Poor performance

[3050rpm]

Right, good point, the contact is rather high up, and right again, if the oil reaches that far up, then the reasons behind the poor performance become rather more unpalatable ... Obviously when checking the sockets pull the plugs and see how they look.

[Numark318i]

umm...i just had a similar problem. it eventually elevated to my car dieing on the road.

did you put in a performance chip?
If you dd maybe your ECU chip might be loose./or you have an ECu problem

[c1apton]

your car has a few issues - If coils are arching to head - boots ARE bad - current is taking path of least resistance. Oil in plug wells can accumulate overtime but replace valve cover & spark plug "o-ring" seals. Also make sure coil ground straps are tight. You might consider investing into a Bentley manual for your car. If you can afford it either DIY or bring it to dealer for Insp.II - this address' alot of maintenace items. Don't do it partially or in spurts - just do it from front to back - then you'll have a reference point for ALL your possible problems. Too many folks do some here, and some later then it turns into a cluster- and then we see the repetative problems asked time & time again. You, your car & your WALLET will appreciate it later down the road. (another point - if you plan mods, you BETTER have a ground zero base/knowledge your car or you're in for a REAL adventure)

[quest6445]

I have the car booked into a local dealer to diagnose the fault. I have checked the plugs channels and there seems only a trace (covering only .5 mil) of oil. I have changed the plugs and cleaned the channels, no difference.My local dealer is quoting $150 per coil.

[3050rpm]

OK, good news on the plug wells, and I assume the plugs weren't showing any signs of poor ignition. The $150 per coil from the dealer sounds about right for them I guess, and that probably doesn't include labor and the "environmental" fee they'll stick you with for no justifiable reason, but I think coils can be had from any of the various independent part sources for significantly less. I don't think replacing them is any big deal either, pretty much a ratchet wrench and socket job.

[quest6445]

Yes replacing them is a quick job, 10-15 minutes.While I was in there I changed the plugs, but the originals looked fine. One thing I noticed is that the acring is coming from the top of the coil pack and not the rubber boot. Has anyone checked their coils in the dark and if so has anyone seen this before. It looks like the coil insulation is breaking down.

BTW has anyone managed to get the errors code from the On board diagnostics. I have tried numerious times but no go.

[3050rpm]

OK, good thing that the plugs looked good, that's a reassuring sign. I haven't checked the coils for arcing in the dark, but it's reasonable what you say about the insulation breaking down, and therefore new ones oughta take care of it.

By the way, was it a typographical error or does the car, which is 14 years old now, have only 35k on the odometer? That's only 2500 miles a year!

[quest6445]

Yep, the car has 55k KM (35k miles approx) . the car was in a private collection in Yokohama and has a BMW verified service history, however due to the age and lack of use I needed to replace the track rod ends due to the rubber drying out. Apart from that the car is in fantastic condition.

I imported the car last year, that is why I don't mind spending money on the correct parts to get in running correctly. THe car was in with the dealer today, however no codes showed up, while in they replaced the 6 coils and leads. This only made a small improvement in the performance, but there is still a lack of power. At one stage there was 5 BMW technicians with their heads under the bonnet ( I forgot my camera, damn!) but they could not figure out why... the search goes on

[3050rpm]

Wow, that's simply amazing, although perhaps somewhat of a mixed blessing as well, in that you may be seeing the effects of underuse as opposed to overuse, i.e. dried out, cracked rubber and plastic components. (By the way, what's the condition of the tires, and please don't say they're original!) Very curious that no fault codes were generated at the dealer's, despite 5 technicians consulting on the problem.

As to getting the error codes from the OBD there supposedly is a technique, I think with OBD I but not II, whereby you put the key in the on position without actually starting the car and then pumping the accelerator pedal 10 or so times within 5 seconds and that should then start some flashing of the codes on the odometer, I think, but it's never worked for me; for others it has. Bentley has a description of it I believe.

By the way, which of your cars are you talking about here, the 320i's sold here were 4-cylinder cars of the E21 and E30 bodies, I think, and the 328i wasn't sold here until 1996 or 1997.

[quest6445]

Yes the car came on the original tyres Pirelli, however they where dangerious (perished), I have replaced them with 215,45,17 Bridgestone SO3.

The 320i sold in Europe and Japan has the M50 6 cyclinder engine, I think due to the emissions regulations in the US would render the 2000cc engine under powered, also during the 90's the cost of petrol in the US was about 25% of that in Europe. In the US the tradition is for large engines 4,5,6 and even 7 litre engines, In Europe most cars sold are 2 litre or less.

The other major difference in the Japanese and European/US models is in the Auto transmission. The European cars use either GM and ZF transmissions, however the japanese model uses a JATCO (Japanese Automatice Transmission Co.)

[3050rpm]

Good and smart move getting new sneakers; rubber for tires not only has a mileage life, but a time life, I've heard no more than 5 years. Interesting what you say about the M50 engine, I didn't know it also went to the 2 liter displacement, I thought that was a different engine class altogether. As to the differences between the US and the rest of the driving world, yeah big and powerful and fast is our mantra, all grossly overemphasized in my estimation. For various reasons, taxes, fuel costs, insurance, whatnot, Europe as you indicate has a different orientation, with smaller cars, smaller displacements, many diesel models, and I gather a preponderance of manual as opposed to automatic transmissions (that even women know how to drive!). And they seem to get by okay.

I'm getting less and less helpful with your power loss problem however. Given the age of the car but its very light use, I wonder if you may have a vacuum leak somewhere due to a cracked, worn out hose. All the hoses and belts should be given a once (or twice) over. Air filter would be in order too. Oil, brake, transmission, and differential fluids would also be indicated, although their effect on power is tangential at best.

[quest6445]

The taxes and insurance costs here in Ireland also make it less attractive to have a large engine, $1150 a year for road tax for a 2 litre and $1700 for 3 litre and above.

Young drivers can pay upto $5000 for insurance, hense the smaller engined cars.

All fluids and filters have been replaced including the diff oil, I have fitted a complete set of vacuum pipe previously and pressure checked the originals. A code came up for about 2 seconds while hooked up today, the trottle position sensor, however it went away.

Advised to drive the car with injector cleaner for the next tank full and drop back next week. I drove the car from this latest session and at first the car seemed better, however after about a mile it was back to it usual behavior.

The saga goes on....

[3050rpm]

In a way I can't really argue with those tax and insurance figures if they reduce oil consumption and keep (stupid) kids alive, but those are topics for another day...

Hmmm, the TPS... I really don't know, but I suppose it could be a culprit. Fairly easy to replace though, but cost I don't know. It was interesting that that error code came up, albeit transiently. To send you off on another speculation, has the mass air flow sensor been checked, cleaned?

These are just a couple of other ideas, I'm far from being knowledgeable about this stuff, and I'm very much surprised that the techs couldn't diagnose the problem. It just may be that extended operation at highway speeds may be in order to drive out any gremlins.

[quest6445]

I will get a new TPS and install it to see if it resolves the issue. The air mass meter has already been replaced (a couple of months ago)

I have had a couple of 300-400 mile round trips over the last month while the car was in its intermittent state...

[3050rpm]

I don't mean to send you off on wild goose chases and goodness knows my automotive knowledge is very much toward the basic end of the spectrum, but here's another thought. I don't know if your engine is so equipped, but I have come across some listings saying that the early VANOS systems could be erratic, apparently due to the solenoid working intermittently or failing altogether. What it entails to check that out and to replace whatever's faulty I don't know, this is just another suggestion that might help, or continue to drive you batty.