Advice on flooded engine?

[pablowski]

Girlfriends 94 325i vert wouldn't start for her today - little info - drove it yesterday just fine but sat for 24 hours, 20-30 degrees out here, if it sits for long periods of time like a week or more it always has a little trouble on start up hard to start runs a little rough for about 20 seconds then clears right up. Recently throwing a cel, stomp test showing 1222, so used to 1221's being the oxygen sensor on these cars I was a little baffled by the 1222 when I saw it, but is it still the 02 sensor?

Anyway back on topic - car wouldn't start for her, it would crank just fine and somewhat seem like it would try to fire but wouldn't. Went through normal fuel related things I've seen in the past, swapped relay with horn relay, checked wiring back on fuel pump, (granted no meter just out in the cold with a few tools away from home).

Long story short got it started by disconnecting the fuel pump and cranking it to clear it out if it was flooded and it fired up for a second, reconnected things and she fired up no problem.

My main question... as I see somehow it had too much fuel here, is could this 1222 code (o2 sensor?) even be a problem for startup? Should I be looking more towards a leaky fuel injector, coolant temp sensor (would it throw a code? easy to test?), or could it be her just not getting the car up to operating temp the day before when driving it a few times and leaving it sit out in the cold cause that buildup enough to not start? I did check for vacuum leaks a few weeks ago on it, because it ran a little rough when it was cold when I was moving it in the driveway, felt like it was gonna die but cleared up and once it warmed up didn't notice any problems.

Any help is appreciated,
Thanks fellas

[XnWarden]

Im pretty sure that p1222 code means that your fuel adaptation is maxed out and the car is either running very lean or very rich. Check the fuel pressure at the rail and check for vacuum leaks.

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[pablowski]

Will check tomorrow if i recall correctly the fuel rail on the 94's does not have a connection... so how do you go about checking the pressure there? is hose easy to take off and add in a T? Will have to check harder for vacuum leaks, although I would expect if it had such a bad vacuum leak unplugging the fuel pump to get it to finally fire wouldn't make as much sense no?

Could you also tell me the proper fuel pressure when off/cranking/idle - if not I can look it up in the morning
preciate the help bub

[bluptgm3]

I’d change the pre-catalytic converter O2 sensor.


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[Eric93se]

That's an assumption when you say it was flooding, you really don't know that and that's not typical of these cars. Could be as simple as the camshaft sensor.

But the injectors can leak down, so over the next few tanks of gas try a different injector cleaner brand. Change the pre-cat 02 sensor. Make a smoke machine (youtube), I made one with the glass jar, soldering iron, mineral oil, sock.

[Nanniepoo]

My first E36 was a '94 325i sedan. I can count on one hand the number of times it happened over my ~6 year ownership, I had a somewhat similar problem, but fortunately not as bad. Never any codes because of it.

Basically if I would only drive the car a few feet and then leave it for 2-3 days, it would have problems starting, and once started I needed to apply throttle to keep it running. A few seconds and then it would run great. I noticed these particular circumstances because it usually would happen because I was living with two other guys and would plan on leaving for the weekend with my (then) girlfriend. I would move the car out of the driveway Thurs/Fri to park in the street, and not fire it back up until Monday morning. My theory was car ran rich during the start-up and brief move, and washed the cylinders so I had lousy compression when I went to restart. I never investigated further to see if driving around the block would be enough to prevent it, or squirting some oil in the cylinders before starting to see if my theory was correct, because again I think it happened maybe 4 times total. Not sure if it happened before changing the O2 sensor, but definitely has happened after.

- - - Updated - - -

Side note another member here apparently had the same issue but much more frequently. He was told he was a buffoon for having the fuel wash theory until he actually diagnosed it. Checked a couple things but eventually tried squirting a bit of oil in the cylinders, let it soak, and it fired right up.

[Eric93se]

I've also had such an experience. Moved the car a few feet, then a short period later had rough running on start up. Recently discovered my injectors were leaking down, moved the car on to starter ramps then quickly removed the manifold to do other work and discovered gas on top of the valves. This can also be discovered if you hook up a pressure gauge to the rail and after running the engine watch the fuel pressure go down. Injector cleaner a couple times a year is a good idea, I never really did that in the past but apparently it's needed.

[pablowski]

Thanks for the replies, eric you say it could be the camshaft position sensor, is that something that would cause a problem often or just once in awhile, because it will start up immediately if I go out there right now and crank it so its not a persistent problem, but since ive never replaced it before i'll just go ahead and buy one and do it, is it fairy straight forward to replace?

And the code 1222 appeared about 2 weeks ago, but she said it only lasted a day or 2 then went away for a week and just recently came back a few days ago.

Going to take it to a buddys shop n get it smoke tested since it'll be good to know if there's any leaks, but spraying carb cleaner all around things never made any change in rpm.

Coolant temp sensor I recall reading about, any input on that?? I know its never been changed so prolly smart to do it anyway, anyone know of its relative ease?

[Eric93se]

No, don't throw parts at it. Start with the smoke test, pre-cat oxygen sensor Bosch/NTK/NGK/Denso, bottle of injector cleaner.

https://www.amazon.com/Royal-Purple-...dp/B00XF03K54/

[pablowski]

So yea I just rechecked the codes since I hadn't since last time and just assumed the same code reappeared (should know on these cars to not assume anything lol) but this time it was in fact 1221 so I went ahead and ordered a new o2 sensor, going to take it in to get a smoke test this week and going to run some techron through it in upcoming fill ups.

Will report back if I hear anything and things worsen or improve - thanks for all the help guys

[spyderg0d]

Code 1221 is when the computer sees low oxygen values when the engine is less than 70C° or lack of signal. Code 1222 is an out of range afr for longer than 10 seconds. It could be a bad 02 sensor, but also is a general code and could be anything from a vacuum leak to plugs, to maf, to leaking injectors.
The only way to discern specifics is to observe the voltage of the 02 sensor. If high, then its a rich condition and to look elsewhere forthe problem, if low then the sensor is probably the best guess cause.