Under-power and rough running

Hi,

Don't know if anyone can advise me as to what the problem with my 1997 (P) 323 saloon might be.

I've owned it for a year and a half and it's run perfectly until two months ago I was driving down the motorway when there was a sudden but very brief drop in revs.

I thought nothing of it until I was off the motorway and stationary at lights when I noticed there was a slight wobble when idling that had not been there before.

Then, as I pulled away, the take up of power was not the usual smooth acceleration curve... instead it was a bit "unwilling" until it was over 2-3000 revs when it picked up. Even then, it seemed noticably under-powered compared to normal. Also, it doesn't start as quickly or easily as it used to and chugs a bit for the first couple of seconds as the engine comes to life.

I took it to my usual garage (not a BM dealership by the way - just a random private garage) and they reckoned that the spark plugs needed changing. They did this and it seemed marginally better but it didn't seem to have fundamentally solved the problem.

So I took it back. They said they didn't think there was anything mechanically wrong with it. They checked the emissions and said they were normal except it seemed to be running a bit weak. They said they reckoned that one of the fuel injectors must be blocked up and suggested putting in some fuel injector cleaner.

Again, this made no difference. I'm also sceptical of this diagnosis as the problem didn't grow over time, but just appeared very suddenly.

If anyone has any ideas what it might be, I'd be extremely grateful for some advice!

Many thanks in advance,

Steve

I had a similar sounding problem with my 3 series and it turned out to be a partially clogged fuel pump.. Biggest give away was the unwillingness to rev followed by a sudden surge of power.. as the fuel pump finally cleared.

It took BMW 3 attempts to fix it...

Don;t know if this helps any..

Kev..

Sorry, can't give you any help as I simply don't know enough about the motor to assist.

However, I can't help feeling that it isn't the nikasil problem.  I used to run a Vauxhall and there have been a few Vauxhalls in the family.  There was a notorious problem with each of them, (Astra, Corsa, Carlton, Omega), and that was the fuel mix.  Symptoms included a noticeable lack of power at lower revs and a very erratic, worry inducing idle.  On my Astra, it occasionally caused the engine to cut out.  Same goes of the Corsa.

THE GOOD NEWS is that it was inexpensive to remedy.  It was just a question of tuning.  No need for new parts or anything.  Whether this is the case for your car, I don't know, but a mobile tuner is inexpensive and if it is all that is necessary, then you may end saving a fair bit of money.  Doesn't particularly need to be a BMW expert either.

If it was me, I would give this a whirl.  There are plenty in the phone book.  Anyway, whatever it does end up to be, please let us know on this thread as I'd like to know in case I have a similar problem with my car...