rorocirca1989

Sorry for the wait - so I had noticed recently that when I turned the ignition to power the rev needle would bounce up and down for awhile then stop when I started the car - then I was driving back from work and it did it again and cut out completely and would not start again! The RAC came out and used a diagnostic kit and the Oxygen sensor came up along with Throttle positioning - BUT we tested the Oxygen sensor and it all seemed to be reading correctly (It also came up with a secondary fan failure, but that apparently is due to the diagnostics thinking the car had air con). Had a chat to the RAC man, asked if it could be a busted Cat and he said the car would be running a lot worse. He recommended looking at the Water Temp sensor along with double checking everything else as a lot of them are closed circuit so if one fails it will revert back to default settings and obviously not run as well. He also tested the battery because of the Rev dial symptom suggested the car was cutting out and reseting itself - so we got a new bat and the dials stop bouncing! The engine lights back on again and its still running really flat - this car is proving to be a mechanical mystery.

Just as an update - I drove to Oxford at the weekend and on the way back the Engine Management light came on - I hope this might mean when I diagnose it in the week it may come up with something a little more specific to the problem, I will update this thread if I find out anything as apparently its a common problem.

I did actually get it diagnosed a while ago - throttle position sensor, crank shaft sensor, MAF and a couple others came up, after reseting the system and diagnosing again just the MAF came up - so thats when I changed it with the refurbed second hand one. I thought initially it might be the lambda sensor, but as the exhaust system seemed to come up clean I put it to the back of the list. I will probably get a new Bosch MAF when I have the money anyway - another thing I've noticed recently is that if I ease the power on and only go to about half way down on the accelerator it seems to pull with all its 105bhp (not a lot admittedly), could that suggest positioning sensor/throttle body problems? another weird symptom it has is if you come off the accelerator pedal quickly, or turn the cruise control off after a stint, the throttle pedal get jammed, and you have to stamp on it to get it moving again! Bit of a mystery, still don't regret buying the car though. cheers

Unfortunately it was a second hand one (due to budget) from my local (but normally trustworthy) scrappy Trents. Were you experiencing power issues too? I thought after the idling problem was sorted that the MAF was decent, but I'll give it a clean and look into a brand spanking new one! A mechanic also mentioned the throttle positioning sensor could be a duff at one point, would be good to eliminate some potential sources before I fork out for also sorts of bits and pieces! thanks again

alright guys, I bought a 316i E46 back in January for £950 - expecting some work to be done on it obviously. It initially had idling and power problems - the idling was all over the place and made it very easy to drop out and it had no power. After checking and fixing all the vacuum pipes and replacing the MAF the idling problem was solved and now shes steady as a rock at just under 1,000rpm. But now I've noticed a power issue - with the accelerator flat to the floor the car labors but the power is absolutely flat, it struggles to get above 4,000rpm with no power at all. It almost seems easier to ease the power in instead of flooring it. Its intermittent as well, and as far as I can tell might be worse from a cold start. I've taken it to a few mechanics and they seem pretty confused by it. Although apparently its a common problem with this age and model? (its got the 1895cc engine) Any help or if anyones got any similar problems would be much appreciated. cheers, Rory

Anyone got any opinions on the likelihood of this weekends GP at Bahrain getting called off because of the countries state? I personally want it to stay on so I've got something to watch while I'm hungover on Sunday!