No power below 2500rpm.... any ideas???
 

Hi all,

I recently got a 96 318ti with the M44 engine and am really impressed with the car. I do have one or two issues which may or maynot be related which I want to sort out and hopefully you can point me in the right direction.

The car seems to have very little power below 2500rpm. With my foot flat on the floor there seems to be little power, then at 2500 it as if a switch it thrown and the power comes back in. Its a very noticeable change as if you were driving around on 25% throttle and then floored it. Also when below 2500rpm with my foot flat on the floor there seems to be split seconds where the power tries to come back but then dies again, not a stutter though. The car is fine above 2500rpm. :confused:

Secondly the car sometimes dosent start first time, it turn over starts and the dies... not a big problem as it only happens maybe 1 in 10 times, and then it always starts on the second try.:confused:

Any pointers would be welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Anyone??? :sniff: :confused2:help:

Open the hood. Do you see a 4-cylinder engine and an automatic transmission?

:wink:

hahahahahahahahaha +1 Phil

Nope :eek:... its a manual :wink:

its still a 140hp from the factory car. your probably running around 100 to the wheels now due to hp loss over the year... some bikes got more power then us :P

I know its not a fast car, its only a runabout, its just the way the power is delivered which is unlike any other car ive driven, its not smooth at all, not what I expect from a BMW. It more on/off than my turboed car running 1 bar boost! so i think there must be a something wrong somewhere... or do they all behave like this?

With your foot flat on the floor:

Below 2500 rpm it has very little power (much less than i would expect) and feels slightly stuttery but above 2500 rpm its as if youve gone from 20% throttle to full throttle (for the same throttle input, as if its got an agressive cam profile). Does the ecu do something different below 2500rpm, it like the car is being held back somewhere.

I'm not really sure if it's normal but I know my car picks up at 3k, I wouldn't say it has "no" power below 3k though, it still seems to get along pretty good

my ti is the only car I've ever daily driven except for several >$1k winter beaters though so it might just be that I'm used to it

what Brendon said is pretty damn accurate. my car usually picks up around 3000 too!

I think something is wrong with your engine. I have 318ti auto and the only time it feels flat is on a hot day with the AC blowing, but I don't have to floor it to get going. After I punt in a Dinan chip pullies, the car doesn't feel flat anymore. The throttle is progressive with a slight increase in pickup as the engine rpms rise (normal).

Marcus, did you get the problem solved?
There is an obvious lag in power on the M44 at lower RPM's, it does not have a lot of torque at low speeds, so it seems to lag a little until you rev it up a bit. As stated by others here, my 96 ti's (the white one and my newest purchase green one) both have that lack of power/torque below 3K rpm. I have gotten used to it.
But your car is not running right if it has NO power below 2500. It should excellerate smoothy until it reaches higer (above 2500rpm) engine speeds.

Both of my '96 ti's are/were automatics. I am still driving the green one every day.

I do a lot of city driving, and drove all 5 speeds before, including a '84 325e 2.7L coupe, '88 Nissan Sentra SE Hatchback, and then a '88 325i 2.5L 2D Cpe.
Took a while to get used to the lack of torque the 1.9L 4 cylinder at lower rpms... Ya gotta rev em' up a little !!
:biggrin:

thinking tht maybe the throttle position sensor could be at fault. any check engine light? does the CEL come on when you first start the car at all? if not, the bulb may be burned out and would otherwise point you to a problem.

if the tps is bad, the bog would come from the ecu not knowing how far the throttle was open. and either dumping too much fuel or not enough.

i'm sure there must be a test procedure for the tps.. using a voltmeter.. anyone can help that has an FSM?

another possibility that would explain the starting is a partially plugged catalytic convertor. does the exhaust have a varnish type smell, like dead gas?

I havent got the bottom of this yet... I dont think its the exhaust

Im in the UK so the car hasnt got an ODBII port, but the throttle x5 trick doesnt work to retrive the codes (maybe this could point to the tps...) but would a failed TPS throw up an engine check light?

Can someone comfirm that the 5x throttle trick to get codes works on the M44 engine? (especially the UK ones)

Im going to see if I can find a friendly with a BMW scanner.

I will let you know how i get on.

Thanks for the input, its appreciated.

As my Pappy used to say,

"The only dumb question is the one that is not asked"
If you don't have the OBD II connector, I would still run codes to see you might have a weak spark or two.
I did.
I'm getting better gas mileage on my ti now since I changed the #1 wire by jumping across the valve cover with a shorter wire I had left over from a Pontiac 3.1L I tuned up years ago...I am debating on buying a $150 set of Bosch wires from autozone, seems kinda pricey...

I need to start a new tread on spark plug wires.
I want to eliminate the loooooong wires, and run a shorter set directly from my coil block to the spark plugs.
I looked through the receipts on my ti, and the person before me had already replaced the spark plug wires just a couple of years ago, and I have a dead #1 wire again.
What a horses A$$ way they run the wires around behind the engine (overheating them) and with resistor wires, the longer they are, the less efficient they are.
I know this from building hot rod Chevys. Shorter is better.