HELP!! 92 325is Breaking-Up and Loosing Power During acceleration - BMW Forum

R_F_L · 10-28-2006, 04:34 PM

Hey guys, this is my first post on this site. I have posted a similar post on Bimmerfest, thought I solved the problem, but it's now back after a week. About one week ago, I tuned-up my 92 325is. I changed the oil, oil filter, air filter and sparkplugs. I put platinum plugs in the car and it hasn't ran smooth ever since. I looked on these forums and ppl said they had problems with platinums. The dealer also told me not to use those and recommended these copper NGK BKR6EK plugs. The dealer was selling them for $20 each so I bought the same plugs from another store for $35 together. The car ran smooth for about 3 days with those plugs and now the car is doing the same thing again.

When I accelerate in 1st and 2nd gear, the car breaks-up and becomes very irresponsive. It starts shaking back and forth and I can't keep constant RPM. I have to quickly change to 3rd gear and floor it till it get's back to normal, then it does it again when I start on 1st gear. I don't think it's the spark plugs, but it wasn't doing this with the old plugs. Any advice??!!

Thank you all in advance!!

RFL

Dudesky_E36 · 10-28-2006, 04:45 PM

Does the CEL come on? Maybe check to see if there are fault codes stored?

R_F_L · 10-28-2006, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dudesky_E36

Does the CEL come on? Maybe check to see if there are fault codes stored?

Thanks for replying. The CEL does not come on. All the gauges indicate proper operation. How do you check these fault codes? Some one else also told me to check the OBC but I don't know how to. Is there a way to do it on my own? Thanks again.

RFL

Dudesky_E36 · 10-29-2006, 03:13 AM

Pelican Technical Article: Reading BMW Fuel Injection Fault Codes

polaris448 · 10-29-2006, 08:47 AM

check your intake boots...if you have any rips or cracks, unmetered air can get in and cause jerking under accel. if there are any rips hit it some duct tape until you can buy some new boots. yah i know using duct tape to fix something is for rednecks...right, but it works.

R_F_L · 10-29-2006, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dudesky_E36

Pelican Technical Article: Reading BMW Fuel Injection Fault Codes

Hey Dudesky, I read the article and my service manual which shows the same thing. I tried all the steps and my OBD would not respond. I turned the key to ON, the CEL came up, depressed the gas pedal 5 times in 5 seconds and nothing happenned. I tried it more than 10 times, each time turning the key to off and back on again. Any clues??!!

Thanks,

RFL

R_F_L · 10-29-2006, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by polaris448

check your intake boots...if you have any rips or cracks, unmetered air can get in and cause jerking under accel. if there are any rips hit it some duct tape until you can buy some new boots. yah i know using duct tape to fix something is for rednecks...right, but it works.

Hey polaris, YOU'RE right. I checked the boot that leads to the engine and I found a HUGE rip on the side. Could this be IT? Is there a way other than ductape to temporarely repair it? like glue or something? This is where the cut is:

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Thanks again,

RFL

thekid · 10-29-2006, 04:14 PM

There isn't any sure way to do it. You can do something like a zip tie which will help, but tape and glue for the most part will melt leaving you with a mess that doesn't work. But in the end you just have to replace it.

R_F_L · 10-29-2006, 04:52 PM

Wow, I just found another big rip on the opposite side of the boot. I ducttaped both rips but there's only one problem, the car still breaks-up during acceleration. I read something in the manual about uneven Octane levels which cause premature detonations. I think this could also be a factor since I hear loud explosions from the exhaust when the car starts rattling. I have no idea what this octane stuff is and what causes it, ANY ADVICE??!!

Thanks,

RFL

polaris448 · 10-29-2006, 06:50 PM

i highly doubt that you have a pre-det. problem and unless you have not driven the car in months and the fuel as degraded...still very unusual...loud explosions??? back fires? is that what you are hearing? this only happens when the engine is under heavy load? mine jerked a ton when the engine was cold in the morning and got better when the motor warmed. also i never had explosion sounds, which means there are serious air to fuel problems which could be caused by a whole bunch of stuff. and you say there is no check engine light. hmm, check for the codes anyway. sounds to me like a the sensor for your A-F ratio is messed and get the boot fixed. oh and by the way is you were lazy and didn't take the boot off to tape it...you have to take that intake boot completely off the get that tape to seal.(I tried lazy it doesn't work)

R_F_L · 10-29-2006, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by polaris448

i highly doubt that you have a pre-det. problem and unless you have not driven the car in months and the fuel as degraded...still very unusual...loud explosions??? back fires? is that what you are hearing? this only happens when the engine is under heavy load? mine jerked a ton when the engine was cold in the morning and got better when the motor warmed. also i never had explosion sounds, which means there are serious air to fuel problems which could be caused by a whole bunch of stuff. and you say there is no check engine light. hmm, check for the codes anyway. sounds to me like a the sensor for your A-F ratio is messed and get the boot fixed. oh and by the way is you were lazy and didn't take the boot off to tape it...you have to take that intake boot completely off the get that tape to seal.(I tried lazy it doesn't work)

lol....I am lazy, though I ducttaped it all around. That's what it's called huh, back-firing. The irony is that it only does this when the engine is warm. I also tried to pull the codes but the OBD would not respond. Also, I don't know if you're familiar with this or not but some ppl say that the 10% ethanol gasoline can cause problems, how true is that? Because I did fill-up a couple of gallons of that stuff (premium though). Thanks again man!

RFl

polaris448 · 10-30-2006, 09:43 PM

thats funny you mention the ethanol in the fuel...i was talking to a motorcycle dealer today and he tests his fuel before prp dirt bikes...to make along story short he says fuel over two weeks old loses 6 points. now if you have some old old gas and didn't stablize it that you very well could have some pre-det. but i still think that the knock sensors would limit pre-det enough to stop these so called explosions. hey i am curious...smell your exhaust after the car has warmed...see if it smells rich. just a thought to see if the a-f ratio is off. one last thing, where did you buy your spark plugs and what exactly are they (brand, and which type)?

R_F_L · 10-30-2006, 10:25 PM

hmmm...the fuel could be a little old since I just bought the car and it had a full tank about a week ago. By the way, I was able to pull the codes off the OBD. All I got was 1444, 1444, 1444........... for about 5 minutes untill I shut it off. The 1444 means that there are no reported problems or "end of fault codes". Concerning the exhaust, it smells pretty normal when warm, but it does smell thick before that. It could just be the rips, or there might be more rips, I just don't know which ones to look for. Someone else in another forum also suggested changing the fuel filter, could that help?

About the spark plugs, the old original ones said exactly this "NGK BKR6EK R1 BMW". When I called the dealer, they charged $20 per plug. I thought that was too expensive for copper cores so I bought similar plugs from JK auto which said "NGK BKR6Ek R1" but they didn't say BMW on'em. I asked the lady what was the gap, she said they were .032 and the car is supposed to use .032 so I bought'em for $35 all together. Now, when I compared the two, I think the older ones electrodes were slightly further from eachother, maybe that's because they're old, I don't know.

Thanks,

RFL

jnstrcklnd · 10-31-2006, 01:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by R_F_L

Hey polaris, YOU'RE right. I checked the boot that leads to the engine and I found a HUGE rip on the side. Could this be IT? Is there a way other than ductape to temporarely repair it? like glue or something? This is where the cut is:

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Thanks again,

RFL

This happened to me back in the day. I had bought an 89 Toyota Corrolla GTS Hatch back from a guy who couldnt figure out why it wasnt running right. I offered him $150 for it. Painstakingly drove it home, popped the hood, checked the air intake hose and sure enough, a crack. I removed the tube, wound it up with my best duct tape and never had a problem with it since. Next day I sold it to a friend of mine for $1,200.00. He replaced the tube and ran it for many years.

WALSRU · 10-31-2006, 09:48 AM

If all else fails, I had a somewhat similar problem when my coils went bad. They caused what felt like a rapid fire sputter, I replaced all 6 and was just fine. Get rid of that boot though, that's nasty.