Fuel pump problem??

[adamwr88]

I have a e30 318i (early chrome version) and it misfires intermittently. It seems to do it right through the rev range, but occasionally the power will kick back in and it will drive smoothly until i change gear again. Once i'm on the motorway and past about 75mph it drives smooth.

I've researched online and found this could be the fuel pump, but when i took the cover off (from underneath the back seat) I found something that looks like nothing i've seen in the haynes manual or anywhere i can find online.






Has anyone seen this before and can tell me how to take out the fuel pump, or do you guys have any other suggestions as to what could be causing the misfire?

on ebay it seems the fuel pumps are around £25, anyone have any bad experiences buying pumps from ebay in the past?

thanks!

[Brianmoooore]

Early cars used an external fuel pump, which will be found in front of the left rear wheel. Your pic. is of the fuel level sensor , the pick up tube and the return hose.
TBH, the fuel pump doesn't sound a very likely candidate from what you've said. What does the rev. counter do when the car hesitates? Drop quickly, or just track the revs. as they fall?

[adamwr88]

ah ok i will have a look for that then! well there is another problem with the rev counter anyway, it seems to be showing about half of what the engine is doing, when the car is running ok i can rev the car to what sounds like ~5000rpm and the counter shows 2500, cruising at 80mph and the counter shows just under 2000, i know this isn't right as you can hear it's doing more but its never bothered me much. When it starts to misfire i normally just keep my foot down to keep it running, i haven't noticed the rev counter dropping suddenly, it seems to move up and down as normal as the engine speed changes...

[soul4t]

Does the car have any other symptoms? Starting ok? Idle ok?

[adamwr88]

Does the car have any other symptoms? Starting ok? Idle ok?

It always starts ok, sometimes can take up to 5 seconds of cranking. the idle is ok when it's not misfiring, but it's never cut out completely...another thing i've notcied from driving it is that when it's misfiring, sometimes if i ease off the accelerator suddenly and then catch it before the revs drop too far it will stop misfiring and drive smooth until i try to push the throttle down further or change gear...any ideas?

[adamwr88]

Your pic. is of the fuel level sensor , the pick up tube and the return hose.

My fuel gauge also works intermittently, it sounds obvious but...could the fuel level sensor need replacing?