BMW e30 hard starting/flooding issue 

i had a ranger that did almost the same thing i was never able to find it out dont give up man its gonna be something simple that you overlooked

The e30 was a sophisticated enough car for its day and 30 years on requires a fair bit of attention so mechanical knowledge is essential to own one in comfort. Would say that some of the electrical connectors on the car look very poor. Also maybe there is an immobiliser on the car which has a bad connection. Very nice friendly pair of cats there.

This is a common issue for those beemers I used to have one did the same exact thing on mine

round connector under the intake manifold, pins don't make good contact, disconnect clean and hope that does it...

Maybe soe one has mentioned but for me seems like your intake manifold have air leaks and seeing the car eage you will need to change the gasgets clean air flow sensor and taking advance that you will desamble all this part I will recoemnd you to remove all teh injectors and take them to a laboratory for cleaning with ultrasound, chamge the gas regulator , change your fuel pump , change all the sparks ( 6) and put a new distributor cap, you can clean the fuel tak as well if you wanted :)

Mine does the excact same thing. Once I let it warm up and cool down again and then start it, it runs fine. Stopping at intersections is a gamble tho. Had to push it all the way to a nearby parking lot once. :D

Get your fuel injectors o rings replaced. But while you have the injectors out get them cleaned. I had fuel injector vaccum leak.

Try the fuel pressure regulator or the coolant temp sensors

Some times some old hose looks ok, but there s some place broken then gets air in, so injectors doesnt get all nafta they need. Good luck

Could be vacuum mayyyybe. Also sounds like fuel is not being delivered cleanly. In the under car fuel pump there is a pump, a filter, and a modulator. The modulator could possibly be failing to cause inconsistent flow rate of fuel delivery. In my mind if it’s vacuum when you let off the throttle it’s going to trip all the way down to idle. It could also be your idle control valve considering your lumpy idle but sounds like you have multiple issues

Lots of stuff has been added to this engine and parts missing . Idle control valve ? Anyway daughters car running like a pig . Cut out rough idle , Checked vacuum leaks the best I could . Took crank case hose off and found full of gunk . Took off , gone hard , split . Going to replace hopefully this will fix problem . Looking at your vid dose not seem to have one ? Good luck !

fuel pressure regulator is worth considering :)

seems almost like the fuel pump is running full bore bc of a short, I had a grand prix that did that same thing. itd flood at times, black smoke & all. changed the pump, checked wiring & it fixed it.

Leaking injectors and mass air flow sensor, exhaust has holes, something isn't earthed correctly.

have the same car and had lots of problems so i kept the engine and did a swap to a m20engine instead and its 100% better

Could be bad plugs , or fuel pressure. But don't ,replace fuel pressure regulator with second hand one. It will burn out. Put new stuff on . And the fuel relay is also important. 😂😅.impossible to pennie wise and pound foolish on a E30. She was built 30 to 40 years in the future.

i'll take a stab at this, have you tried buying a new fuel pressure regulator? or checking the fuel lines to see if they're clogged

it has to be the fuel pressure, the same thing seem to have happened to mine, same exact scenario so I'm assuming it's the fuel pressure regulator. that's my best guess, wish you luck!

Seems some cylinder doesnt work, check spark plugs, check naphta hoses, check injector connections, clean fuel filter, fuel hoses, check all injectors, clean them. And done!

Sounds like a misfire. Pull the valve cover and check if the camshaft is worn. Engine will not rev high if the cam os worn .

compressor exploding means ac compressor overheat. ac fan must work well to cool the system down. if fan faulty things will explode thats normal. thks.

Does it have a engine coolant temperature sender? When they change value in resistance it can cause it to load up. That, or maybe the injeectors or something in the fuel system is bleeding down. If the rubber hose broke on the AC, some good hose shops will replace just the rubber and re crimp it. They do it around here in FL all the time

I love you're cat try to help you I loved😉

its got fuel injectors right i don't see a carb just replace all the fuel injectors, pull out the spark plugs see if any of them are wet

Check the cold start valve could be stuck!

mine did something a little similar for a while, maybe every once in a while, turns out crank position sensor, was forgotten to be put back when last water pump and timing belt were changed ! it was just hangin out next to my alternator, kinda weird the car still ran fine haha

I agree that does sound like a vacume leak

hi can u tell me where does the cold start valve plug goes to... thank you

I am going thought alot of problems right now i am puting direct power to alot of thing to try and trubel shoot all the easy problems and i am trying to find out why its only running on one cylinder but i am narrowing it down

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Hi Jay. I Have An E30 With The Same Problem, Sounding Like A Motorbike. It Could Be Flooding I Think. But Mine Only Starts In The Morning First Start Of The Day And idles For Few Minutes Then Switches Itself Off. The Only Way To Start It Again Is By Giving It A Push Start. Could This Be A Similar Issue? If So, How Did You Solve It If Ever You Did?

didn't you say the CAT needed replacement?

Sounds like a vacuum leak. There can be alot of thing. Fuel injectors, fuel pump, bad spark plugs, wires, you name it. One of the things that made me suffer was the fuel preasure regulator. My e30 is still not working, everything was changed, its peaks upto abouth 3,5k RPM and stays there.

Cute cats 🐈 🐈

It's the Fuel Pump or the Air flow mass Ia giving a problem..The fuel flow is not smooth

Dude that sounds awesome tho

Check your spark plug gaps

It has to be related to something electrical. Just doesn't make sense that it wants to die while its driving if it was a component.

My car kind of sounds the same really want to no if my car has the same problem

I have the same problem :( if hoy know what cause it, please do a video for that! :D

Did you solve the problem ... I need the fix for this please

My problem is that when start my 320i the fuel just pass streit to the sump

Probley dirty gas bud i had a 96 plymouth neon would almost sputter when the gas gets low or when car move dirt would mix maken car to lose power

it sounds like my boat! try the fuel filter

That is a vacuum That is a vacuum leak leak

There is a lot of extra wiring going on in here.... what the hell.

Hey man I have an e30 that sat for 3 years and when I start it as long as I spray starter fluid in it it runs but as soon as I stop it dies out. It won’t idle do you know how I can fix this? The car ran fine before I parked it

spark plugs + caudalimetro

Mine cranks like 3 times then doesn't crank after I run it then turn it off

There was a reason why it went to the junkyard..........

The fuel lines that is

You may have air in the lines our in line 6 on our Jeep does the same thing you also may have water getting into the cylinders

Guess what its the f ecu i had same problem changed the ecu all ok

It says I'm old and leave me alone!!

Man i own a 89 316i and i have the same problem. I changed 3 coolant sensors, 3 debitmeters, idle control valves,and everything is the same. I am disperate..

Fuel filter fuel pump

start with tbs

The ecu

Injectors are probably clogged up , they're not too hard to take out. Mine is an 86 and had stock injectors, three of the six were clogged solid.

sounds like coil pack or distributer what ever it has lol

injcectr I think

Sounds like a f*cked up ls1

i'll say stuck injectors too

that cat need attention

fixed it?

hi did you ever get your car to working properly? if not, one of your problems is most likely the air mass flow sensor. first, you have to set the air fuel ratio, take an allen wrench to the little hole on the far right corner. turn it in all the way (clockwise) then turn is out 3 turns (counter clockwise) . That should set the air fuel ratio to factory. heres a video where the guy shows you how to refurbish your air mass sensor ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Z-QlPtsjh7g.html I can actually sell you a new circuit board (about $60 not including shipping) if you are interested. Another way to check the air mass is when you have the car running normally and then you unplug the air mass and if your car keeps running then your air mass is bad. And finally, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your car doesnt sound too good, there has to be other problems as well. There might also be a short in the wiring somewhere. These cars dont have a pcv valve, its a hose. That too might need to be replaced. And the list goes on ....:)

Just buy a new engine man all the problems will be solved

It' s running on 5 cylinders and tacho is dead.

maybe ignition coil

U think it cud be ur spark plugs

Egr val

You have three problems that together make a big problem. B--M--W. Put it in line for the smasharoo

do yourself a favor and sell that car