Electrical Problem? - United Bimmer Community

**cavalry13** · 01-07-2008, 08:22 PM

Yesterday I drove my 1993 BMW 325is with 204k miles about 170 miles to my sisters house to help her with some sheet rocking. Right as I was arriving in her neighborhood my interior lights and headlamps started to dim and suddenly my check engine light came on. Additionally a warning light which resembles a sprocket around an exclamation mark popped up. The car started running very poorly but I was able to make it to her house and spent the rest of the day working on her house. When I went to leave that night the car was totally dead. After retrieving a new battery the car started up just fine and all the lights went away accept for the battery light which was faintly glowing. I made it about halfway back home when suddenly without warning the check engine light and the sprocket with the exclamation mark popped back on and within about 2 minutes after having pulled off to the side of the road, it wouldn’t start. I sat for about 45 minutes while I waited for a tow truck and out of the blue, the car was able to start right back up. Not knowing what was going on and not wanting to do more damage I just waited for the tow and brought my car home. Prior to this my ABS light has been on for about 2 weeks. Does anyone have any idea what’s going on or has heard of this? Thanks for any help.

nick_318is · 01-07-2008, 08:41 PM

The sprocket light I think is a sign of a transmission issue. Was there any varying speed when these things were happening.

**gldfshkpr** · 01-07-2008, 08:52 PM

Yep. The exclamation inside the sprocket is for the auto transmission. It should come on briefly after start and go off along with the check engine light.

**gldfshkpr** · 01-07-2008, 08:55 PM

From the Owner's book...

Emissions-related systems:

Check Engine Lamp goes out once engine
starts.

If this indicator lamp lights up
during normal vehicle operation, either
continuously or intermittently, this indicates
a fault in one of the emissions related
electronic circuits. Although the
vehicle remains operational, you should
have the systems checked by a BMW
Retailer at the earliest possible opportunity.

**gldfshkpr** · 01-07-2008, 08:58 PM

My other thought is worn out alternator. Is yours original?

**cavalry13** · 01-08-2008, 01:24 AM

I did notice that right when the warning light came on the car seemed to struggle when I pressed the accelerator. It seemed that if I pressed the accelerator the car actually slowed down. And as far as the alternator goes, I’m pretty sure it’s the original one. I’m thinking I will swap out the alternator and then see what happens from there.

**3050rpm** · 01-08-2008, 01:39 PM

My (non-definitive) response is it's the alternator, I had similar symptoms when mine went, and if yours is original, you've gone beyond the average life time of them, I think mine went (on the highway, no less) at around 170,000. Got it rebuilt through a friend of a friend, and installation was a DIY job without too much of a hassle following the Bentley manual.