ruthers4
02-23-2009, 02:59 PM
Hi. I'm new to this forum, but I have been searching around on it for awhile today trying to figure out my problem, without taking my car in for a expensive repair.
Yesterday, (with no inciting incident) my Manual Transmission, 1993 325is (E36?) started idling rough. It would dip down to below 500rpm, shoot up, dip back down, and often stall while stopped at lights. It stalled a few times while coasting in neutral too, which wasn't fun.
I figured it was a fuel injector problem and bought a bottle of Techron Fuel Injector cleaner and put it in along with a full tank of gas.
This morning, while first driving, the same idle problem was there, but in addition, while in first gear the car would randomly accelerate, and then rev down immediately. It felt like inconsistent bursts of fuel.
(The bursts of acceleration may have been happening in other gears, it just was very obvious while in the low gear)
After driving for another ten minutes, the problems seemed to subside a
little (or I learned to ignore/drive with it) and now the car is parked in my garage.
Based on past posts, it seems like an ICV problem, I don't mind getting in there myself and cleaning it out. There is a great DIY I found on this site for a E36... but the pics are all missing, (http://www.unitedbimmer.com/kb-e36-icvcleaning.php) and other DIY (Thanks Mr. M) are for different models and they don't really help me to find my ICV.
Another popular opinion for the cause of this problem is the O2 sensor... anyway to determine this? And is the O2 sensor easily replaceable?
One other thing...
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/26/l_bccf84a52e5d4037865597b57168ff5f.jpg
This was hanging down from the passenger side of the bumper. I think its just the outdoor temperature sensor. It's a little banged up, and the wires are a little exposed at some point. Can I tape up the wires with electrical tape and just replace it in the circular hole? Could it be affecting the above problems?
Thanks a million. I look forward to hearing all of your advice.
Nick
Yesterday, (with no inciting incident) my Manual Transmission, 1993 325is (E36?) started idling rough. It would dip down to below 500rpm, shoot up, dip back down, and often stall while stopped at lights. It stalled a few times while coasting in neutral too, which wasn't fun.
I figured it was a fuel injector problem and bought a bottle of Techron Fuel Injector cleaner and put it in along with a full tank of gas.
This morning, while first driving, the same idle problem was there, but in addition, while in first gear the car would randomly accelerate, and then rev down immediately. It felt like inconsistent bursts of fuel.
(The bursts of acceleration may have been happening in other gears, it just was very obvious while in the low gear)
After driving for another ten minutes, the problems seemed to subside a
little (or I learned to ignore/drive with it) and now the car is parked in my garage.
Based on past posts, it seems like an ICV problem, I don't mind getting in there myself and cleaning it out. There is a great DIY I found on this site for a E36... but the pics are all missing, (http://www.unitedbimmer.com/kb-e36-icvcleaning.php) and other DIY (Thanks Mr. M) are for different models and they don't really help me to find my ICV.
Another popular opinion for the cause of this problem is the O2 sensor... anyway to determine this? And is the O2 sensor easily replaceable?
One other thing...
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/26/l_bccf84a52e5d4037865597b57168ff5f.jpg
This was hanging down from the passenger side of the bumper. I think its just the outdoor temperature sensor. It's a little banged up, and the wires are a little exposed at some point. Can I tape up the wires with electrical tape and just replace it in the circular hole? Could it be affecting the above problems?
Thanks a million. I look forward to hearing all of your advice.
Nick