 » Site Navigation | | | | » Recent Threads | | | 1999 M3 Swap 09-07-2023 10:10 PM 05-02-2024 08:18 PM 6 Replies, 405,367 Views | |  |  |  |  05-25-2009, 03:53 AM | #1 | | Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Bend, OR Posts: 237 |  Sporadic Check engine light
Okay pretty much what the title says... Comes on and will go off while driving, doesn't seem to come on until I have driven a few miles and will sometimes go off while I am driving. Everything is normal as far as temperature and such, and the car doesn't drive funny so I'm thinking it may be a bad O2 sensor, but I just want some reassurance from someone  |  |  | | 05-25-2009, 03:59 AM | #2 | | Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Auburn, Alabama Posts: 206 |
Mine does this. It's just my cat, and nothing is wrong with it. It seems to do it when it's REALLY humid out. I've changed out both my o2's too. | | | | | 05-25-2009, 05:19 AM | #3 | | Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: New Orleans Posts: 970 |
might be intermitent vacuum leak? __________________ 
^being rebuilt^
until then:
daily car:
96' Blue DASC'd ti with koni coilovers
slowly progressing...
weekend car:
85 1/2' 944 Porsche
no a/c, p/s, gutted cat, loud as hell exhaust, loud as hell sound system | | | | | 05-25-2009, 06:50 AM | #4 | | Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Bend, OR Posts: 237 |
Quote: Originally Posted by minicoop900  might be intermitent vacuum leak? | Like the secondary air pump? Or maybe something in the fuel system? | | | | | 05-25-2009, 07:04 AM | #5 | | NOBODY F's with the Jesus Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Ventura California Posts: 7,824 |
Could be an intake leak which would actually give you a misfire code, but I'm guessing it's probably an evap leak. That's just a random guess though, the only way to know for sure is to read the codes. What year is your car John? If it's a '95, you could read the codes using the STOMP trick, if it's '96 or newer, you'll need to borrow an OBDII scantool. | | | | | 05-25-2009, 07:12 AM | #6 | | Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Bend, OR Posts: 237 |
Quote: Originally Posted by cooljess76 Could be an intake leak which would actually give you a misfire code, but I'm guessing it's probably an evap leak. That's just a random guess though, the only way to know for sure is to read the codes. What year is your car John? If it's a '95, you could read the codes using the STOMP trick, if it's '96 or newer, you'll need to borrow an OBDII scantool. | Yeah it's a 1997 but I guess I can try a few things to see if I can get it sorted out. An evap leak like around my gas cap? We don't get to pump our gas in Oregon so I hardly ever even have the cap off. | | | | | 05-25-2009, 07:33 AM | #7 | | NOBODY F's with the Jesus Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Ventura California Posts: 7,824 |
It's just a guess, could be any number of things. I thought about evap leak because they come and go while the car continues to run normally. best just to have the codes read or borrow a tool from someone before you go ripping stuff apart. AutoZone used to loan out scantools, but they stopped in some locations. Many shops will read your codes for free. If you do go to a shop, find out exactly what the alpha-numeric code is P-xxxx, not just the description. | | | | | 05-25-2009, 12:37 PM | #8 | | Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Greenville, SC Posts: 9,356 |
Don't guess. Scan the codes. They are stored even after the CEL does off. __________________ ...steven
BMW CCA #146825
1996 BMW 328ti • 2003 MINI Cooper S • 2016 M235i
www.bmwcca.org
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