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View Full Version : 318i, No power down low, drives fine when it gets up. Need Help ASAP


Blitanicle99
10-28-2009, 10:39 PM
Okay heres the run down.

My neighbors 318i, its a 94 or 95. Already had the engine replaced once. Its got 243k on it and it complete shit shape.



He asked me to do a tune up, he knows I work on cars constantly. (Work on a Time attack Team with a fully built Evo)

What I did, the basics.

1. Seafoam --- Smoked like hell.
2. New plugs --- Old plugs had 100k on them
3. New Air filter --- Completely disgusting
4. New IAC, and check of any hoses bad and general look over.


Ive checked the plugs, plug wires, vaccum lines, everything. Car runs like crap. It idles decent, but seems like its missing. All plug wires are sparking, plugs are new.


Almost seems like the exhaust is clogged? Maybe the cat is clogged to hell?

Has no power out of the hole, barely gets up a hill. However once it gets up to speed, it holds speed fine.



I'm not overwhelmed but I need to figure out what's wrong with this guys car. He doesn't have a ton of cash to spend. My bet is on a clogged cat. Or maybe a clogged EGR? Can I just disable the damn thing and by pass it?




Comments and suggestions, extremely appreciated. Real good guy, just a neighbor needing help.
jijacob
10-28-2009, 10:43 PM
Well easy way to tell if it is a clogged cat would be to drop the exhaust. If it is missing it could be a coil pack. You can do the unplug-each-pack-and-see-what-happens trick for those. Also could have bad injectors.
ponchiz318
10-28-2009, 10:43 PM
If you suspect the cat, a universal cat can be purchased for well under $100. I don't know about your location vubt here in Houston, you can get a universal cat installed for $120. Other than that, I don't know man. Have you checked www.M42club.com (http://www.M42club.com) ?
Blitanicle99
10-28-2009, 10:49 PM
If you suspect the cat, a universal cat can be purchased for well under $100. I don't know about your location vubt here in Houston, you can get a universal cat installed for $120. Other than that, I don't know man. Have you checked www.M42club.com (http://www.M42club.com) ?

Going to that site right now. Thanks


Well easy way to tell if it is a clogged cat would be to drop the exhaust. If it is missing it could be a coil pack. You can do the unplug-each-pack-and-see-what-happens trick for those. Also could have bad injectors.

I don't think its a coil pack, it didn't do this before I did the tune up. I'd believe that it had so much carbon in it that it clogged the cat. I did the pull off a wire while its running test and it ran rougher every time I pulled a plug wire so I rulled that out.
amancuso
10-28-2009, 10:56 PM
fuel filter perhaps?
RazzMaTazz
10-28-2009, 11:02 PM
Maybe because it's a 318?

If someone's gonna throw that out there eventually, it might as well be a 318 owner :)
dave45056
10-28-2009, 11:17 PM
Check the codes. Since it's OBD1 it's easy.
http://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/techarticles/Mult-Code_Reading/Mult-Code_Reading.htm