One morning in February 2003, I was driving to work and the dreaded "Check Engine" light came on and my '99 M3 began to run extremely rough. So rough that I parked it (not knowing what the problem was) and had it towed to the dealer. Turns out that one of my ignition coils had failed. Thinking it a random, one-time event, I was happy to have the new coil installed and I was on my merry way. Now fast-forward to Christmas 2003.
Right after Christmas, I noticed a misfire every once in a while; it didn't seem to matter whether the engine was cold or up to full operating temp. I was going to have it looked at when I took her in for the next oil service (LED was already yellow, so it was time to set up an appointment). However, before I could make it in for the oil change, I felt a sudden loss of power, the Check Engine light came on, and she was obviously not running on all six. I was only a couple of miles from home, so I nursed her home.
I didn't drive her at all until I headed for the dealer Thursday morning. Amazingly, she was running on all six again! The Check Engine light was still lit, so I was hopeful that the computer had registered a fault code and it would be easy to troubleshoot. Turns out that THREE ignition coils had caused misfires! I was told by the service dept. that it looked like there was arcing through the coil housings to the head! Bottom Line: I had all five of the remaining original factory coils replaced, as well as the plugs and plug connectors. There must have been a slow degradation that I hadn't noticed. What a difference! Now she RUNS!!
Since it is my humble opinion that this should NEVER happen, I called BMW Customer Relations. They said they'd look into it and get back to me. That was yesterday while my car was still being repaired; I haven't heard anything back yet.
Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone know if there is a history of defective ignition coils on E36 Bimmers? Are the same coils used on all E36s, or are they different on M3s? Are aftermarket coils any better?
Right after Christmas, I noticed a misfire every once in a while; it didn't seem to matter whether the engine was cold or up to full operating temp. I was going to have it looked at when I took her in for the next oil service (LED was already yellow, so it was time to set up an appointment). However, before I could make it in for the oil change, I felt a sudden loss of power, the Check Engine light came on, and she was obviously not running on all six. I was only a couple of miles from home, so I nursed her home.
I didn't drive her at all until I headed for the dealer Thursday morning. Amazingly, she was running on all six again! The Check Engine light was still lit, so I was hopeful that the computer had registered a fault code and it would be easy to troubleshoot. Turns out that THREE ignition coils had caused misfires! I was told by the service dept. that it looked like there was arcing through the coil housings to the head! Bottom Line: I had all five of the remaining original factory coils replaced, as well as the plugs and plug connectors. There must have been a slow degradation that I hadn't noticed. What a difference! Now she RUNS!!
Since it is my humble opinion that this should NEVER happen, I called BMW Customer Relations. They said they'd look into it and get back to me. That was yesterday while my car was still being repaired; I haven't heard anything back yet.
Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone know if there is a history of defective ignition coils on E36 Bimmers? Are the same coils used on all E36s, or are they different on M3s? Are aftermarket coils any better?
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