Does anyone recognise this?

[juser]

I was doing some rust treatment on Sunday and I took out the battery and the thing it sits on and found this weird little white tube thing. It's got a BMW logo on it, but I've got absolutely no idea what it is or what it does...

[pac1982]

I have seen battery's that have a tube coming off them before, perhaps for the original battery and no longer needed when a new battery was fitted

[gromgsxr]

vent tube for battery

[capnmchl]

Battery's give off hydrogen gas, which is highly flammable, along with sulphur gas which is corrosive. Most batterys will have a hole where gas vents like the one in your picture can be plugged in.

So basically it stops a build of corrosive and flammable gases in a confined space.

[daimlerman]

So basically it stops a build of corrosive and flammable gases in a confined space.

Who was it on here that found out that it was "explosive" the hard way?

I have a sneaky feeling that his initials are BM....oooooooooooooooooo

[juser]

OK - Thanks for the help, I'll have a look if there's a hole for it in my battery... Although it's brand new, so there may not be one.

[renatorizla]

OK - Thanks for the help, I'll have a look if there's a hole for it in my battery... Although it's brand new, so there may not be one.

I am having problems with my 1984 E30 323IA. It has performance issues on occasions especially when engine is put under pressure, other than that the vehicle runs smoothly. When it happens, I try to accelerate but it has no power and I can’t go over a certain rpm. If I drive gingerly I have no problem and then it eventually goes away. I have checked the timing, serviced the distributer, replaced the TPS sensor, new injectors, new fuel distributer, new fuel pump, sparkplugs. I am going to remove the gas tank and clean it but I think the problem might be coming from The DME or Air flow meter. Any suggestions?

[Speedtouch]

Remove the rotor arm and check the centrifugal rev limitter is operating as it should; it can be safely removed since there is one built into the ECU, which gives a more progressive cut out.

Also check for inlet manifold leaks by spraying WD40 or similar around it with the engine idling; if it briefly raises the revs, then you have a gasket leak.

Have you verified that the cambelt is fitted correctly? I had a 320i L-Jet that had a new cambelt fitted and they must have fitted it one tooth out because it wouldn't rev over about 4,000 rpm after they fitted it.

Check also for aftermarket fuel filters, as they can cause partial fuel blockage under certain conditions. I had a severe flat spot on hitting 60 mph or going up steep hills, removed an aftermarket fuel filter and all was well again.