The BMW UUC Digest Volume 2 : Issue 459 : "text" Format Messages in this Issue: [E36] Horrible cold-start consumption Re: [E36] Horrible cold-start consumption Re: [E36] Horrible cold-start consumption Re: [E36] Horrible cold-start consumption Re: <E30> Power Steering Question More Factory Oil Change Interval Nastyness
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 09:42:26 +0200 From: Pavel Tcholakov <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [E36] Horrible cold-start consumption Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hello list, I've had this problem (??) forever, and I'm not sure if there's even anything one can do about it. My car seems to gulp fuel by the litre when it's cold - it doesn't even have to be pushed hard. I can just start it in the morning and let it idle while I pick a new CD and buckle up my seat belt - and there's already a *noticeable* difference on the fuel level gauge. The weird thing is, once the temp gauge gets to the middle this apparent high consumption goes away. Also, subsequent starts during the day don't exhibit this behavior if the car is at least a little bit warm (i.e. it's not been sitting the entire day). The car is a '94 320i equipped with a M50B20TU engine, with a Siemens ECU (and not Bosch). I would suspect a leak but it only seems to happen after the car is started, and then only for a short period of time until it warms up. I don't have a chip, but the car's been AFR tuned on a dyno - one can set this sort of thing on the AFM, I was told. Is it possible they did something to it then? I don't think. The exhaust burns a nice grey colour so I'm confident it's not running rich all the time. I do however get a smell of petrol (ok, that's gas for you Americans ;-)) when I first start it in the morning but it's not so bad that it couldn't be explained by cold-start rich running. Any hints? Is it normal? If it's not, should I even worry about it? I'm getting about 22-25mpg around town and well over 30 on the highway, but if it didn't gulp so much fuel when started it would be even better. Best regards, Pavel ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 07:16:24 -0800 From: "Marco Romani" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [E36] Horrible cold-start consumption Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> When you say cold do also imply cold outside or does it do it even when the ambient temp is high, but the motor is cold. off the top of my head It's either a) some weird glitch with the gauge showing the fuel is dropping, maybe a bad sender, or loose wire somewhere. Is your mpg hand calculated or off the OBC? If you have an OBC and it doesn't match the hand calculated mpg then that will tell us something, if it does match it'll tell us something else. b) considering you smell petrol on start up I'd be a bit concerned. You should never smell petrol. That makes me think you have a leak that may seal when the car is warm. Check near the back of the intake manifold on start-up and see if you can see or smell petrol. For the gauge to actually move whilst you're watching it would mean a pretty damn big leak. Marco -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Pavel Tcholakov Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2004 11:42 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [UUC] [E36] Horrible cold-start consumption Hello list, I've had this problem (??) forever, and I'm not sure if there's even anything one can do about it. My car seems to gulp fuel by the litre when it's cold - it doesn't even have to be pushed hard. I can just start it in the morning and let it idle while I pick a new CD and buckle up my seat belt - and there's already a *noticeable* difference on the fuel level gauge. The weird thing is, once the temp gauge gets to the middle this apparent high consumption goes away. Also, subsequent starts during the day don't exhibit this behavior if the car is at least a little bit warm (i.e. it's not been sitting the entire day). The car is a '94 320i equipped with a M50B20TU engine, with a Siemens ECU (and not Bosch). I would suspect a leak but it only seems to happen after the car is started, and then only for a short period of time until it warms up. I don't have a chip, but the car's been AFR tuned on a dyno - one can set this sort of thing on the AFM, I was told. Is it possible they did something to it then? I don't think. The exhaust burns a nice grey colour so I'm confident it's not running rich all the time. I do however get a smell of petrol (ok, that's gas for you Americans ;-)) when I first start it in the morning but it's not so bad that it couldn't be explained by cold-start rich running. Any hints? Is it normal? If it's not, should I even worry about it? I'm getting about 22-25mpg around town and well over 30 on the highway, but if it didn't gulp so much fuel when started it would be even better. Best regards, Pavel Search the ARCHIVES:http://www.mail-archive.com/bmwuucdigest@uucdigest.com __________________________________________________________________________ In memory of Michel Potheau - friend, enthusiast, founder of the BMW CCA. UUC Motorwerks - BMW Performance Fine-tuning and home of the Ultimate Short Shifter - accept no substitutes! 908-874-9092 . http://www.uucmotorwerks.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 00:16:15 +0200 From: Pavel Tcholakov <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [E36] Horrible cold-start consumption Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> When I say cold, I mean cold engine - but also colder ambient temps means slower warm up. My OBC is calibrated by hand, consumption figure calculated on tank-to-tank mileage. It's just that fuel seems to disappear at a much more rapid rate at times when the car is cold. Sometimes I'd leave for work in the morning and 2 km down the road the fuel gauge would have moved noticeably. Other times I'd turn the key in the morning and see the gauge has moved from what I remembered from the night before. Maybe I'm paranoid - my girlfriend certainly thinks so :-) But it could well be a slow leak. On the other hand, I've looked often to try and find it - nothing. When it smells like petrol, it's nothing like a leak. It's just when you start the car and go outside - the exhaust smells a bit rich. Maybe it'll just wait until the rebuild - planning on boring out the block to 84mm to fit some 325/328 pistons and a new crank sometime in the future. Thank you for the responses! Best regards, Pavel On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 07:16:24 -0800, Marco Romani <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > When you say cold do also imply cold outside or does it do it even when the > ambient temp is high, but the motor is cold. > > off the top of my head > > It's either > > a) some weird glitch with the gauge showing the fuel is dropping, maybe a > bad sender, or loose wire somewhere. Is your mpg hand calculated or off the > OBC? If you have an OBC and it doesn't match the hand calculated mpg then > that will tell us something, if it does match it'll tell us something else. > > b) considering you smell petrol on start up I'd be a bit concerned. You > should never smell petrol. That makes me think you have a leak that may > seal when the car is warm. Check near the back of the intake manifold on > start-up and see if you can see or smell petrol. > > For the gauge to actually move whilst you're watching it would mean a pretty > damn big leak. > > Marco > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Pavel Tcholakov > Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2004 11:42 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [UUC] [E36] Horrible cold-start consumption > > Hello list, > > I've had this problem (??) forever, and I'm not sure if there's even > anything one can do about it. > > My car seems to gulp fuel by the litre when it's cold - it doesn't > even have to be pushed hard. I can just start it in the morning and > let it idle while I pick a new CD and buckle up my seat belt - and > there's already a *noticeable* difference on the fuel level gauge. The > weird thing is, once the temp gauge gets to the middle this apparent > high consumption goes away. Also, subsequent starts during the day > don't exhibit this behavior if the car is at least a little bit warm > (i.e. it's not been sitting the entire day). The car is a '94 320i > equipped with a M50B20TU engine, with a Siemens ECU (and not Bosch). > > I would suspect a leak but it only seems to happen after the car is > started, and then only for a short period of time until it warms up. I > don't have a chip, but the car's been AFR tuned on a dyno - one can > set this sort of thing on the AFM, I was told. Is it possible they did > something to it then? I don't think. The exhaust burns a nice grey > colour so I'm confident it's not running rich all the time. I do > however get a smell of petrol (ok, that's gas for you Americans ;-)) > when I first start it in the morning but it's not so bad that it > couldn't be explained by cold-start rich running. > > Any hints? Is it normal? If it's not, should I even worry about it? > I'm getting about 22-25mpg around town and well over 30 on the > highway, but if it didn't gulp so much fuel when started it would be > even better. > > Best regards, > Pavel > Search the ARCHIVES:http://www.mail-archive.com/bmwuucdigest@uucdigest.com > > __________________________________________________________________________ > In memory of Michel Potheau - friend, enthusiast, founder of the BMW CCA. > > UUC Motorwerks - BMW Performance Fine-tuning and home of the Ultimate > Short Shifter - accept no substitutes! > 908-874-9092 . http://www.uucmotorwerks.com > > Search the ARCHIVES:http://www.mail-archive.com/bmwuucdigest@uucdigest.com > > __________________________________________________________________________ > In memory of Michel Potheau - friend, enthusiast, founder of the BMW CCA. > > UUC Motorwerks - BMW Performance Fine-tuning and home of the Ultimate > Short Shifter - accept no substitutes! > 908-874-9092 . http://www.uucmotorwerks.com > ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 14:44:57 -0800 From: "Marco Romani" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [E36] Horrible cold-start consumption Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I have a set of 328 pistons gathering dust in my garage ;-) Marco -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Pavel Tcholakov Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 2:16 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [UUC] [E36] Horrible cold-start consumption When I say cold, I mean cold engine - but also colder ambient temps means slower warm up. My OBC is calibrated by hand, consumption figure calculated on tank-to-tank mileage. It's just that fuel seems to disappear at a much more rapid rate at times when the car is cold. Sometimes I'd leave for work in the morning and 2 km down the road the fuel gauge would have moved noticeably. Other times I'd turn the key in the morning and see the gauge has moved from what I remembered from the night before. Maybe I'm paranoid - my girlfriend certainly thinks so :-) But it could well be a slow leak. On the other hand, I've looked often to try and find it - nothing. When it smells like petrol, it's nothing like a leak. It's just when you start the car and go outside - the exhaust smells a bit rich. Maybe it'll just wait until the rebuild - planning on boring out the block to 84mm to fit some 325/328 pistons and a new crank sometime in the future. Thank you for the responses! Best regards, Pavel On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 07:16:24 -0800, Marco Romani <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > When you say cold do also imply cold outside or does it do it even when the > ambient temp is high, but the motor is cold. > > off the top of my head > > It's either > > a) some weird glitch with the gauge showing the fuel is dropping, maybe a > bad sender, or loose wire somewhere. Is your mpg hand calculated or off the > OBC? If you have an OBC and it doesn't match the hand calculated mpg then > that will tell us something, if it does match it'll tell us something else. > > b) considering you smell petrol on start up I'd be a bit concerned. You > should never smell petrol. That makes me think you have a leak that may > seal when the car is warm. Check near the back of the intake manifold on > start-up and see if you can see or smell petrol. > > For the gauge to actually move whilst you're watching it would mean a pretty > damn big leak. > > Marco > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Pavel Tcholakov > Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2004 11:42 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [UUC] [E36] Horrible cold-start consumption > > Hello list, > > I've had this problem (??) forever, and I'm not sure if there's even > anything one can do about it. > > My car seems to gulp fuel by the litre when it's cold - it doesn't > even have to be pushed hard. I can just start it in the morning and > let it idle while I pick a new CD and buckle up my seat belt - and > there's already a *noticeable* difference on the fuel level gauge. The > weird thing is, once the temp gauge gets to the middle this apparent > high consumption goes away. Also, subsequent starts during the day > don't exhibit this behavior if the car is at least a little bit warm > (i.e. it's not been sitting the entire day). The car is a '94 320i > equipped with a M50B20TU engine, with a Siemens ECU (and not Bosch). > > I would suspect a leak but it only seems to happen after the car is > started, and then only for a short period of time until it warms up. I > don't have a chip, but the car's been AFR tuned on a dyno - one can > set this sort of thing on the AFM, I was told. Is it possible they did > something to it then? I don't think. The exhaust burns a nice grey > colour so I'm confident it's not running rich all the time. I do > however get a smell of petrol (ok, that's gas for you Americans ;-)) > when I first start it in the morning but it's not so bad that it > couldn't be explained by cold-start rich running. > > Any hints? Is it normal? If it's not, should I even worry about it? > I'm getting about 22-25mpg around town and well over 30 on the > highway, but if it didn't gulp so much fuel when started it would be > even better. > > Best regards, > Pavel > Search the ARCHIVES:http://www.mail-archive.com/bmwuucdigest@uucdigest.com > > __________________________________________________________________________ > In memory of Michel Potheau - friend, enthusiast, founder of the BMW CCA. > > UUC Motorwerks - BMW Performance Fine-tuning and home of the Ultimate > Short Shifter - accept no substitutes! > 908-874-9092 . http://www.uucmotorwerks.com > > Search the ARCHIVES:http://www.mail-archive.com/bmwuucdigest@uucdigest.com > > __________________________________________________________________________ > In memory of Michel Potheau - friend, enthusiast, founder of the BMW CCA. > > UUC Motorwerks - BMW Performance Fine-tuning and home of the Ultimate > Short Shifter - accept no substitutes! > 908-874-9092 . http://www.uucmotorwerks.com > Search the ARCHIVES:http://www.mail-archive.com/bmwuucdigest@uucdigest.com __________________________________________________________________________ In memory of Michel Potheau - friend, enthusiast, founder of the BMW CCA. UUC Motorwerks - BMW Performance Fine-tuning and home of the Ultimate Short Shifter - accept no substitutes! 908-874-9092 . http://www.uucmotorwerks.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 10:02:10 -0800 From: John Bolhuis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: <E30> Power Steering Question Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> On Tue, Dec 14, 2004 at 09:30:50AM -0600, Paul Craven wrote: > Hi all, > The steering on my 93 325ic with 111k miles is behaving > strangely. It seems to stick a bit at whatever position it is in. I had the exact same behavior in the exact same model/year car, but it went away after I got new shocks (and the accompanying strut bearings). -- "It is an honor to be Cookie Monster." -Sesame Street spokeswoman Audrey Shapiro ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 22:58:07 -0800 From: Mark Dadgar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: UUC Digest <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: More Factory Oil Change Interval Nastyness Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.justracing.com/bmw/viewtopic.php?t=21 - Mark ----- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Check out my JustRacing Home Page at: http://www.justracing.com/homepage/mdadgar ------------------------------ End of [bmwuucdigest] digest(6 messages) **********
