"Bimmer328" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Some clarifications. Steering did not lock, I guess it just lost power
> assistance so felt very heavy. Also, the mechanic said he sent a
> electric signal to the Vanos and the vanos would not reply implicating
> that the vanos was inoperative. He said there was sludge-build-up in
> the Vanos system
>
> Also, I did not turn the car off and I dont take much time to switch
> gears, The car silents turns off between gears very quickly. Though it
> does it rarely and has (so far) always turned back on, I just have to
> power it off, turn it back on while the car is rolling on neutral and
> then put it in the right gear so it does not choke.
>

WHY do yo have to power off then back on?

It ought not stall as you say it is stalling, but all you have to do is let
the clutch out and the spinning drive train will restart the motor. You real
issue is that the car does not idle well.





> First I took it to the BMW and they diagnosed and told me it was the
> Camshaft Position Sensor, whcih I paid them almost close to 400 dollars
> for replacement, After it was done, the light did not go away. So I
> took it to another mechanic, and he checked the error code and told me
> that this code could go on because of many faults. So thats when he
> went into the details and kept my car for about 4 hours and then called
> me to tell me that the Vanos was inoperative in the car because of
> sludge buildup. My engine had lots of oil sludge when I buoght it, so I
> had to change oils a couple of times and then do an engine flush. After
> that it drives very smooth, specially at higher RPM's, but it does not
> pick up in the 1K to 3K RPM range. The mechanic told me that is another
> indication of a bad Vanos as the Vanos controls the Mid and Low RPM
> range in these cars.
>
>
>
>
> Fred W wrote:
>> Bimmer328 wrote:
>> > Hey Guys,
>> >
>> > I just joined this group today, it seems to contain alot of useful
>> > information.
>>
>> I hope you didn't pay too much in initiation fees!
>>
>> > My question is concerned with an 2000 E46 328ci. I would
>> > like to ask if any member here has experienced a sudden, silent stall
>> > while driving. It happened to me while I was driving on the interstate,
>> > my car while driving (its a 5spd) suddenly stalled when I was in
>> > neutral and about to switch to 5th gear. My steering got locked, and it
>> > was extremely dangerous. Thank god I have a 5spd and my car did not
>> > choke, It just silently shut down, the only way I could tell was when I
>> > looked in the dash and my engine and oil lights came on in red, so I
>> > pressed the clutch, turned on the car while rolling on the interstate
>> > at 65 mph! I got control back, took it to a mechanic and he told me it
>> > could be my Vanos Unit going out. Has anyones "Vanos" unit gone out
>> > here or experienced the same issue, any information shared here will be
>> > highly appreciated.. Thank you.
>>
>> Go look for another mechanic. This one doesn't even know what the VANOS
>> does. It is merely a means of mechanically advancing the valve timing.
>> It would *never* cause the engine to stall, and especially not while
>> the engine was still in gear.
>>
>> It sounds like you had a temporary disconnection of an electrical
>> signal. May a faulty ground connection somewhere or something like
>> that. Not a valve timing issue.
>>
>>
>> --
>> -Fred W
>