Ok I have had this car since 2004 august.

well since then i probly spent about 10K just servicing this car (1998 528I)

No problem as i knew it was going to be expensive and I have always loved this car. Well its getting to me now. Its always a problem. why?

Ok the latest problem is that its shutting off with me in the middle of the road. The symptoms varies. if you are driving its as if it wants to TAKE AWAY the power instead of POWERING when gasing it. When i come to a stop light the RPM drops all the way to ZERO.

Took the car the a place that work on only BMWs. All kinds. The code are all 5 cyl are bad plus that the cat converter is bad.(2k to fix converter)

This car has dollarered and dimed me. I am wondering if i had gotten a lemon in the first place as it seems everything needs fixing.


just venting

Once you replace the catalytic converter your misfire codes on those five cylinders should go away as well. Don't spent $2k to fix the cat, buy a Carsound 43005 and have an exhaust shop install it. That's what I did and my total came to $328 installed. If you buy the cat off ebay and shop around you could probably pay quite a bit less than I did, but I didn't want to wait. It definately sounds like your cat is clogged though. I had the same problem, a huge loss of power and a nasty hesitation. Good luck man!

where did you purchase that?

You didn't say how any miles are on the car, but I'd say you're either taking care of a LOT of deferred maintenance, or have a bit of a lemon. These cars are costly to maintain, but you definitely seem like you're on the high side for a 6-cylinder car. The V-8 cars, uniformly regarded as the worst of the E39 breed, take about $2,500 per year to maintain, on the average. I gather from the posts on here that the 6-cylinder cars are a bit more reliable, and that seems to be borne out by owners with whom I've spoken.

I don't see hopw a cat is going to cause misfire codes.

If you have mnisfires, lots of unburned fuel is going through said exhaust, and it will trigger catalyst efficiency codes as the monitor O2 sensors WILL see way the hell out of whack emissions.

Figure out why she is misfiring, fix THAT problem, clear codes, go from there.

Cat is covered by 8yr/80k mile warranty, in case you're under 8 years or 80k miles.