Very poor acceleration in my 318i :(

[illmatik]

For the past months I have been plagued with extremely poor acceleration in my 1993 318i. I had a spare parts car with a tranny and clutch with less miles so I swapped that in along with the drivetrain and exhaust. The weird thing is my acceleration vastly improved after this job and I thought my problem was fixed.

Only today I noticed my acceleration got poorer and poorer until I was right back to where I started. The engine only has around 75,000 miles on it. It idles fine and the engine sounds great. However acceleration is extremely poor. I have to almost floor the gas to get it to launch from first, and from there the car is slower than ****. By the time I'm in 3rd gear I'm probably going around 20-30 miles an hour. It has been less than a week since the tranny job.

[tsunami33124]

Are there any Lights on the dashboard that has popped up at all? If not i would check anyway.

[tsunami33124]

Are there any Lights like the check engine on the dashboard that has popped up at all? If not i would check anyway.

[tsunami33124]

Are there any Lights like the check engine on the dashboard that has popped up at all? If not i would check anyway.

[Meatball546]

What sort of maintenance have you done to it? Things that come to mind are air filter, fuel filter, spark plugs/wires, boots, MAF sensor cleaner, fuel injector cleaner... you know, stuff like that.

[illmatik]

No check engine. I'm going to change the spark plugs and try some injector cleaner today. Any other ideas?

Thanks

[mclone92]

fuel filter, fuel pump? cat is clogged? if you swaped out the motor and tranny they would still be the same.

[illmatik]

Replaced the whole exhaust to, the one I put in had already replaced the cat, so I figured I would save a headache by putting that one on my car too.

This sucks

[Quartermile]

Check the engine, it may only be a 1.8l :D

[phathom]

Has anyone realized that the title should explain it all together. "Very poor acceleration i n my 318i :(" It's a 318i of course it's gonna be slow.

lol j/k

I would honestly seafoam it, get all the crap cleaned out of everything and see how that works for you. Also check for vacuum leaks and make sure your fuel pressure is where it's supposed to be and that your getting good spark all around. Good thing to remember is a car needs 3 things to run, Fuel, Air, Spark. Make sure it's getting a good mixture of that and not too much or too little of any of them and you'll be fine. The trick is to figure out where the problem is coming from, but I would start there with fuel pressure, vacuum leaks, and testing spark voltage.

[illmatik]

Very funny guys, I actually realized I set myself wide open for that one. I saw them coming!

Cleaned out the spark plugs with a wire brush and I notice a minimal difference. I did notice that the tips of them were white, some much moreso than the others. Any ideas on what that means? Gonna look into seafoaming the engine, I've heard about it here and there but never done my own research on it.

Once again thanks for all the help

[strad]

White means it's running lean.

[IGAM3OVRI]

maybe because its a 318i? :dunno

[pussiwillow]

sounds like a fuel problem

[hb740i]

I'm having a very similar problem with my 95 318is automatic

any advice would be appreciated, but I REALLY don't need some stupid dick telling me to buy a faster car.
if honda can make 1.8L engine fast I'm sure BMW can as well

I'm not trying to race anyone,
this is a basic daily driver that's having mechanical, electrical or fuel related issues.
it feels like towing a boat off the line.


sometimes it will run perfect, very peppy usually 1st thing in morning.
then it just starts felling like it's not getting enough gas or as if the throttle body isn't opening enough

have to floor it around town just to keep up with traffic (pedal down to the top of kick down switch) roughly a 30 second 0-60... no fun watching the blue hairs pass you by.

thought maybe the cat was clogged but it's in good condition.
once the car is up to speed it's fine, will do 90mph all day long and feel normal on the freeway

it's not slipping, all the wires and plugs appear to be in good condition and are relatively new. it idles smooth and it's not running hot or burning oil, fuel pressure seems OK (if it was a pump I'm pretty sure it would have failed by now) only has 130k miles there's no CEL's

when have the car in park with the hood up, I'll open the throttle by hand all the way and it does not seem to rev up as fast as a normal car should.
not really bogging but it really takes it's time (about 3-4 seconds to 5500 rpm)

I like the car, just hate driving it when it's doing this.

[Ar15bimmer]

For the past months I have been plagued with extremely poor acceleration in my 1993 318i. I had a spare parts car with a tranny and clutch with less miles so I swapped that in along with the drivetrain and exhaust. The weird thing is my acceleration vastly improved after this job and I thought my problem was fixed.

Only today I noticed my acceleration got poorer and poorer until I was right back to where I started. The engine only has around 75,000 miles on it. It idles fine and the engine sounds great. However acceleration is extremely poor. I have to almost floor the gas to get it to launch from first, and from there the car is slower than ****. By the time I'm in 3rd gear I'm probably going around 20-30 miles an hour. It has been less than a week since the tranny job.


I think I found your problem :shifty

I kid I kid.

[94bimmer318i]

man im in the same situation as you except im in a 94 318i with 113,000 everything is fine when i start up and drive for 10 minutes then it fell like i have lost all power. idk whats up with that. i need to do something about it asap. have you tried anything that works

[loser635]

air filter, plugs, wires, oil, fuel filter, fuel pump

[Windsma]

Similar problem..
Runs great after startup then like shit.

Half throttle actually works better than full.

Im going to seafoam, clean IAC, replace my fuel filter, gut my cats and maybe replace my TPS

hope that will get me something extra.

[inked666e36]

its just the nature of the beast, erm i mean 318i slug :D

new engine would fix that power problem ;)

[ponchiz318]

Our cars are lacking 2 cylinders......:shifty

Mine hesitates sometimes and runs like a pro at other times. The fastest I've taken my car is 135(top down). One time, it wouldn't go past 80(top up). Wtf? This past weekend it cruised at 120 but wouldn't go higher.

Have you checked M42club.com? Tons of information on our engines alone.
Your engine is not breathing properly. Maybe it's time to start removing shit and cleaning them out. I had to remove my intake manifold to get to a broken water pipe that attaches to the block. The manifold was black on the inside. I cleaned it up a bit along with the throttle.
When I used seafoam last year, the car had way better throttle response afterwards. It was shooting out black smoke for a good hour. It looked like a old diesel car.

I just re-read your post. You have to rev high to take off? 20-30mph in 3rd? You have a tranny problem or diff problem.

[Xz Dark Star zX]

The problem is that you got a 318!! (lol, jk, i loved mine to death, literally! its still in my sig)

Try a basic tune up, replacing the seals on the engine, fuel filter, and O2 sensor for starters. That should pretty much do the trick. That M42/M44 engine is litterally bullet proof.

Mine had 248,000 miles on it, car was totaled in a wreck, and the damn thing still runs strong!

[RatFink328]

White means it's running lean.


It could also mean that the head gasket is done for and the plugs are getting "steam cleaned".

[teamsoy]

a 6cyl swap should fix it.

[bgyore]

I have a 318ic and what I discovered was the rubber intake elbow that connects to the air flow meter to the throttle body was cracked. It was not obvious by just looking at it while it was on the car but upon removal. Also, when you remove the boot look down the throttle body while holding the thottle fully open (of course the car is off) I had a lot of crap in mine and cleaned it up with some carb cleaner and a toothbrush but becareful not to drop and anything down into the manifold. If you already checked the plugs I would look to the fuel filter next in my opinion.

[Windsma]

swap in a 6cyl... why when there is the LS1 ;)

BTW guys the 318 jokes are old. I bought it specifically bc its slow. I have a problem w/ speed.
It doesn't have to be fast, just run right.
Mine might be the boot, the PO wrapped it w/ electrical tape...:rolleyes: And i havent got around to replacing it yet.


Edit:

went to pelican for a $20 part... and spent $85 :shifty

[BlackBMWs]

:D I like my 318 vert for the same speed issue. If I want to go fast, I pull the keys for the 540it, but most days, the 318 is just fine.

So for the OP, I had some issues early on on my M42 motor, but at 141k, I swapped every cooling, vaccumn and fuel hose and it's been running soooo smooth and peppy ever since.

O, I also swapped the fuel injectors out for four Pintle ones out of a Ford Mustang. :cool

[Windsma]

^ injector question.. How did those injectors work w/ the Idle control valve system?

[Australian]

Symptom question Whilst your having these problems is your tempreture guage out of action. I replaced my temp sensor as having same symptoms in a e30 318i

[jijacob]

Damn you guys don't read threads before you post in them, do you...

Like 18 people posted the same weak old joke...

[Xz Dark Star zX]

Damn you guys don't read threads before you post in them, do you...

Like 18 people posted the same weak old joke...

no, no, we do. We just find it necessary to drive the point home hard for no reason. Welcome to the internet ;) any thing you say, i can say better lol :rolleyes

[bimmerfeel]

I'm kicking my 2 cents worth in for the intake boot too; and/or any vacuum hose breaks and/or leaks. even a leaking valve cover gasket will cause these motors to stumble along because of unmetered air intake. BMW engines are highly tuned and very sensitive; the 4-bangers go down really quick and hard when any little thing goes awry; the 6's do too for that matter, but the extra 2 cylinders masks some problems till the car just quits running one day.

[Australian]

I think it is the airflow meter. Try another it may solve your problem try get one for a peugeot 404,405,406,407 all bosche might just give u a boost i had same problems with e30 m10 and added one of those and a pod as less room but i seem to have more get up and go then ever.