A Car With Many Problems To Fix :-(

[bradders]

Hi gang!

I'm a newbie on here - nice to meet U all.

Can anyone please help? I have an E46 318i estate with the following problems:

1. The car struggles to accelerate away from junctions almost pausing for a few seconds before jumping into life and sometimes struggles to accelerate after a gear change at higher speeds.

2. Steering wheel vibrates at approx 60mph smoothing at about 70mph.

3. There is a metallic scraping noise from the engine that comes and goes. This tends to go once the engine has been running or revved for a while.

4. The exhaust sounds like there is a hole approx at driver seat level on a cold engine. Again this stops once running for a while.

5. Coolant continually running low after a fortnight from refilling.

6. Screen wash jets work on first couple of squirts and cease thereafter. They then work again after a while for only a few squirts. Tried cleaning with a needle to no avail.

That's the worst of it...

I look forward to receiving your advice on the above.

Cheers.

bradders.

[Snypa-D]

Welcome to BMWOC :) soz cant help ya mate I an e36 man,but sure Dabsy will be along soon with some answers !!

[KES]

1. Poss choke sensor had a similar prob on the wifes golf , how clean is the airfilter , feel for any blocked breather pipes .

2.Could be wheel balancing or a warped wheel .

3.Difficult one get yer head in the bay when cold to pinpoint it .

4 Poss a joint which seals when the exhaust expands

5.Poss head gasket check the dipstick for contamination .

6, Pull the pipe off going to the jets to see if it still does it, if it does check the pipe for splits .

Other than that sell it on ebay with a warm engine and clean screen :rolleyes:

[Steve]

i wonder if number 5 has something to do with number 1? You should have the head gasket checked.

Perhaps number one is something to do with the MAF sensor or split intake after the MAF Sensor?

Dabz.. what do you think?

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

Hi, Tristan... Firstly, would you be so kind as to introduce yourself, and your motor (minus the issues), in the New Members section ;).

Right then... Some very good answers/ideas from Kes and Steve mate...

1 - Your early "flat-spot" could be caused by a few things (or a combination), dirty or failed MAF, air-leak in the intake pipes, intake manifold gaskets, TPS, Throttle-Body or fuel injector fouling... Work thru these in that order. (I favour the MAF to begin with).

2 - This could be a control-arm issue or warped rotors, even as simple as an unbalanced wheel. Or a tyre that has "egged", or with a tyre-wall fault (Bleb). Other causes include worn prop centre-bearing and UJ's.

3 - Scraping noise? Start her up and locate the area first... Could be some bad news here !! OR, could be as simple as a catching pulley !!

4 - Deffo a poor exhaust pipe connection !

5 - Something HAS failed my friend, whether it be a pipe, radiator, expansion tank, heater matrix or worse-case scenario the head gasket... Start the engine from cold then remove rad-cap and leave it running, does it spurt from the rad? What colour is the coolant? Does it have ANY abnormal crap in there? Does it overheat? Why not try a bottle of K-Seal in the coolant to see if this fixes it? (NOT RadWeld)!

6 - It seems that the fluid could be draining back to the washer bottle, install a one-way valve in the pipe... Very inexpensive !!

Just to recap - Issues 2 and 5 are the most urgent and should be your priority at this time mukka... Also bear in mind that to be certain of giving you the right advice, I should really be there to "nail-it" for you...

Good luck and get back to us with your findings... Over and out :D

[bradders]

Morning guys.

Thanks for your swift responses. Il see what extent i can do myself otherwise it looks like a hefty bill at the garage!

Il keep you posted to how i get on with the repairs.

Have a great weekend.