Hey y’all ! My name is Raphael, I’m from Salem, MA near Boston. I own a 98 318i Sedan great looking car it was my brothers and currently has 131k on it. I always wanted to join the CCA but never had a BMW So now I do! hoping to get some advice and what I could to at this millage to keep it running as well as possible. thanks guys
Welcome. There are some known preventative maintenance items on that car. Keep an eye out on the radiator and water pump. May even want to replace them if they haven't been replaced. Check for oil leaks. Valve covers tend to leak. Also around the oil filter assembly a bushing sometimes causes problems. I replaced these two items recently. If you take care of the small issues you will get lots of miles out of the motor. Overheating can be a kiss of death.
Thanks Steven Crazy thing this morning tried starting the card and it merely idled and stalled I tried again with a little bit of throttle it started rough and the check engine light is on. Any thoughts ? Thanks !!
First, how old is the battery? On my cars batteries only seem to last 5 years and their last day is usually when cold. For the CEL, you need to have the codes scanned. There are various devices you can buy. An Advance Auto can scan them for free. Could be anything. Did you get gas recently? Loose gas cap?
I did get gas last night lol ! I'm having it checked today for the codes hopefully it's simple. I did hear about the master airflow sensor ? Or idle control sensor ? As towards the battery I think it's never been replaced or it's been replaced in the past 10 years maybe.
I'm willing to bet that battery is not 10 years old. A CEL can be anything. Mass Airflow Sensor. Like I said, it could be anything.
Codes came back for multiple cyclinder mis-fires. Tech will replace plugs and wires to see if that resolves the issue, if not he said maybe the ignition coil.
I'm assuming he did this (not trying to pull a fast one on me) It is a reputable shop. Do you think it could be more than those items ? Like you mentioned it could be so many things for CEL but with the codes it kinda puts you on the direction.
I'm not saying it's not. I had a MAF fault that was cleared 10 years ago. Fault never came back. I could have had the MAF replaced, codes reset and never have known the difference.
Looks like the plugs and wires did the trick .. The real test will be in the morning 18f here in Massachusetts.
Well it's 30 degrees and she started with no CEL but was a shaky not as bad as yesterday since it isn't as cold. He did not mention anything about the oil , just wondering why it's at such a low RPM at cold start ? Normally it should rev high right ?
Normally it should be high and drop down. Common problems are also cracks in the intake boot between the MAF and throttle. That's why I like to reset lights before replacing parts. I'm no mechanic.
Did a smoke test and no leaks ... I'm at the shop right now and they are doing some more diagnostics on it
