Girl at work here thinks she's getting told a bunch of BS by the dealer with regards to her 325i, and I agree with her, I just want to make sure that I'm telling her good information. I don't know Bimmers at all so heres a question for you guys.

When she's rolling up to a stoplight and when she takes her foot off the gas and puts it on the brake, the car stalls and all the lights on her dash go off. She can put it in park and just crank it back up again no problem. This same shit happens to the VX and is caused by the fuel pressure regulator going tits up. I don't know whether or not a 325i even has a FPR but would this be something to look at if it does?

The dealer is telling her that its because she's not using premium octane. To which I told her thats nuts.

3/15/2006 9:26:58 AM

Quote :

"The 325 has a rather lofty compression ratio of 10.5 :1. For this BMW recomends "premium unleaded." "

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72707

3/15/2006 9:39:02 AM

perhaps she should try premium for one tank, if it still does it... well then you know the dealer is BSin.

[Edited on March 15, 2006 at 9:48 AM. Reason : I'm captain obvious]

3/15/2006 9:43:09 AM

well if it was the non-premium gas, then why has this shit just started now since apparently she's used plus grade ever since she's owned the car?

3/15/2006 9:50:23 AM

carbon buildup?

3/15/2006 9:51:57 AM

ASSuming its an auto?

3/15/2006 9:54:13 AM

^^ I told her she should run 1/3 bottle of seafoam through the tank at next fillup.

^ I asked her that question and she said "BOTH!"

I laughed then asked her, "Do you have to push a clutch pedal in to change gears?" to which she said "No, but I can change gears with the shifter!"

I lolled a bit.

3/15/2006 9:55:46 AM

seafoam through the gas (to remove carbon) is about as useful as buying a Vx.
you won't notice any difference using 1/3 of a bottle in 20 gal of gas.
techron or b12 chemtool is more suited to that.

the first thing to do would be to check for error codes. ask around for her and have her take it to a independent shop who can then do a better diagnostic.

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OFFTOPIC:
if you are trying to clean carbon, it's best to take it to a pro who will throw some b12 in the gas, run some pressurized cleaner through the fuel line, and spray some shit in the intake.

things that could use some more attention, if it has a pcv and egr system, would be to manually clean those things out, either with chemicals or hand tools.
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3/15/2006 10:34:15 AM

I'm no transmission expert, but it sounds like the transmission isnt shifting itself to neutral and it's stalling. Maybe the TCU or some sort of solenoids are broken?

3/15/2006 10:58:50 AM

^ 2nd that.

3/15/2006 11:05:09 AM

Wouldn't that be sort of a sudden jolt of a stop? More violent than a simple stall?

3/15/2006 11:09:09 AM

[Edited on March 15, 2006 at 11:18 AM. Reason : .]

3/15/2006 11:11:40 AM

^^ perhaps on a manual, but I assume its a bit different on an automatic.

3/15/2006 12:39:50 PM

in my experience, (which is novice when dealing with A/T Transmissions and their problems)

when a AT transmission fucks up

its pretty noticable.

she says that one time she couldn't even tell it had stalled out until she noticed the lights on her dash and when she tried to accellerate.

3/15/2006 12:43:01 PM

just tell her to go back and say it still happens with premium

3/15/2006 12:55:54 PM

if the transmission were staying locked, it would be hard to stop and would jolt when the engine stalled, could be any number of things, iac, map, mas, you cant diagnose shit like that on the internet. but no, lower octance fuel would knock under load, not cause it to stall at idle.

3/15/2006 12:57:09 PM

just tell her to go back and say it still happens with premium

and start running premium until this is resolved

[Edited on March 15, 2006 at 1:39 PM. Reason : s]

3/15/2006 1:39:41 PM