sulfur Smell & Low MPG reading...

[joemac]

2000 323i w/52k

lately I've noticed sulfur smell (sometimes no relation to driving hard, etc)
also, MPG display is indicating that I'm getting 5.9 mpg which seems to be
right because I'm going thru gas very fast (not cheap gas either)

Is this a catalyc (sp?) problem, gas prob? any way to verify before bringing it in? I just had an oil change and the car seems to be running rougher than it should.

Any help would be greatly appreciated...esp since I am now out of warranty...

Thanks

[Fox]

Sounds to me like either 1 of 2 things. 1 your lamda sensors are shot. or 2 your cat is full. However how either of these 2 things happen on a brand new e46 I have no idea. But thats my 2 cents.

[Mach 5]

You are getting less than 100 miles to the tank! Ouch!

No lights are on in the dash? I would say you have a problem Fox's suggestions came to mind. You may be able to sweet talk the dealer into fixing the problem under warranty. I convinced them to warranty my 2000 e46 to 55K and deal with some minor issues as warranty items. Worth a shot to try. I usually get about 28 mpg, quick math tells me you are spending about $140 to go about 400 miles I spend about $30 to travel that far. Diagnostic fees are usually about $100 at the dealer, so in a relatively short time you should be able to recoup that expenditure.
Ben

[EXtech]

Could be your catalytic converter, however there could be a condition causing the cat to smell (ie over rich or lean condition; most likely lean). The easiest next step would be to have the fault memory read. I think that there was a bulletin on a very small range of early E46's for the cat. You could have TECH run a bulletin search on your VIN # for a confirmation

[joemac]

Thanks for your input. Yesterday I reset the oil change service indicator (duh) it
was reading -1700. I think I found out how on this site. Once reset, I then recalibrated the MPG reading by holding the button in on the directional for 5 sec. It recalibrated back up to 19mpg on the way home but I was driving in a blinding snowstorm so I repeated today at normal speed and it is currently back up to 29mpg.

I'll still take it in to have them run a diagnostic just to be sure


Thanks again for the info. Youse guys and this site in general is great, very helpful

Joemac

[peterkulesza]

sometimes a brand of gas can make a difference (sulfur content varies)