E36 Stalling

[matt323i]

I suffered the well documented Nikasil bore wear problems on my 323i coupe last summer, so here's this summers little gem....

Basically when cold and waiting at junctions the revs fluctuate around the 500 to 1K rpm range and the car often stalls after 30sec to a minute? When warmed up the problem seems to disappear, albet it becomes much less apparent. I have just had an inspection two and made the dealer aware of the problem, they said that all the systems were reset and if the problem continued then the likelihood is the VANOS was on the way out.....?

Does this sound plausible?, could this simply be due to a faulty sensor or has anyone else suffered this problem? The car's an automatic and the doesn't tend to stall when the neutral position is selected. I've also noticed that the car now runs slightly cold, according to the temperature sensor, may this be another contributary factor

Any ideas anyone? Regards.

Since this was posted original on roadfly.org the ICV was suggested but I've checked this and it hasn't cured the fault....

[Fox]

Im not entirely sure how vanos works... ive never found a good write up on it... and here i am stuck with an e20 engine. But if it works anything like how VTEC does then that should not be a problem because it will engage to the second cam profile at a certain RPM... say 4000. However vanos may be a constant variation in cam profile with a sloping grind... i dunno... maybe trigg can help

[MrM3]

it could very well be vanos, vanos has been known to die out as low as 50k miles.

vanos is not constantly variable it changes the timing twice through the revband, and only controls intake. where as double vanos controls intake and exhaust valves and is constantly refreshing the timing.

[Fox]

thats cool... i like that alot. Porche and some other company (audi maybe??) has a system that varys as the revs go up. No steps, a infinately variable valve system. What kars does double vanos start on? s/m52?

[Furious]

ya the vanos unit can go on our cars. its very plausable.
also check your idle control valve.

[will1506]

i don't know if it will apply to your car but I own a 1984 BMW 325E and when i first got that car it will turn on in a cold day and if i don't give it some gas for about a minute or so it will turn right off on me. Therefore i have to give it gas for about a minute until the engine warms up. My idle speed when the car is fully warmed up is about 700rpm.

So what i did was that i increased my idle speed up to 1000 rpm. And that solved my problem. Therefore when the car fires up on a cold day before the engine warms up it will still be sitting at 700rpm which gives it enough gas to keep it going until the car warms up. it may or may not work for you and I have no clue what VANOS is.

[Fox]

LoL will your problem is was that the idler valve was stuck. They get dirty often, all you had to do was spray wd40 up there.

[matt323i]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I have checked the ICV, cleaned it and replaced but that doesn't seem to have cured the problem. I posted this problem on another forum site, the reply I got from there indicated the Lambda sensor....! I have also writen to BMW Car Magazine and the famous Bob Harper has e-mailed me back wanting more info, so who knows I might get a comprehensive answer......I'll let you know.

Regards

[micpro]

Originally posted by matt323i@Apr 23 2003, 10:11 PM
Thanks for the replies guys.

I have checked the ICV, cleaned it and replaced but that doesn't* seem to have cured the problem.* I posted this problem on another forum site, the reply I got from there indicated the Lambda sensor....!* I have also writen to BMW Car Magazine and the famous Bob Harper has e-mailed me back wanting more info, so who knows I might get a comprehensive answer......I'll let you know.

Regards

[snapback]2969[/snapback]

i have been having th same prob only wen warm,have changed icv,lamda sensor but no joy still have prob with my 96 3231