2004 M3 starting issues, longish

On Fri, 24 Sep 2004 11:05:23 -0400, John E. Yurkon wrote:

>
> "Jim Levie" > wrote in message
> news
>> On Thu, 23 Sep 2004 21:24:32 -0400, John E Yurkon wrote: Injectors
>> leaking down would certainly be a problem. but I can't see them being
>> influenced by "full throttle accelerations", like the OP said. His
>> problem description sounds more like plug fouling or carbon build up or
>> perhaps contamination of the hot wire in the MAF.
>
> I'm the OP. You have a point. I would think though that long drives at
> 75mph,
> 3,000rpm would clear the fouling and/or carbon. Another symptom that I
> didn't mention was that occasionally I smell gasoline outside the vehicle
> after
> it's parked for awhile. I haven't paid enough attention to see if it's
> correlated
> with the long cranking times.
>
It would, unless the engine is running rich. I can't see a leaking
injector causing a gas smell. The residual pressure in the feed rails
would bleed down pretty quickly and that gas is pretty much trapped inside
of the intake system. An external leak would result in a pronounced gas
smell. But, it should be easy enough to find out if there's a significant
amount of fuel in the intake after the car sits. Just take out the air
filter and sniff.

--
The instructions said to use Windows 98 or better, so I installed RedHat.

I don't think there is any pressure left in any car after 2 days.
Besides that, the fuel-pump priming that you talk about should be more
than enough to get it back up to pressure. Unless ofcourse, there's an
issue with the fuel pump.

On Fri, 17 Sep 2004 12:23:29 -0400, "Fred W." <Fred.Wills@'remove this
to reply to' myrealbox.com> wrote:

>
>"John E. Yurkon" > wrote in message
...
>> Looking for advice on a 2004 M3. When I leave it in my garage for 2 days
>> it will not start the first try. It will only turn over. The second try
>it
>> will start
>> instantly, but will sputter while I'm trying to back out. It soon drives
>> normaly.
>>
>> It only seems to not have trouble if I drive it really hard, full throttle
>> accelerations,
>> before putting it away. With normal highway driving it still behaves this
>> way
>> also.
>>
>> The dealer has tried to verify the problem but couldn't. So I left the
>car
>> parked
>> outside at the dealership for two days and kept the keys. When I tried to
>> demonstrate the problem it started perfectly and ran fine as I backed out.
>>
>> The mechanic who watched said about the trouble starting issues, "This is
>a
>> high performance engine and they all behave that way..."
>>
>> When I talked about it seeming dependant on how I drive it before putting
>it
>> away the service advisor and the mechanic said my 6 mile drive to work
>> wasn't
>> long enough to warm it up and that fuel was probably condensing on the
>> plugs.
>> This I don't believe. The coolant temp is normal after only a mile and the
>> oil temp
>> is normal nearing 3 miles. Even if it's not fully warmed, the cylinders
>and
>> plugs
>> should be hot enough to prevent any condensation. To be fair I didn't
>> explain to
>> them that highway driving wasn't enough to prevent this behaviour.
>>
>> The mechanic seemed uninterested but the service advisor is still wanting
>to
>> satisfy my concerns if possible. I may have to drag them out to my house,
>> but I don't want to do this if it really is normal for this "high
>> performance engine" to
>> behave this way.
>>
>> In my garage, even though it's detached, the temperature remains a pretty
>> constant
>> 70 degs during the Summer. At the dealership it was exposed to 85 outside
>> air temps
>> plus the heat of the sun on a black car. That might account for them
>being
>> unable
>> to duplicate the problem.
>>
>> So, any advice on whether this is a problem I should worry about or
>whether
>> it
>> is normal? There are no abnormal codes when they read them out.
>
>I'm not an "egg-spurt" on modern M3's, but your starting symptom sounds a
>lot like the fuel rail pressure is bleeding off over the 2 day sit. To see
>if this is it you could have them do a pressure check over a long period
>after turning the engine off to see if it bleeds off too quickly. There
>should be a check valave somewhere in the fuel line to prevent this from
>happening.
>
>You could also try an ad-hoc test by turning the ignition key to the on
>position but don't start the car. Listen to see if you can hear the fuel
>pump running for a short cycle of a few seconds, then turn it all the way
>off. Finally attempt to start it normally. The first key cycle should have
>the effect of charging the pressure up a bit. Then on second key cycle you
>may have enough pressure to start. I'm not 100% certain that that your
>modern M3's fuel pump will energize this way, but most cars do.
>
>Fred W
>

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On Fri, 24 Sep 2004 11:05:23 -0400, "John E. Yurkon" >
wrote:

>
>"Jim Levie" > wrote in message
>news
>> On Thu, 23 Sep 2004 21:24:32 -0400, John E Yurkon wrote:
>> Injectors leaking down would certainly be a problem. but I can't see them
>> being influenced by "full throttle accelerations", like the OP said. His
>> problem description sounds more like plug fouling or carbon build up or
>> perhaps contamination of the hot wire in the MAF.
>
>I'm the OP. You have a point. I would think though that long drives at
>75mph,
>3,000rpm would clear the fouling and/or carbon. Another symptom that I
>didn't mention was that occasionally I smell gasoline outside the vehicle
>after
>it's parked for awhile. I haven't paid enough attention to see if it's
>correlated
>with the long cranking times.

If you smell gas I would have them check out the injectors. They could
be leaking outside of the engine. I've smelled this on other cars that
had more miles on them and the seals between the fuelrail and the
injector were dried out and it would leak fuel. This might be
happening with your car.

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