2000 BMW 528 Revs in Park but won't accelerate in drive pro

Tiny
HABBENB
  • MEMBER
  • 2000 BMW 528
  • 6 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 140,000 MILES
I have a '00 e39 528i, with 140k that needs some help figuring out this problem. I hope someone that had the same issues and was able to properly diagnose and fix it can share their experience.

I am thinking Vacuum issue or Catalytic Converter. (Recently I have been driving great distances.125 miles round trip to work 3 days a week. And using the Step/Tip Tronic feature pretty regularly on the highway to pass people. Did the Higher revs perpetuate an issue with the CAT and blow it out inside?)

Symptoms:
-Won't start unless I give it a little bit of gas.
-In neutral and park, it revs just fine. Give it gas and it responds as it should
-In drive, I press the gas and nothing. Slow sputter. Gets up to speed after a very. Very. Long time.
-I have to throw it into Tip/Step Tronic mode to get it up to speed in a decent amout of time.
-Will get up to about 80 miles an hour.
-Gas mileage has dropped by more than half!
-For a long time the Secondary Air Pump makes the sound of ajet engine every morning for 2 minutes. (I live in S. Florida. Freezing temps not an issue for the water in it)

Codes pulled:
First set of codes pulled were as follows:
p1250.P0302.P1580.P0306.P0303.P1423.P1421.P0430.P0300
Reset and today these codes pulled however engine light not on:
p1250.P0101.P1770

Things I fixed so far:
Took off and sprayed:
-MAF
-Throttle control
-Idle control

-Bought and installed new Fuel Pressure Regulator

-Took off and drained Secondary Air Pump, drained a small bit of water, sprayed with PB Blaster, Sprayed electrical connections and reinstalled.

Same issues persist after all that was done. I was told that a bad Secondary Air Pump can cause a Catalytic Converter to go after some time. If so that would make sense here for the Pump has been making that annoying noise for about a year now.

If someone knows Catalytic Converters. Will it cause this issue?

Reasons I want to rule out a fuel issue is that it revs fine in neutral and park. It has the issue when in drive and a serious issue when going slow up my parking garage ramp, almost comes to dead stop. However, I can manipulate the speed. Get faster quicker when I throw it into tiptronic mode and downshift.

Oddly. When the issue was first noticed 2 things were worth noting:
1. I noticed the wire harness that goes into the engine oil tank under the car was dislodged.
2. I had started using the Tip/Step tronic feature for the first time. Alot. I drive to work 65 miles each way everyday 3 days a week and its more fun to use it on the highway passing people.
- Car has 140k miles on it and I have not used this feature in the past. I am leaning towards this being the accelerant of the problem.

Hopefully I have enough info that someone who knows or has had same issue can help me. Please don't just randomly throw out conspiracy theories. Thanks for the help!
Tuesday, September 28th, 2010 AT 10:53 PM

7 Replies

Tiny
DOCHAGERTY
  • MECHANIC
  • 9,601 POSTS
The P0430 code is a cat code for efficiency, you certainly have what seems to be a fault in the converter(s) I would also want to go into the wiring harness issue, was there damage done? Disconnected or dislodged, was this a possible contributor to the cars' issues?
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Wednesday, September 29th, 2010 AT 9:33 AM
Tiny
HABBENB
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  • 4 POSTS
The harness plugs into the engine oil tank which I believe is just there to alert you of low engine oil. So I think this may just be a weird coincidence.

Who knows what the Secondary Air Pump is and what kind of problems it can cause to other parts?
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Wednesday, September 29th, 2010 AT 9:47 AM
Tiny
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The secondary air pump is there to help start the cats more quickly, that is all it does.
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Wednesday, September 29th, 2010 AT 9:51 AM
Tiny
HABBENB
  • MEMBER
  • 4 POSTS
Gotcha.

Will the cats make the car react this way?

Because there are 2 (there are 2 correct?) Would this be the reason why the car still runs but is so sluggish. One is bad the other is good?

In drive the car really does not do much to get up to speed. I have to switch it over to manual in steptronic mode and downshift to get higher rpms to accelerate and get up to speed on the highway.
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Wednesday, September 29th, 2010 AT 9:57 AM
Tiny
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You may be correct, this is a possible plugged cat issue.
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Wednesday, September 29th, 2010 AT 10:01 AM
Tiny
HABBENB
  • MEMBER
  • 4 POSTS
That is just my best guess at this time.

Have you ever experienced this issue with the cats? Do they cause this sort of issue when bad/blocked?

Could it be as simple as a fuel delivery issue?
. I had another car awhile back that had fuel delay isssues because the bag on the fuel pump was clogged. Only reason I thought to rule this out was that idle is okay and response is good in N and Drive.
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Wednesday, September 29th, 2010 AT 4:43 PM
Tiny
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I have had several similar experiences with plugged cats, yes.
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Thursday, September 30th, 2010 AT 8:35 AM

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