E39 525d Touring problem

[M3Macao]

I wonder if anyone can shed some light on a problem with my dads touring. It doesnt want to rev above 2000rpm when in top gear. It shifts up and down ok and the kickdown is fine. When its doing 60mph in top the car starts to lose speed and power when going up a hill or steady gradient, when you put your foot harder on the accelerator pedal there is nothing there. The gearbox then shifts or kicks down to next gear to bring the speed back up. Though when it shifts back into top the same thing happens again. Im at a loss as to what it could be so hope someone on here will know! This also happens at low speeds when just cruising at around 30 mph. Apart from that the car is perfect with no other issues.
Its my dads first BMW after years of Fords and other cars of dubious quality!! Its only taken him 65 years to come to his senses so i dont want him to be put off if this turns out to be something major. Im starting to think AFM or Cats but hopefully could be something simple...

[stuartgallafant]

no AFM's, they use MAF. Not really too likely to be cats, coz otherwise it'd have the issue in all gears in the entire rev range

more likely to be an auto box problem, such as a speed sensor or torque sensor, or maybe even a control unit fault

you're best to take it somewhere to get the fault memories read dude

[gazm3]

Has he changed the wheels recently?.

[M3Macao]

Has he changed the wheels recently?.

The car is completely standard.

I think the best thing to do is what stuart suggested and take the car to the dealers and get it plugged in to their diagnostics. I dont think the gearbox is at fault it has to a sensor or something electrical. Whats your thoughts about the wheel change?

[grahamf12]

Howdy.....might be of some help in diagnosing your problem, you'll most likely need proper diagnostics though

My wife has a 3.0d x5 auto, and we had a very similar problem a few weeks ago,
It was erattic too, wouldn't happen for days then would happen continousally then back to being fine again...

Anyways it was very similar, no problem driving in lower gears, acceleration great, turbo boosting, then when in top gear, no power, more like the turbo was gone to be honest, kick down and nothing..dead

Turned out to be the EGR valve (I think it prechecks exhaust gases before they go to the turbo??)
was approx €130 euro, and fitted in under an hour

Since job was done jeep feels much faster, more responsive and better fuel consumption

cheers

[M3Macao]

Howdy.....might be of some help in diagnosing your problem, you'll most likely need proper diagnostics though

My wife has a 3.0d x5 auto, and we had a very similar problem a few weeks ago,
It was erattic too, wouldn't happen for days then would happen continousally then back to being fine again...

Anyways it was very similar, no problem driving in lower gears, acceleration great, turbo boosting, then when in top gear, no power, more like the turbo was gone to be honest, kick down and nothing..dead

Turned out to be the EGR valve (I think it prechecks exhaust gases before they go to the turbo??)
was approx €130 euro, and fitted in under an hour

Since job was done jeep feels much faster, more responsive and better fuel consumption

cheers

Thanks for that sounds a bit more promising.. It doesnt sound identical to my dads problem as when it kicks down the car picks up well and pulls hard as it should. Its only when its got back into top and the revs level out that the problem starts when you need to push it over 2000rpm. I drove it up to exeter and back along the a38 which is an excellent road with many hills and straights to bat along. I found the car frustrating and embarrasing as it wouldnt accelerate and kept on shifting up and down and also i got passed by the same Skoda each time i came to a hill..