Broke Down Problem - Any Ideas?

[E46Dan]

Hi,

I have a BMW E46 318Ci 2003 done about 130,000 miles and this morning as i came over a hill i put my foot flat on the accelerator and the car didn't speed up and it kept doing this so i gradually changed down and coasted it to a local garage with no drive. When it does start it cuts out and is VERY lumpy for the time it's started. A lad who drifts bmw's in his spare time who came to me when it came to a stop suggested it could be a crank sensor and could be rather costly to fix has anyone else had this problem or know what this might be??

Update: Done some research into crankshaft position sensor failures and all the symptoms match this is the link i found:

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/7-crankshaft-position-sensor-failure-symptoms#b

Mine did each and every one of these before stopping so i've suggested to garage who will look at the car that the first thing they check is the crankshaft position sensor.

I also found this which is similar problem apart from mine didn't cut out when coasting mine cuts out after a short erratic idle but coasting is ok:

http://www.bimmerforums.co.uk/forum/f91/bmw-318ci-crankshaft-sensor-t110801/

Any help or advice maybe a quote to fix crankshaft position sensor if that is the problem?

Thanks for any help given.

Dan

[btmaldon]

Sounds to me as the likely culprit. Not just BMW's but most makes although when these first start going they are OK when engine is cold.

You really need to get the cread first as this should ID the issue and may save you some money changing parts unessesarily.

[E46Dan]

Firstly thank you for your input and secondly well i started it this morning to go to work and got maybe 700-800 metres from home and then it started and as i was on my way to work i didn't get time to wait for it to cool down and try it again so you could be right and its fine when cold then when it get up the temperature it starts acting up

[E46Dan]

Update: The garage have diagnosed it as a faulty cam shaft sensor and 2 ignition coils also need replacing so i wasn't far wrong i just didn't know about the ignition coils being broken.