please help!!! i'm lost!

[moonpie_murders]

i really need help on this. i've already posted something with no response. i hate to post again, but at the moment, this is my only vehicle.

ok, so i have a 92' 325i, standard. my idle has been messing up for a while and i narrowed it down to, what i thought, was a bad ICV. two nights ago, i decided to be stupid and show off for this really hot woman that just got a 325is (just so happened to be the same year).....anyhoo. it was rainy so i drifted around my company's parking lot. i have to say that i'm really amazed at how those handle sideways. i had it to the floor in second gear a couple of times. nothing was wrong that night, everything ran great. yesterday i was on my way to get my new ICV that i had ordered and got on the main road at about 45mph. my car started shaking and choking itself really good. i pulled over and everything seemed ok (besides my already fluctuating idle). i go to start off again and any time i put over quarter throttle into it, it would try to choked and die. i limped it back home and checked all the hoses and can't find a vacumme leak. i initiall thought that's what it was. it's what it felt like. anyways, i went and changed my ICV and checked the inlet and outlet hoses and the electrical connection and everything was ok. i couldn't find any hoses that were bad or anything. everyting looked good. so after i changed my ICV, i took it for a spin. still the same thing....quarter throttle and choking...until i went up a fairly steep hill. when i went up the hill, all the power came back. it ran great! i went over the hill and turned a corner and still great. when i came back home, i checked everything and it was good.

well today, i leave for work and the same freaking thing happens again...quarter throttle and choking. and now, my freaking idle is crap again!!!! it's not surging as bad. before it would surge to about 1,300 and now it fluctuates between 400 and 800.

please help!!!!!

p.s. the only good thing to come out of this is that i have a date with a really nice looking woman in an equally nice looking bmw tonight

[polizei144]

don't know what to tell you. good luck with your date

[Paycheck713]

Dude that sucks, but yea check your MAFS (Mass Air Flow Sensor)

[CleanAzzE30z]

I hope she was worth it.






Mariano

[Tassie_328i]

Just to throw a suggestion from left field, i'd check the coil packs, mainly the 'stalks' looking for cracks, signs of arcing.

Maybe try taking a coil pack off one at a time and see if the idle gets better/worse to determine if one is causing you grief.

Im sure i remember people having surge/idle problems solved in this area before.

.

[j.amrol]

Does the 92 have the barn door style afm? When those get out of whack they cause problems like your talking about. if you do have an afm take off your air filter box and spray the afm with an intake cleaner, maybe It's sticking. preferably with the engine off. also on the engine side of the afm there's an allen key screw that's sometimes covered with a plastic cap. the screw adjusts the spring tension on the flap and after 20 years springs lose a little tension. and will cause your problems.

this applies to the m20 engines, but i'm unsure of the 92+.

[j.amrol]

ok, i just read up a little on the e36 and you don't have the afm. but the principle is still the same. I think your air/ fuel is messed up. so bad o2 sensor, maf sensor, throttle position switch. the reason I think this is because when the car is under heavy load like going up a hill it runs right. what does it do at full throttle? usually at full throttle the car ignores the o2 sensor anyway.

[Paycheck713]

Just start by replacing the Mass Air Flow Sensor is sounds like the most logical I have an E46 and thats what I had to replace and it had the same symptoms your car had, I could be in 2nd gear and hold the gas all the way down and it would slowly accel, and then backfire lol...but after I replaced it everything ran perfect again! Luckily for you, your Mass air flow sensor is much cheaper than mine, check on ebay they have some low as 60 bucks, you cant beat that!

[moonpie_murders]

she was worth it. last night was great.

anyhoo. i checked my coil packs and there's two that are cracked. before i go out and buy a mass air, is there any way to check it or maybe clean it? $$ on something i don't need really sucks. that's what i did with my ICV. i wish it was the barn-door style that was suggested. it sounds a lot easier.

now i was under the hood and let it idle with out it being in a gear and when i give it about 1/2 throttle, it's actually flooding itself. after about 10 seconds of applying throttle, it backfires really loud. so it is definitly air related. my first thought was the mass air though.

thank you all for your input so far. lol, there's only one other e36 in my city and i was riding in it last night. not much of a following

[Tassie_328i]

Where were the cracks in the coil packs? (signs of white powdery stuff?) If they are cracked badly on the 'stalk' part then those cylinders would no doubt be misfiring and causing you grief.

Pity you cant look down the spark plug tubes in the pitch black dark and look for arcing. I think the coil packs would get in the way. I remember seeing this done on a car before to trace a defective spark plug lead... quite specky in the dark.

.

[gixerdave1983]

right the first thing id check is the big air inlet pipe from the mass air flow sensor to the throttle body, they crack but not visibly until you bend it, when you put your foot down the engine rocks on the mounts a bit like it should and it pulls the crack open and lets air in pre MAF and cuts out....as a mechanic i have seen this plenty.

[moonpie_murders]

Originally Posted by Tassie_328i

Where were the cracks in the coil packs? (signs of white powdery stuff?) If they are cracked badly on the 'stalk' part then those cylinders would no doubt be misfiring and causing you grief.

Pity you cant look down the spark plug tubes in the pitch black dark and look for arcing. I think the coil packs would get in the way. I remember seeing this done on a car before to trace a defective spark plug lead... quite specky in the dark.

.

the cracks were down towards the end by the spark plug where it flares out over the spark plug. how they find out if the wire is arching is to disconnect the spark plug wire from the actual plug and then put it in very close distance to a bolt or mount of some sort (something grounded) and see if there is a spark.

i'm thinkin that i can do the same sort of thing here. if the plug tubes turn out to be too deep then i can stick a screw driver down the tube and then in close proximity to something grounded.

i didn't get to work on it today because of prior engagements, but it's a holiday tomorrow. so i'm going to take apart my intake and see if i can't clean it out maybe.

also, i know one of the worst things you can do to an older car is to put engine cleaner or anything in the gas tank. for those of you who don't know what this does....it's a product (gumout, engine cleaner, sluge buster, etc) that bosts that it can and will clean out all the sluge from your engine. the good part is that they are good on their word. cleans your engine great. the bad part is that, in an older car, they break everything in your gas tank too and everything it breaks up goes right on the sock in the intake pipe on your fuel pump. you'll go through four or five of those before any good is really done on your car. not worth it IMO.

anyhoo. my question is. can i take that injector cleaner and just soak my injectors individually? would it do any good or is there anything that would work better?

[moonpie_murders]

Originally Posted by gixerdave1983

right the first thing id check is the big air inlet pipe from the mass air flow sensor to the throttle body, they crack but not visibly until you bend it, when you put your foot down the engine rocks on the mounts a bit like it should and it pulls the crack open and lets air in pre MAF and cuts out....as a mechanic i have seen this plenty.

i actually just replaced the air mass meter. it was originally duct taped together and i just went ahead and replaced it. it's been about 2 weeks or so since i put it on. it still looks great. i'm going to take apart my whole intake tomorrow and see what i can clean.

[Tassie_328i]

Originally Posted by moonpie_murders

the cracks were down towards the end by the spark plug where it flares out over the spark plug.


anyhoo. my question is. can i take that injector cleaner and just soak my injectors individually? would it do any good or is there anything that would work better?

I doubt its a problem with them then, probably worth checking though. I was thinking a failure in the hard plastic part.

I doubt soaking the injectors would be much help, usually they are ultrasonically cleaned.

I also thought about a failing fuel pump? or clogged fuel filter might be worth adding to the list.

.

[gixerdave1983]

the best thing i can suggest to you mate is to undo the inlet pipe from the throttle body end, start the engine and hold at maybe 3000rpm....spray a bit of carb cleaner at the throttle body in tiny bursts...the engine will bog down everytime you do it then pick up again, thats the best way to do it without adding to the tank