I does sound correct. My main went out also(on my other bmw)The car would start and run just fine sometime...other times it would just die like it wasnt gettin spark or juice.The off and on delima is one of the signs of a bad relay. Although if it is the relay you could easily do it yourself.just pull the old one out and plug the new one in.At the time i didnt know this and told the stealer over the phone to just replace it. Cost me $120.00. good luck patrick