Rev Limited?

Post Fri Jun 24, 2005 9:20 pm

Right, since my 316i had its service last week my car hasnt been able to go over 4000 revs. It gets to it easy enough but once there power is held back and the engine makes a noticably different noise.

To resume normal driving I have to let the car drop back down to 3500 revs.

Any idea what'd do this?

p.s. I would have taken it straight back to the garage but I was away from home working, its going back tomorrow ; )

Post Fri Jun 24, 2005 11:22 pm

Distributor cap / rotor arm if first place I'd look.

Post Fri Jun 24, 2005 11:25 pm

Cheers Brian,

I know very little about cars, what exactly am i looking for?

Post Mon Jun 27, 2005 4:52 am

Brianmoooore wrote:Distributor cap / rotor arm if first place I'd look.

i'm having the same problem on my 316i (1990) put a new dizzy cap and rotar arm in and its still doing the same thing any more suggestions on what the problem might be

Post Tue Jun 28, 2005 2:39 pm

Garage is having a look at it thursday,

so if it gets solved ill post back

Post Tue Jun 28, 2005 3:45 pm

exactly the same as mine!

1990 316i, wont go above 5k rpm

Please tell me what it was if you find out!

Post Tue Jun 28, 2005 4:01 pm

coldo wrote:exactly the same as mine!

1990 316i, wont go above 5k rpm

Please tell me what it was if you find out!

if ure engines are very tappy.... u may find that the cam has worn toi the extent u have no top end....

Post Tue Jun 28, 2005 4:05 pm

out of interest, when did this start happening for all the people have problems?

E> i dont have an E30 to compare it to, but id say mine isnt that tappy at all

Post Tue Jun 28, 2005 4:12 pm

Raz316 wrote:out of interest, when did this start happening for all the people have problems?

E> i dont have an E30 to compare it to, but id say mine isnt that tappy at all

how long have u had this prob?

Post Tue Jun 28, 2005 5:08 pm

monday night before last

Post Tue Jun 28, 2005 5:28 pm

Raz316 wrote:monday night before last

oh its not the cam then as this would have come on slowly....

is it perfect up till that revs, or is it running crap low down too...

may be worth giving it a good service..plugs, check leads/coil etc.... and particularly rotor and cap as these wear out on the m40 pretty regularly

Post Tue Jun 28, 2005 5:31 pm

cheers karan,

yeah it is perfik upto those revs, and it had a full service the friday before it cocked up! (the garage that serviced it are gonna have the car back in soon)

Might be a temporary blessing in disquise though, pretty sure ive been saving a fair bit on petrol ; )

Post Tue Jun 28, 2005 5:32 pm

Raz316 wrote:cheers karan,

yeah it is perfik upto those revs, and it had a full service the friday before it cocked up! (the garage that serviced it are gonna have the car back in soon)

Might be a temporary blessing in disquise though, pretty sure ive been saving a fair bit on petrol ; )

i suggest taking it back!!!

Post Tue Jun 28, 2005 8:54 pm

coldo wrote:exactly the same as mine!

1990 316i, wont go above 5k rpm

Please tell me what it was if you find out!

This one sounds like it could be worn cam (unless this came on suddenly, as well).

Post Tue Jun 28, 2005 10:55 pm

Karan wrote:
coldo wrote:exactly the same as mine!

1990 316i, wont go above 5k rpm

Please tell me what it was if you find out!
if ure engines are very tappy.... u may find that the cam has worn toi the extent u have no top end....

Engine is not tappy at all! More or less silent to be honest!

I only got the car a week ago, and its been like that since i bought it.

Not a huge problem, but just incredibly annoying!

Post Wed Jun 29, 2005 12:57 pm

coldo wrote:
Karan wrote:
coldo wrote:exactly the same as mine!

1990 316i, wont go above 5k rpm

Please tell me what it was if you find out!
if ure engines are very tappy.... u may find that the cam has worn toi the extent u have no top end....
Engine is not tappy at all! More or less silent to be honest!

I only got the car a week ago, and its been like that since i bought it.

Not a huge problem, but just incredibly annoying!

if the engine is silent it may just need some nice shiny new plugs and a decent rotorarm/distributor cap

Post Wed Jun 29, 2005 1:38 pm

if the cam's so worn that the valves are hardly opening, then there's no reason why it should tap. If the cam profile was circular, then there would be no tappet noise at all, however loose they were.

Post Wed Jun 29, 2005 1:59 pm

Brianmoooore wrote:if the cam's so worn that the valves are hardly opening, then there's no reason why it should tap. If the cam profile was circular, then there would be no tappet noise at all, however loose they were.

this is true, however coldo's car only has 122k on it, and a service history, so cam shouldnt be too bad

Post Wed Jun 29, 2005 5:17 pm

320Touring wrote:
Brianmoooore wrote:if the cam's so worn that the valves are hardly opening, then there's no reason why it should tap. If the cam profile was circular, then there would be no tappet noise at all, however loose they were.
this is true, however coldo's car only has 122k on it, and a service history, so cam shouldnt be too bad

they go at about 80k miles even.... so im guessing its gone by now... and definitely worn

open the cam cover up and have a look at the lobes and they will be worn with a big ditch on the part where the rocker contacts....

Post Wed Jun 29, 2005 9:19 pm

If there's any trace of a "ditch" as Karan putsit, on the tips of the cam lobes, then the cam is worn out.
The cam is surface treated, and once this very thin layer is worn through, it will wear rapidly.

Post Wed Jun 29, 2005 9:34 pm

i have a worn m40 cam somewhere i think... will try and have a look for it to show u......

Post Wed Jun 29, 2005 11:38 pm

Karan wrote:i have a worn m40 cam somewhere i think... will try and have a look for it to show u......

Cheers

Worn cam, expensive job to put right?

Post Thu Jun 30, 2005 12:16 pm

when they did the service did they fit a fuel filter? if so did they fit it right? arrow in direction of flow. Have they put the correct plugs in? or less likely have they put the wrong air filter in. maybe they knocked something off, vacuum pipe or plug,not sure. not too familier withthose engines

Post Thu Jun 30, 2005 12:21 pm

Well, I dropped the car off this morning so they'll hopefully sort it and ill report back!

Post Thu Jun 30, 2005 1:35 pm

Well i had this problem on my 316i, it would start misfiring over 4000rpm, the problem was a cracked Distributor cap. Changed it and the car ran very well.

HTH

Post Thu Jun 30, 2005 6:31 pm

Welp, I didnt get a chance to speak to the person looking at my car directly but to quote the person I did speak to

"there was a crack in some hosing and some gaskets need replacing"

Post Fri Jul 01, 2005 4:24 pm

Ok, so I've just been charged 180 quid for the changing of gaskets and hosing. "There ya go, all fixed!"

Take it for a spin and its exactly the same...

"It's exactly the same..."
"Oh, well maybe it's the head gasket then, that will be really expensive"
"Thank you..."

Im a self supporting student and I can't afford any of this. The parting comment that I thought really took the piss was...

"I noticed there wasnt much petrol in there, maybe its that?"

Seems odd how unwilling they were to say that before I brought the car in. Im f***ing livid, I didnt ask them to guess how to fix it, I asked them to fix it.

BAH!

Post Fri Jul 01, 2005 5:44 pm

Raz316 wrote:Ok, so I've just been charged 180 quid for the changing of gaskets and hosing. "There ya go, all fixed!"

Take it for a spin and its exactly the same...

"It's exactly the same..."
"Oh, well maybe it's the head gasket then, that will be really expensive"
"Thank you..."

Im a self supporting student and I can't afford any of this. The parting comment that I thought really took the piss was...

"I noticed there wasnt much petrol in there, maybe its that?"

Seems odd how unwilling they were to say that before I brought the car in. Im f***ing livid, I didnt ask them to guess how to fix it, I asked them to fix it.

BAH!

rtake it back... dont be afraid to complain... ask for the Ãƒ”šÃ‚£180 back!

Post Fri Jul 01, 2005 5:45 pm

Well don't tell us that tell them.
As you said you paid to have it fixed.
If it's not fixed you don't pay.

Post Fri Jul 01, 2005 6:15 pm

Yeah I wrote a cheque dated the 8th so Im gonna get some advice before then.

Post Fri Jul 01, 2005 9:25 pm

i had the asame problem with my 320 dunno if the 316 has it but my problem was simlar except is was stopping around 1500 the problem was the trottle position sender under the intake it was full of crap took it apart and cleaned it works fine now its easy to check just take the plugg of it with a bit of rev on try try reving it on up might work won t idle with plug of though

Post Fri Jul 01, 2005 10:39 pm

I agree with irish 320i, TPS is well worth a try. If you don't feel confident yourself, at least point your garage in this direction.
Your garage doesn't give the impression of being all that compentant - what makes them think it could be the headgasket?
Have they done any tests, or are they just blindly guessing?
Brianmoooore, ex. Darwin, Unikent.

Post Sat Jul 02, 2005 12:41 am

Ill give that a look cheers Irish.

Im getting the impression now they were guessing what the problem could be. Im also guessing they think its the head gasket because it wasnt the others.

Darwin? ohh sorry ;) I've just moved out of Parkwood