cut-out - while cruising on the highway at a hundred and plenty. The stall or cut-out - call it what you will - is only very brief, maybe just a second or less. But is absolute, almost as though you have turned the ignition off and then on again. Because of the momentum and being in gear, she starts again (a second or so later) with no further problem. Until the next time.
During this very brief cut-out / stall period, I noticed that the econo-meter swings all the way to the right (maximum), whereas if you take your foot of the accelerator while cruising, the needle would naturally drop to zero.
A road trip this weekend to EL from PE, this happened 5 times during the 300km-odd trip. When driving in town, say a trip to the shops, I'd see it once or twice. Sometimes not at all. The ride back from EL, it only happened once.
Needless to say, it is quite alarming when this happens mid-way while overtaking and a big truck is heading towards you.
In closing, no work has been done on the car recently, so it's not that. Yes, I did disconnect the bowden cable from the ASC servo-motor to the throttle-body, thinking it might be something dodgy there, but no, that made no difference.
Anybody out there who might have come across this before?
Much thanks.
