i know there are alot of posts about the same problems and i have read most of them but i cant seem to find what is happening to my car. this past week i had my check engine come on and only had p0305 - cylinder 5 misfire so i parked it up the car till i was able to investigate. so i ended up changing my oil and spark plugs today and got more codes than i had before i changed anything. i ended up pulling

p1585 - auxillary input manufacturer control vehicle speed ,idle speed control
p0305 - misfire cylinder 5
p0300 - random cylinder misfire

about 10k miles ago i changed osv, intake manifold covers and gaskets changed. is it common to have to change them again so soon?

also do you think this a good buy?
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-BMW-8-Pack-IGNITION-COIL-COILS-E38-E46-E31-E39-X5_W0QQitemZ120209169474QQihZ002QQcategoryZ33689QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem (http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-1751-2978-71/1?AID=5463217&PID=2518995&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2FNEW-BMW-8-Pack-IGNITION-COIL-COILS-E38-E46-E31-E39-X5_W0QQitemZ120209169474QQihZ002QQcategoryZ33689QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

im not sure what steps i should take next aside from changing my coilpacks (some of them look just horrible especially the ones on the drivers side of the motor. what do you guys think?

Erase your codes and when the light comes back on, check to make sure it's cylinder 5. Swap that coil with a good one, erase the code again, and when it comes on check which cylinder is misfiring. If it's still 5, your coils are fine. If the miss follows the coil you swapped, your coil is bad.

how do i know which coil is for which cylinder? is there a diagram out there that im not seeing?

That I'm not sure of, this is my first bimmer with a v engine. All my others were 3 series with inline engines, which makes it easy to find the cylinder you're looking for.

i guess i wasnt looking hard enough. i found a diagram here under ignition coils

http://www.e38.org/M62loc_view.pdf

well i swapped the coil from cyl. 5 the one from cyl. 6, and sure enough the code went with the coil. so i went to the dealer and picked up anther one and changed it and no more code (for now, knock on wood). thanks heifetz17 for your help.

well i swapped the coil from cyl. 5 the one from cyl. 6, and sure enough the code went with the coil. so i went to the dealer and picked up anther one and changed it and no more code (for now, knock on wood). thanks heifetz17 for your help.


How much for the coil?