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stumbling and bucking

 
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greenie



Joined: 02 Nov 2002
Posts: 420
Location: los angeles

PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 2016 3:49 pm    Post subject: stumbling and bucking Reply with quote

My trusty 91 318ic has been misbehaving in a very odd manner. Last night the check engine light began flashing on and then off. Then the engine started bucking and then running smoothly again, and then bucking some more. Doesn't seem related to throttle position. Recently threw all 3 belts. In the last year I have replaced the temp sensor and cleaned the ICV. Not one to just throw parts at the car as I want to know what is causing this. If coils were bad they would be dead and not intermittent. Have heard it could be spark plug wires but this seems rather severe for that. Water temp normal, plenty of oil. Code being thrown is 1223, temp sensor. If that was bad then the car would think it was cold and dump more fuel in, but this feels like the engine is seizing or stalling.

Anyone run into this? Very odd…

Thanks

Steve
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1991 laguna green 318IC
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dt325ic



Joined: 24 Aug 2004
Posts: 307
Location: Atlanta, GA

PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2016 10:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hopefully you've already got this figured out...but, anytime that I've had check engine lights and rough running, 9 times out of 10 it has been a vacuum leak of some sort. Once with my E30, it was a cracked air intake boot from the filter to the intake, and the crack was in one of the pleats.

I'm unfamiliar with the M42 engine in your car, but I hope you can find the problem.
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85-325e



Joined: 30 Jun 2002
Posts: 4712
Location: Southampton, NY

PostPosted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 1:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yep, I agree with dt... Check everything for vacuum leaks. And make sure you check the UNDERSIDE of the hoses.

There were several places where I found I had to bolster the sealing for the engine's vacuum stuff:

One was the oil dipstick... I added some o-rings to the seal at the top, and it made a big difference.

I also found that you should check the underside of the large hose that goes from the AFM to the throttle because they tend to crank underneath, out of sight.

Check all hoses for tiny cracks. I had a gas leak in my Subaru Forester. I couldn't find the darned thing anywhere, and it was just the gas smell, but I knew it was leaking fumes someplace. I checked everything carefully, and couldn't find any issues.... Then one day after a year of smelling it for a day and then not smelling it for a week or two, the odor was REALLY strong. I looked at the engine, and there was a crack in one of the fuel lines... tiny, thin thing... I couldn't see it except for a a tiny wet line in parts. When I pulled it out and changed it, I looked closely at it, and if it was stressed in one specific way, the crack was HUGE, but any other way, you couldn't see it at all...
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Cosmo - 1985 BMW 325e, Single Owner, 265,000+ ORIGINAL miles and still going strong! But now on the East Coast and the salt air corrosion is eating my beautiful car alive... Sad

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greenie



Joined: 02 Nov 2002
Posts: 420
Location: los angeles

PostPosted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 1:06 pm    Post subject: found the problem Reply with quote

Ends up the issue was not hoses but the valve cover gasket! The M42 engine has a multi-piece gasket with the large perimeter gasket plus individual gaskets for each of the spark plug wells. Those were going sound, which allowed a couple of the spark plug wells to fill with oil. New gaskets, torqued in proper sequence, problem gone. My trusty 318IC is back to begging for revs, which isn't bad for 250,000 miles...
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