HELP...car "limping"

ChrisBrand

Staff - Legal
Staff member
Hey guys. Ive spoken to Jandre, freerider and Phillip at the meet on Wednesday and would appreciate it if some of you also wouldn't mind lending a hand or rather a few words of wisdom.

My car has the tendency to suddenly go into what can best be described as 'limp' mode. While driving i will flatten the pedal but the car will just start to shake like its struggling and refuses to go past 3000RPM or to go faster. This will continue till i stop on the side of the road, switch the car off completely and then back on again, then it will be fine again.

This used to only happen in the mornings but driving today it kept happening every 5 min. I also started to notice that, when parked, the car idles very roughly at 500RPM. Where it normally idles between 750 and 1000RPM.

The gentleman mentioned above have told me they believe its Crank or Cam sensor.

I will attach a video. Please ignore the "rear light out". Thats just a bulb i have replaced now.

To hear the so-called "choking" noise just turn up the volume.

[video=youtube]
 

mo_s

Member
did you get diagnostics done?..and did it show any fault codes?..I remember when my E36 went into limp..used to do it suddenly..gives you a shock cos the way the car feels when it goes into limp mode feels like something huge buggered up..turned out to be airflow meter..and the fault code was showing when did a diagnostics..but no warning lights etc on the dash..GL
 
S

SP33DYV

Guest
It could just be coil that's playing up.


Sent on the run from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

ChrisBrand

Staff - Legal
Staff member
Thanks guys. I am planning a diagnostics but im not sure if the diagnostics, for some reason, doesn't pick up those two sensors.

Ive had the coils checked last time SP33DYV and that was when the car felt like it had a misfire. Ons of the coils were replaced to fix that problem.
 
J

Jandre

Guest
If you want to you can pop in tomorrow. Lets see if carsoft will pick something up.
 
S

SP33DYV

Guest
I've had where two coils were acting up at the same time. No power at all.


Sent on the run from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Raybimmer

New member
Diagnostics should point you in the right direction .
I dont think MAF affects idle as such .
Coils can be intermittent fault .
Does this happen under compression like going uphill ? This may be spark breaking down..i.e. coil or supply voltage .
I don't know if cam sensor does this - never dealt with it !! .

Good luck , die slim oomies sal help :rollsmile:
 

ChrisBrand

Staff - Legal
Staff member
Thanks Jandre! Im free tomorrow any time. BBM when your ready. Thats is if my car hasn't been swept away by the flood
 

Crash_Nemesis

///Member
This is definitely got to do with Air intake. This happened to me when I had the supercharger on but had not tuned it.

Check your MAF Sensor.
 

ChrisBrand

Staff - Legal
Staff member
Thanks Crash and Beast! And to all others as well! you guys are awesome. I will have a check myself at the MAF and if that does not solve it i will check in with jandre to do a quick diagnostics test
 

Raybimmer

New member
Does the car not have adaptive ecu , if you unplug the MAF it will run off a preset map ? I unplugged my e36 328i MAF and the car ran ok , I forgot to plug it back and now in the morning it ran ok ....Now I wonder if my MAF has a problem ??
 
S

SP33DYV

Guest
When was the last time you replaced your fuel filter?:fencelook:
 

ChrisBrand

Staff - Legal
Staff member
Replaced MAF about a year or two ago. Had the major service i think beginning of the year and oil service recently.
 

Philip Foglar

///Member
Chris, I gather this is intermittent - heard you chatting to Jandré about it at Time Café, your car seemed to be fine on the way through. When or what triggers the car to go into limp mode?
 

ChrisBrand

Staff - Legal
Staff member
Did you find the problem Jarryd?

hehe yes when we had our spirited drive it was fine. Just checked your GoPro was on so i couldn't resist.

So big ups to Jandre!! Here are the results:

*Ignition failure cylinder 6
*Camshaft sensor
 
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