Stalling my E46

[Barreti]

Eyup,

I've not had my y2000 E46 2.2ltr for long so this could be down to me not giving the car enough revs, but I seem to stall it an inordinate amount of times - particularly when reversing.
I should point out I also do the same with the Mrs S2000 which needs revs because of the sort of engine it is.

The stalling could well be down to me then, but the effects immediately after certainly aren't.
Considering the car has just been running it takes a lot of turning over to get it to restart, sometimes stalling again straight after, and when I have got it started it drives really oddly, having no power then suddenly taking off like something possessed. Similar to the symptoms you get if a HT lead is breaking down or like its running out of fuel. It also stalls often at junctions etc during that drive.
Here's the odd thing though, it's all perfectly normal next time I go to the car and all this only happens if I've stalled it.

Is there a restart-after-stall procedure I should know about - official or otherwise?

Ta,
IanB

[RobM77]

I had a 2000 model 330ci, and found I stalled it loads too. The problem was the delay on the drive by wire throttle. It takes a second for the accelerator pedal to respond, so you have to allow for this when you're letting the clutch out and pulling away. I'm told that the clutch also has a delay valve in it, so you'll have to account for that too. Plus you've got an anti-stall system in the E46, which might account for your car's jerk reactions. On mine, when the revs got below about 2,000rpm I'd get a burst of unwanted power which would rocket me forwards. All challenging stuff! I gave up after a few months and sold it.

[Barreti]

Stalled the beemer backing out of a supermarket space this lunchtime on my way into work.
turned off the key and waited 10 secs but the car still drove like a pig until I dropped off a colleague 20mins later.
Horrible to drive all the way to collect the Mrs and it was so bad I had her drive because I was sick of it. She confirmed it was driving like an old bus.
The car is at work now and I really hope to god it drives better when I get back in it in about an hour or so.

Should I be taking the key out of the ignition or something?
If the car had behaved like this on my recent trip to Leeds/Manchester/Liverpool I think I would have left the sack of shit there and got the train home.

[petrolhead76]

If you are stalling the honda it could just be you - but to put your mind at rest hust get the diagnostics computer on it to make sure everything is as it should be - sometimes there could be an air leak or something which upsets the fuel mixture.

[ceriw]

My 330 is very indifferent to reversing smoothly. Select reverse and the revs hunt, high - low... it has stalled on a few occassions whilst reversing. Even the Bmw lads at Colchester remarked on it. I tend to blip the revs whilst reversing now... only solution it seems.

Edited by ceriw on Thursday 20th December 08:06

Edited by ceriw on Thursday 20th December 08:06

[RobM77]

In addition to the clowning around that I mention in my post above, my 330 also used to dash about on the revs whilst manouvering. I think it was the anti-stall - it kicked in a good 500rpm above the idle speed of the engine. It's a standard feature of the car it seems.

My answer? I bought an Elise with a cable throttle and no fancy electronics: problem solved

Edited by RobM77 on Thursday 20th December 08:47

[Barreti]

Eyup.

I took the advice chaps and got the car to a local BMW specialist today.
The plan was to put it on the diagnostics and see what came up, so I left the car with them.
They phoned me within half an hour to tell me the camshaft sensor(s) were ferked.
£158 all in to replace both sensors and the car is back with me the same day.

It feels more urgent now and much more like the car I always thought it should be - it previously felt slower and less urgent than my 164k Saab 900.

I'll let you know in a couple of days if this has changed my opinion of the car which I was already considering selling after just 3 months because it was too unpredictable and slow.

[RobM77]

Barreti said:

Eyup.

I took the advice chaps and got the car to a local BMW specialist today.
The plan was to put it on the diagnostics and see what came up, so I left the car with them.
They phoned me within half an hour to tell me the camshaft sensor(s) were ferked.
£158 all in to replace both sensors and the car is back with me the same day.

It feels more urgent now and much more like the car I always thought it should be - it previously felt slower and less urgent than my 164k Saab 900.

I'll let you know in a couple of days if this has changed my opinion of the car which I was already considering selling after just 3 months because it was too unpredictable and slow.

Interestingly, I had exactly the same issue. I had the camshaft sensors replaced under the used car warranty (2000 model E46 330ci). In fact I had quite a bit replaced under warranty! I'm afraid to say that it didn't solve it though. Do let us know how you get on.

[FesterNath]

I genuinely find all this talk of delayed throttle response really strange. I have a facelift 330Ci, and find the throttle response excellent; there being no delay, and a nice response over the range of travel. Is this something that was changed on later models?

[Random K']

I have the same car. I also had the same problem, but that may have been because this was my first manual car after only driving for 2 years. Give it more revs because the e46 you have is a heavy car with little power. My clutch is low. Check if the spark plugs need changing/fitting properly.

A few more details about this car not sure if its relevent though. 2nd and 3rd gear are your friend. 4th gear feels like an over drive gear. 5th gear can hit redline at 120mph. top speed is 137mph although the speedo will say 140/141mph. The speedo usual is inaccuarate +3mph. 99 Ron petrol gives devent power/torque near 2500rpm, 95 Ron 3000rpm. For overtaking on B Roads you better had be careful and plan where your landing spot os going to be, because this car is not fast. You have to rev this engine(N/A) to get the best from it. Wind noise only creeps into the cabin at 100mph. I've guess you've gathered I do alot of motorway miles in this car.

Mpg APPROX should be(with new good spark plugs fittted properly)

50mph (1hour) 59MPG
70mph " 35MPG
80mph " 32MPG

Just in case your a sales rep here you go(LOL)

100mph " 28-30MPG?
120mph half hour 26-29MPG?

from Jurgen in Germany (wink)

If anyone goes into 3 figure speeds and causes an accident on UK roads I hope to GOD they die and not take anyone innoceint with them. Waffle over. I am guessing this post will be deleted.

[m12_nathan]

The clutch delay valve would mean that it'd be less likely to stall surely?

And anti stall? You sure on that?

[Barreti]

RobM77 said:

Barreti said:

Eyup.

I took the advice chaps and got the car to a local BMW specialist today.
The plan was to put it on the diagnostics and see what came up, so I left the car with them.
They phoned me within half an hour to tell me the camshaft sensor(s) were ferked.
£158 all in to replace both sensors and the car is back with me the same day.

It feels more urgent now and much more like the car I always thought it should be - it previously felt slower and less urgent than my 164k Saab 900.

I'll let you know in a couple of days if this has changed my opinion of the car which I was already considering selling after just 3 months because it was too unpredictable and slow.

Interestingly, I had exactly the same issue. I had the camshaft sensors replaced under the used car warranty (2000 model E46 330ci). In fact I had quite a bit replaced under warranty! I'm afraid to say that it didn't solve it though. Do let us know how you get on.

Well guess what.
It isn't fixed after all :rant:

Symptoms are nothing to do with reversing. I think the stalling is a result of the problem rather than the cause of it.

I can now tell if there is going to be a problem because it doesn't start immediately at the turn of the key but takes about 4 seconds of turning the engine over.
The rest of that journey will be full of hesitation, even putting my foot down at say 40 or 50 I can feel hesitation. Its like being on a gently bobbing boat - that same sort of feeling through my arse.
So now what. I've obviously just spent £158 for nothing so I'll be on to the garage about that. What is the usual course with such a thing - can I expect them to tell me they were knackered anyway so there is no leeway on the next bill?

Do you know what else was swapped on yours Rob?

[petrolhead76]

The garage will tell you it was knackered as they put it on the diagnostics - which may be the case - so guess you'll have a little chance of a refund.

Are you sure they checked for air leaks - basically if that is a problem IIRC the computer won't pick it up and it will obviously result in an incorrect fuel mixture hence stalling and rubbish drive ?

My 325i (2001) had a camshaft sensor problem which sorted my very minor stalling problem for good, but before they stuck the computer on they checked for air leaks from memory.

I feel for you, its a PITA when stuff like this happens.

Edited by petrolhead76 on Friday 21st December 17:24

[CIS121]

Barreti said:

RobM77 said:

Barreti said:

Eyup.

I took the advice chaps and got the car to a local BMW specialist today.
The plan was to put it on the diagnostics and see what came up, so I left the car with them.
They phoned me within half an hour to tell me the camshaft sensor(s) were ferked.
£158 all in to replace both sensors and the car is back with me the same day.

It feels more urgent now and much more like the car I always thought it should be - it previously felt slower and less urgent than my 164k Saab 900.

I'll let you know in a couple of days if this has changed my opinion of the car which I was already considering selling after just 3 months because it was too unpredictable and slow.

Interestingly, I had exactly the same issue. I had the camshaft sensors replaced under the used car warranty (2000 model E46 330ci). In fact I had quite a bit replaced under warranty! I'm afraid to say that it didn't solve it though. Do let us know how you get on.

Well guess what.
It isn't fixed after all :rant:

Symptoms are nothing to do with reversing. I think the stalling is a result of the problem rather than the cause of it.

I can now tell if there is going to be a problem because it doesn't start immediately at the turn of the key but takes about 4 seconds of turning the engine over.
The rest of that journey will be full of hesitation, even putting my foot down at say 40 or 50 I can feel hesitation. Its like being on a gently bobbing boat - that same sort of feeling through my arse.
So now what. I've obviously just spent £158 for nothing so I'll be on to the garage about that. What is the usual course with such a thing - can I expect them to tell me they were knackered anyway so there is no leeway on the next bill?

Do you know what else was swapped on yours Rob?

4 seconds of turning over sounds like something is very wrong! Some of the earlier E46 cars did have a problem with throttle response. I got mine 2 years ago and did try an 01 plate car at a BMW garage and it had a serious issue with the throttle. They said they would get the mechanic to investigate and call me back, but I never heard and ended up getting a later car with a razor sharp response.

There is a valve in the clutch that helps to reduce the damage caused by dropping the clutch on a getaway. I believe a lot of very powerful cars have this as tehy'd wreck the drive train otherwise.

[RobM77]

Barreti said:

RobM77 said:

Barreti said:

Eyup.

I took the advice chaps and got the car to a local BMW specialist today.
The plan was to put it on the diagnostics and see what came up, so I left the car with them.
They phoned me within half an hour to tell me the camshaft sensor(s) were ferked.
£158 all in to replace both sensors and the car is back with me the same day.

It feels more urgent now and much more like the car I always thought it should be - it previously felt slower and less urgent than my 164k Saab 900.

I'll let you know in a couple of days if this has changed my opinion of the car which I was already considering selling after just 3 months because it was too unpredictable and slow.

Interestingly, I had exactly the same issue. I had the camshaft sensors replaced under the used car warranty (2000 model E46 330ci). In fact I had quite a bit replaced under warranty! I'm afraid to say that it didn't solve it though. Do let us know how you get on.

Well guess what.
It isn't fixed after all :rant:

Symptoms are nothing to do with reversing. I think the stalling is a result of the problem rather than the cause of it.

I can now tell if there is going to be a problem because it doesn't start immediately at the turn of the key but takes about 4 seconds of turning the engine over.
The rest of that journey will be full of hesitation, even putting my foot down at say 40 or 50 I can feel hesitation. Its like being on a gently bobbing boat - that same sort of feeling through my arse.
So now what. I've obviously just spent £158 for nothing so I'll be on to the garage about that. What is the usual course with such a thing - can I expect them to tell me they were knackered anyway so there is no leeway on the next bill?

Do you know what else was swapped on yours Rob?

Sorry for not responding earlier - I was moving house! They ran several diagnostics, swapped the cam sensors and the throttle pot. I think they changed some other things, but I can't remember what I'm afraid and I've thrown the receipts away. I complained to BMW customer services about it, and was told that the time difference between throttle pedal movement and engine response was "within specification". Mine was just under a second. Obviously it was quite dangerous, especially in the wet. The funniest thing was how even the cruise control couldn't cope Because there was a big delay in the throttle response, yet the cruise control processed speed instantly, it used to get itself into an oscillation around the speed you wanted.

On Thursday I bought one of the last E36s without all this gubbins on it (a 328i sport coupe), and I'm over the moon with it Words cannot describe how much better it is to drive than the E46 I had.

[apmirkin]

Thanks god it's not just me that finds small symtoms like this on the e46.

I had a 328 which I nearly bought and told the seller and he said it was normal...

I never bought it and am just hanging on for a late E36 328sport coupe or an ///M3(even though the vanos has the reputation of a pig!)

[TOENHEEL]

My grandad had a e46 325ci and that was a pig at slow speeds for stalling,as if it had a flat spot or something. You had to rev it to like 3k revs for pulling away etc. Apparently commmon with all the 6 cylinder engines i heard.

[RobM77]

TOENHEEL said:

My grandad had a e46 325ci and that was a pig at slow speeds for stalling,as if it had a flat spot or something. You had to rev it to like 3k revs for pulling away etc. Apparently commmon with all the 6 cylinder engines i heard.

Not in the E30 and E36

[TOENHEEL]

RobM77 said:

TOENHEEL said:

My grandad had a e46 325ci and that was a pig at slow speeds for stalling,as if it had a flat spot or something. You had to rev it to like 3k revs for pulling away etc. Apparently commmon with all the 6 cylinder engines i heard.

Not in the E30 and E36

Well they dont build them like they used to, i would say thats a definite with BMW.

[petrolhead76]

Just to balance this thread - I had an E46 325i (01 plate) and it was an amazing car - nothing ever went wrong with it in about 4 years of ownership, and when I wanted performance it delivered.

BMW engineering for me continues to excel.