Intermittent Stalling

Ok guys, don't hate on me. I did a search and I didn't see anything that was quite along the lines I'm dealing with.

Every once in a while I'll start the car, put it in drive, and when I hit the gas it will stall. I start it right back up and it goes just fine. It only seems to happen after the initial start. Never when it's up to operating temp. No SES light. I don't have a BMW scanner so I don't now if there are any stored codes.

New fuel filter, air filter, just cleaned the MAF w/MAF cleaner, new plugs, DISA appears to be working well and CCV has no leaks that I can see. I just replaced my oil pan gasket and everything was sludge free with a normal amount of varnish you would expect to see on an engine w/124K miles.

Any ideas? Fuel pump maybe? I'm thinking no because it never stalls or stumbles again after that initial stall. Weird.

Check the idle valve and see if it moves freely

That's a great place to start. Thanks!

camshaft position sensor.

My car has done this before when I am driving and then I turn right. It starts right back up and goes fine. Does not happen often, in fact very rare. Not sure what year you have but if you look up the reviews of your car and complaints from others about the same issue you can see its not an isolated problem with just your car. I just took my 325i in and found out it had an electrical short from the MAF. Not sure if that was the problem but if you are not pulling any codes could be just a freak incident.

Consider the sap too...see if the hose from pump is in good shape...if squishy, look in the valve (if you have one) for a clog of gunk...from decomposed sap hose.

Try unplugging maf and seeing if that eliminates the issue...that would tell you either a maf gone bad, or an air leak...which is far more common

Originally Posted by GDubois

camshaft position sensor.

That would throw a code

Originally Posted by dmax

Consider the sap too...see if the hose from pump is in good shape...if squishy, look in the valve (if you have one) for a clog of gunk...from decomposed sap hose.

Try unplugging maf and seeing if that eliminates the issue...that would tell you either a maf gone bad, or an air leak...which is far more common

From a quick look though it looks in good shape. I'll look at it a bit closer. Almost positive it's not a vacuum leak, I'm pretty anal about all my hoses. You never know, it could be hidden where I can't see it though. My old girl's just getting to that age that she needs a lot of little stuff replaced.

Just had this problem today put a code reader on it an came up as a camshaft position sensor you can go to advanve auto and use their OBD2 scanner for free to confirm but I had the same symptoms this morning

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In re-reading, I'm going to suggest that maybe you left something unplugged...nothing personal.

If this happened just after doing oil pan gasket then maybe something associated with that. If you'd done the plugs, etc., also very recently, could 'maybe' be a loose ground wire under the engine cover...sounds less likely. Anyway, I like proximate causes, and they're often approximately correct!

Just saying...again, nothing personal!

GL and let us know what you figure out.

Originally Posted by generic

Just had this problem today put a code reader on it an came up as a camshaft position sensor you can go to advanve auto and use their OBD2 scanner for free to confirm but I had the same symptoms this morning

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I replaced mine about a year ago. It threw an SES light when it went bad. Didn't yours?

Originally Posted by dmax

In re-reading, I'm going to suggest that maybe you left something unplugged...nothing personal.

If this happened just after doing oil pan gasket then maybe something associated with that. If you'd done the plugs, etc., also very recently, could 'maybe' be a loose ground wire under the engine cover...sounds less likely. Anyway, I like proximate causes, and they're often approximately correct!

Just saying...again, nothing personal!

GL and let us know what you figure out.

Double and triple checked all those boogers. Nothing that I could see. I even had another set of eyes look over my repairs for good measure.

So far my ICV seems like a pretty good culprit. It's never been cleaned. I'll pull it apart and let you know what I find.

What do you mean nothing personal? I know you and I jab at each other in the poli forum but its clear you have a pretty good in depth knowledge of the car. So your insight is much appreciated. Plus your comedic wit and timing is pretty entertaining as well!

ICV was good and dirty. Not moving freely. Cleaned it all up and seems to be working well. But of course I uncovered another issue. When I pulled out my DISA there was quite a bit of oil in the intake. Here I come new CCV!

Would that cause smoke out the exhaust?

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Not if its minor. Its probably been hapenning for a while.

Ohh ok just wondering I need to replace my disa soon probably need a ccv too

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Originally Posted by 330iPilot

ICV was good and dirty. Not moving freely. Cleaned it all up and seems to be working well. But of course I uncovered another issue. When I pulled out my DISA there was quite a bit of oil in the intake. Here I come new CCV!

I think every intake manifold has oil inside of it. That by itself isn't a reason for the ccv I don't think. The real sign is massive loss of oil usually...or a visibly cracked/leaking hose.

I knew I knew you from somewhere. Fortunately for me, I'm old, so forget who I battled with in Poli! I might be liberal there, but here, I'm very conservative!

Anyway, icv is a good reason for stalling. You checked the lower intake boot for a crack in the elbow I hope...or otherwise replaced that boot earlier?

If you notice a vestige of idle surging, stalling, just clean it better next time you're down there. I used a can and a half of cleaner on mine...three years later, it's still good...just beginning to show subtle signs of wanting to be cleaned again.

Oh, btw, thanks for recognizing my incredible comedic talents...I think you're the third. Good eye! LOL

Ya, all boots are in good shape. There seemed to be enough oil in there that it seems like the CCV is on its way out. No honking noise or anything like that though. At 11 years old I wonder if I just shouldn't replace it to be sure. I need to do my OFHG for the second time. Plus I need to do my Vanos as well. Little by little I'm getting them all knocked out.

Originally Posted by 330iPilot

That would throw a code

Cam/crank sensors throw codes but if they don't have multiple faults in a row AKA "intermittently" then you wont get SES or CEL.

You also have 2 camshaft sensors and 1 crankshaft sensor all 3 could cause these symptoms.

Originally Posted by 330iPilot

I need to do my Vanos as well..

Hit that.