Car died on me today, wont idle and bogs bad. Any guesses?

[sogood]

Ok, I was driving down the road today and got stuck at a red light. It turned green and I went to go but I stalled () Turned on my car real quick and started to drive. This is when my car started screwing with me.

First I thought it might be the clutch, my car lost all power. I would floor it and the rpms wouldnt move, even if I let off the gas they wouldnt move. Then a few seconds later it would finally go. The constant bogging of the rpms kept happening and then it stalled again at the next light.

I pulled over into a burger king and turned the car off and decided to let it sit for a few minutes. Turned it back on, and the rpms would jump from 0 to about 1500 then die unless I gave it gas. By this time the check engine light was on. I checked my oil, and it was LOW, which is weird because I topped it off a few weeks ago.

Wound up having to get the car towed home. Right now its sitting in my driveway and if I start it up, the rpms jump up and down until it finds a shitty idle, then if I rev it, it will screw up the idle and it will just die.

Could this be a headgasket? (please god no) Or do I simply need to clean my ICV? I havent gotten a chance to check for leaks or loose hoses yet, Ill have to do that in the morning.

Any ideas?

[4drE36]

Usually if you have a blown headgasket you will have white smoke comming out of the exhaust, from the oil burning.

[99GREENM3]

Check the fuel filter and pump sounds like it's not getting enough fuel.

[sogood]

The weird thing is, the CEL is on.

A clogged ICV or vacuum leak wouldnt throw a cel, would it?

[Xiphos]

Check the fuel filter and pump sounds like it's not getting enough fuel.

+1, could also be a vacuum leak, but seems like its more of a fuel issue.

[sogood]

+1, could also be a vacuum leak, but seems like its more of a fuel issue.

Any idea how to trouble shoot this?

I like the sound of it being a fuel issue more then needing a new hg



I think it is a fuel issue. Thinking back over the 2 years I've had the car, while coming to a redlight I downshifted from third to second and then popped it in neutral to stop, and TWICE the revs dropped so quickly I stalled. Now this only happened twice in 2 years Ive had the car, its like it didnt catch. I didnt think much of it because it was never really an issue.

[Xiphos]

Any idea how to trouble shoot this?

I like the sound of it being a fuel issue more then needing a new hg



I think it is a fuel issue. Thinking back over the 2 years I've had the car, while coming to a redlight I downshifted from third to second and then popped it in neutral to stop, and TWICE the revs dropped so quickly I stalled. Now this only happened twice in 2 years Ive had the car, its like it didnt catch. I didnt think much of it because it was never really an issue.

Read here.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...ight=fuel+pump

[NeilM]

Any idea how to trouble shoot this?

Well yeah. You say the CEL is on, so get the codes read.

Everything else is speculation, including this: your symptoms match those of a failed crank position sensor.

Neil

[seeyalaterrr]

Sounds like what happened to me when I had a vacuum leak on my 318. Maybe Sunday we can take a look at it.



Did this happen while you called me yesterday? I was at sparta with chirs and probably right down the road from you.

[///M3///M5]

Unplug your HFM and try to drive the car. It could be a bad load calculation.

[3two8eye]

I had almost and identical problem. Get the car to idle and spray around the vacuum hoses with carb cleaner. If the idle kicks up then you found a leak. I had a big hole in the 90 degree tube from HFM to throttle body.

[BadBoostedBmwM3]

The weird thing is, the CEL is on.

A clogged ICV or vacuum leak wouldnt throw a cel, would it?

Idk, mine did on my 95 m3.

[sogood]

Well yeah. You say the CEL is on, so get the codes read.

Everything else is speculation, including this: your symptoms match those of a failed crank position sensor.

Neil

I dont have a code reader



And Ant, no I got pulled over and called you. The douchebag cop took my pba card from tony that murray gave me. The cop said my exhaust and radar detecor "werent allowed" Im like what does that mean, and he said theyre illegal LOL



could it be the fuel filter?

And the car starts fine, cranks right up, just wont idle

[///M3///M5]

Did you try what I said?

[Nik1703]

Usually if you have a blown headgasket you will have white smoke comming out of the exhaust, from the oil burning.

incorrect.

white smoke is coolant burning. blue-ish smoke is oil. if the headgasket is blown, white smoke will come out of your exhaust and smell kind of sweet (that's coolant.)

[sogood]

Did you try what I said?

Just did, car ran fine with it unplugged.

I plugged it back in and started it and it was doing the same thing. I checked the engine bay and realized my intake piping wasnt secure.

I made sure all the piping was secure and the clampls were tight, started it up and she ran fine


I think what happened was, a while ago i had custom piping made, but it didnt clear my hood, so I tried screwing with it to make it sit a bit lower. I probably didnt have it in right, or the clamps werent tighted properly and yesterday it finally moved enough to through the hfm off.

The only thing is that the CEL is still on, but the car runs awesome, even better than before.

[Grey Phox]

I heard you were going to part the car out? Is this true? If so im interested in your CCW's. Pm me your lowest price. Local...WILL PICK UP!!!!!!11!!













<3 <3

[GG///M3]

I heard you were going to part the car out? Is this true? If so im interested in your CCW's. Pm me your lowest price. Local...WILL PICK UP!!!!!!11!!













<3 <3

Hmmmm i may want you rims if you pick up his ccw's.

[conway]

If you have a 95 you don't need a code reader you can pump your gas pedal 5 times with the key in the ignition and it will blink the code to you. Search to find more specific instructions.

[easymoney]

Unplug your HFM and try to drive the car. It could be a bad load calculation.

Just did, car ran fine with it unplugged.

I plugged it back in and started it and it was doing the same thing. I checked the engine bay and realized my intake piping wasnt secure.

I made sure all the piping was secure and the clampls were tight, started it up and she ran fine


I think what happened was, a while ago i had custom piping made, but it didnt clear my hood, so I tried screwing with it to make it sit a bit lower. I probably didnt have it in right, or the clamps werent tighted properly and yesterday it finally moved enough to through the hfm off.

The only thing is that the CEL is still on, but the car runs awesome, even better than before.

You need a new HFM! That's all you need for now. Borrow one of your friend's HFM and plug that in.

[sogood]

Ok guys well I drove it to a meet tonight and it was running fine for about an hour. We got stuck in traffic on the way down (great) but it wasn't acting up, however there was a little bit white smoke coming from my exhaust.

After the meet, the white smoke was gone, but it was idling shitty again, and I blew about a foot long flame out of my exhaust and it stank like burning oil the whole way home.



I think I might have a bigger problem here.

[Grey Phox]

After the meet, the white smoke was gone, but it was idling shitty again, and I blew about a foot long flame out of my exhaust and it stank like burning oil the whole way home.



I think I might have a bigger problem here.

someone replaced your SC with a turbo when you were sleeping.

[///M3///M5]

I am going to venture to guess your MAF is bad or the connection at the connector is poor. The ECU seems to be fueling the car improperly (smoke, flames, stumbling). If you say the car got better with the MAF unplugged that should tell you something. Unplugging the MAF puts the car in a Alpha-N type limp mode where load is converted to a standard, conservative load calculation via the TPS. This situation is much better than an improper mass flow calculation from the MAF. Since it is intermittent, I would say the MAF sensor is just starting to go bad and not distorting load values that much. Pretty much the only thing that will allow a car to stall off idle is a improper load calc, thus improper fueling. The ECU choosing the wrong load cell can only be a result of 2 things usually:

1. Unmetered air entering the system

2. A bad mass air flow calculation from the MAF sensor

Swap you stock 3" MAF with a friend's stock 3" MAF (both also need to be OBDII).

[///M3///M5]

Also, you don't seems to have a 'bigger' problem yet. But if you are beating on the car with a bad MAF input, you will soon.

So keep it simple first and swap the MAF, then look for bigger things if that does not fix it.

[LeMansGTS]

I am going to venture to guess your MAF is bad or the connection at the connector is poor. The ECU seems to be fueling the car improperly (smoke, flames, stumbling). If you say the car got better with the MAF unplugged that should tell you something. Unplugging the MAF puts the car in a Alpha-N type limp mode where load is converted to a standard, conservative load calculation via the TPS. This situation is much better than an improper mass flow calculation from the MAF. Since it is intermittent, I would say the MAF sensor is just starting to go bad and not distorting load values that much. Pretty much the only thing that will allow a car to stall off idle is a improper load calc, thus improper fueling. The ECU choosing the wrong load cell can only be a result of 2 things usually:

1. Unmetered air entering the system

2. A bad mass air flow calculation from the MAF sensor

Swap you stock 3" MAF with a friend's stock 3" MAF (both also need to be OBDII).

I am going to second that. I recently had the same problem with my car.