My service engine light has been coming on intermittently, but the car seemed to be running fine, smooth with good power. Now the light is staying on. Last week it started shaking at idle as if it hd a high compression cam installed. But it was still driving fine underway. Last time I drove it it started shaking and shuddering while accelerating (and idle), not so bad at cruise. it is parked until I get it fixed. Engine has 80K and has had all normal maintenance, including major tuneup at 60K (by previous owner). If I buy an OBD-scan tool and find error codes, where can I look them up? I think I have a set of official tech manuals (somewhere!). Feels like one or more cylinders are not firing or are misfiring. I did find one loose spark plug wire (#6), but puching it on tighter made no change. Any ideas? Recommendations? The light is supposed to indicate an issue with emissions equipment. But I don't think this seems like an O2 sensor or similar. Tim
Buying the right OBD reader is an expensive proposition (look elsewhere on these forums for more details). BMW has a lot of BMW-specific stuff that will not reflect on cheap scanners - EPA (emissions) related stuff is the only that is *mandated* to be present and discoverable by any reader, to the best of my understanding. You can go to Checkers, they will loan their OBD reader to you at no cost (but will not do the read due to liability issues), might find something.
