Problem with the car :-(

Straight_Six · Post by **Straight_Six** » Fri 12 Oct, 2007 15:18

hiya ppl,

for weeks ive been noticing a sort of miss fire with the car when putting my foot down but thought that it was just me imagining things.

a couple of days ago i noticed a strange sound comming from the engine bay when the car was cold, sort of a vibrating noise. again i shrugged this off and thought it was imagination.

today however it has finally shown itself. i have just gone to my car after college and started it up....strange it revs dropped and died, so i start it up again, and again the revs drop and its died. this time i listen to what i can only describe as a 'curdling' sound from the rear of the car (maybe something to do with petrol?)

when i eventually got the car idling steady enough, i pulled away and realised my car had now gone into 'limp home' mode, where i put my foot down and nothing happens apart from minimal increase in acceleration.

so my roadster friends, anybody had the same problem? looks like its got to go in

Leigh

Justin Time · Post by **Justin Time** » Fri 12 Oct, 2007 22:25

revs dropping sounds like my last little payout i had to make. Cam shaft position sensor that led to a vanos fault being detected. Cost £110 from Cooper Tunbridge Wells to fix inc vat and lab

if its not that then i have no clue im afraid

best of luck and hope you get it fixed asap and as economically as possible

mich · Post by **mich** » Fri 12 Oct, 2007 23:35

Hi Straight 6, I had a sensor replaced quite a while ago, but this was not preceded by any of the noises you describe or a vibration. your symptoms do not seem like sensor problems to me

but unrequested changes in RPM do sound familiar to a sensor. dont even think of that nasty Vanos word and your bank balance at the same time lol

get it checked at your friendly dealer

Straight_Six · Post by **Straight_Six** » Sat 13 Oct, 2007 22:28

cheers for the replies people, fingers crossed its the cam shaft sensor. this of course would make sense for the faults ive been experiencing.

i didnt think the vanos was a problem on the 2.0 z3's??

i will update on wednesday when i get the diagnos report

Leigh

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun 14 Oct, 2007 09:05

The 'vibrating' noise is most likely the idle stabilisation valve trying to do something. The usual problem with them is that they need cleaning out, as a build-up of oil sludge (from the crankcase breather) just gums them up. It's an easy job to do, and is quite common.

It may even be an air leak in the associated pipework, by-passing the valve and making it work harder without any effect.

Straight_Six · Post by **Straight_Six** » Sun 14 Oct, 2007 15:27

thanks for the reply mike,

the idle valve is a good call, ill try and give it a clean tommorow. havent had any problems since friday and i let my dad take it out today and he says there dosent seem to be anything wrong with it (but he's not a mechanic).

there is a question i have been meaning to ask... when you first start the car up does it rev to approx 1.5k rpm and then come down the 700rpm after a couple of seconds? the E30 320i i had never did this so i am unsure whether this is right.

Leigh

benelvin · Post by **benelvin** » Mon 15 Oct, 2007 18:13

Mine does that - no idea if it's correct or not though!

SpunkyM · Post by **SpunkyM** » Tue 16 Oct, 2007 12:36

Just noticed this post. I wonder if this could be missing ignition on one cylinder, perhaps a dodgy coil pack / sparkplug or associated connection?

The limp home mode should have brought on the ECU indicator as well which could be due to unburned fuel in the exhaust screwing the lambda.

This would be the first area to check I think.

Justin Time · Post by **Justin Time** » Tue 16 Oct, 2007 18:02

benelvin wrote:Mine does that - no idea if it's correct or not though!

Ditto. Mine did this when the sensor was faulty, and after BMW gave the all clear. I don't think its anything to worry about or BMW would have picked up on it.

mich · Post by **mich** » Tue 16 Oct, 2007 20:22

Straight_Six wrote:
there is a question i have been meaning to ask... when you first start the car up does it rev to approx 1.5k rpm and then come down the 700rpm after a couple of seconds? the E30 320i i had never did this so i am unsure whether this is right.

Leigh

I think you will find that this is normal

from a cold start on my 3.0L it goes to 950-1000RPM, it will be running rich, then after a few of minutes when it has warmed up it should settle to a normal idle speed in my case about 500RPM

Straight_Six · Post by **Straight_Six** » Wed 17 Oct, 2007 10:15

thankyou to everyone who has replied to this post.

i am happy to say that i have been to HindHeath indy (sandbach) to have the car diagnosed, the car has a Inlet CamShaft Sensor fault which has shown itself 50 times and is now showing No Signal.

so on saturday morning the car is going in to have the sensor replaced

hopefully the drive back on saturday will be heaven

Leigh

SpunkyM · Post by **SpunkyM** » Wed 17 Oct, 2007 12:13

Getting bored of these inlet camshaft sensor faults! Glad you got it sorted

zroadster.net

Problem with the car :-(

Problem with the car :-(

Noise