[ruback]

Hey all!

So I bought my 10k miles 17' M2 a couple of weeks ago, and went to a road trip this weekend. Coming back home, the fuel indicator was showing about 1/4 left, the reserve alert showed up and the computer was saying I had 80 kms left.

Given that I was ~80km from home, I decided to slow down so I could fill up with the high quality fuel in my town and avoid the low quality gas stations in the highway (I'm in Brazil).

~10kms after the reserve alert came on, and with still 70kms left in the computer, the car simply shut down, and would not start again (just for really short periods of time, enough to put in N and turn the wheels so it would fit the tow truck.

Long story short after imagining I could have had fuel issues, and pump issues, we went to a gas station, filled up and the car was good to go.

Is that common? Should I be looking at any specific pump / sensor that could be problematic?

FWIW: When I bought the car it was low on fuel, I had 20 miles left and got to the gas station with 5 kms.

Thanks for the help!

[VisualEcho]

Weird.

[kingikra]

In my 2018 M2, the fuel indicator plays an alert when the fuel gauge is at 1/3 of full tank.
So far it sounds normal

The fact that the car shut down suddenly sounds bad to me. Go into service and ask them to check.

[ruback]

By "shutting down" BTW, i mean, it lost power with that alert in idrive (i still could steer it) but it would not accelerate, after a couple minutes the engine would shut down, and it felt exactly like it was out of fuel.

I'm considering it could be either an issue of the car not showing the right amount of fuel left, or pump that failed to get the fuel from the tank, and started working again after I added 5L.

I have no idea on how these cars are designed and I'll check the car, but anyway any leads would be appreciated.

[DanG]

I would check the fuel filter. Sounds like it has gunk in it.

[///MCollection]

This may not be true of the m2 but lot of models have a suction jet pump to draw the fuel from the left side to the right, the tank is a saddle tank over the prop and as fuel gets used on the right side pumped to the engine the suction pulls the fuel over to keep the tanks balanced. Possible this has failed., This may not be the exact function but how I believe it works.

[omasou]

[Anthony1s]

So, it shutting off was not normal. Especially so soon after giving the warning.

The standard procedure is you will get a brief fuel warning at 50mi/80km remaining. At 30mi remaining, you will get a yellow fuel warning indicator. Once you get that indicator, BMW says the car isn't guaranteed to behave normally. I believe there is also a constant idrive message that tells you not to drive at that fuel level.

I would take your car in for service, because it shouldn't've shut off. The fuel pump or gauge could be broken.

[eeyang92]

When you filled up after this incident, how many gallons did you put in?

[matt123]

Probably a level sensor or the suction jet pump. The left side fuel level sensor and suction jet is not serviceable on most bmw's now and requires a complete fuel tank replacement. I work at the dealer and have put tanks in dozens of different models for this same issue. I have seen some run out and it says it has a 1/4 tank or more left on the gauge.

[ruback]

Originally Posted by eeyang92

When you filled up after this incident, how many gallons did you put in?

I put 15L, drove home (~50 kms), filled up with 35L

[ruback]

Originally Posted by matt123

Probably a level sensor or the suction jet pump. The left side fuel level sensor and suction jet is not serviceable on most bmw's now and requires a complete fuel tank replacement. I work at the dealer and have put tanks in dozens of different models for this same issue. I have seen some run out and it says it has a 1/4 tank or more left on the gauge.

Sounds familiar..... I'll take a look at that! Thanks!

[5.M0NSTER]

Ha, for me that only happens on track. The gauge can't keep up with 3 mpg consumption at sustained high throttle/high RPM operation.

[detroitm2]

Originally Posted by 5.M0NSTER

Ha, for me that only happens on track. The gauge can't keep up with 3 mpg consumption at sustained high throttle/high RPM operation.

You ain't kidding. I once hit the track for a session and figured I had enough to spin a few laps. Came around just passed pit lane and car said I had 3 miles till empty. Lol. Track is just over 2 miles long. Barely made it in.