Bmw 318I E46 Eml Rough Idle - Please Help!!

[N1xsta]

Good Morning Guys,

Doing the school run this morning when i was nearly home had a bit of stuttering from the engine then the engine management light came on flashing.

I stopped the car and restarted it and no light but rough idle.

Went to take my other son to school and the engine management came on flashing straight away and very rough idle and rough whilst driving every now and again the management light would flash.

I had the coil pack changed about 6 months ago could it be this again

Thanks

Nick

[Guest DazH]

Howdy Nick

Ummmm could be many things. First things to check are the obviousssss bits.

Look for any air leaks. Obvious cracks in the rubber boot to the throttle body is a common one. Make sure ya services are up to date and the filter isn't clogged to heck

Check the spark. Pull out the coil pack that was changed and pop a spark plug in it. Hold it against a bare metal part of the chassis and see if you can observe a spark. If there's no spark, the coil is dead and ya running on 3 cylinders (Disconnect the electrics to the fuel line if you can to avoid it starting is wise but... meh, i don't give it a long enough crank to fire up. Spark will be obvious quickly)

If your engine's ICV is exposed and nice and easy to grab hold of, yank it out and give it a clean. Might be gunked up and sticking.

Have you got an OBDII reader? If not... get one. ANNNNNY cheap one will do, they all gather the same codes (10/15 quid off fleabay). The codes revealed will narrow down the guessing game for our guys here on the forums

Daz