740i engine shudder

Hello all.

i've just bought a 1993 740i (E32). the car is great apart from a couple of things....there is an engine misfire and the engine seems to shudder slightly when pulling away. If you accelerate hard it seems fine but misfires. When gradullay building up the speed you can feel a slight shudder from the engine. I hope this isn't the bottom end on its way out; odd as the engine does sound sweet when pushed and performs excellent with no let up in pace. Would you think this has anything to do with a 'airflow mass sensor'..whatever that is. Or do you think that an engine service could sort this out..i dont really want to spend money on the wrong thing trying to correct it if it is the engine on its way out. any advice would be great

thanks in advance

ed

My '93 740iL had a slight shudder when pulling away as well. It was traced to needing a new driveshaft, which I've found out since is a common problem with the E32s. There's an outfit in Portland, OR and another in Texas that will ship you a rebuilt driveshaft for $300-500, then you get $75 back when you ship your old one to them. Of course it could be something else, like a motor mount.

The worst case scenario for the misfire is the infamous Nikasil problem. My personal opinion is that if the engine hasn't develped the problem already, it probably never will. Others disagree. Anyway, here's a link for info about the Nikasil problem: http://www.koalamotorsport.com/tech/misc/v8shortblock.htm

It probably is something like the MAF sensor. You might get a clue as to the problem by reading your fault codes. Below is a link about how to read the fault codes and their meaning. If you like, you can skip down to paragraph which starts, "For BMWs equipped with OBD I, you can read the codes using a system that is built into the car." Here's the link:
http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/Mult-Code_Reading/Mult-Code_Reading.htm

You might save money and aggravation in the long run with a visit to the BMW dealer. Pay them for an hour or so of labor for their diagnostic experience and equipment. Their estimate to fix it will be outragous but you're under no obligation to have them do the repairs. Maybe it's something you can do yourself or hire an independent mechanic to do the job cheaper. If it needs a driveshaft, the entire exhaust has to be removed in order to get to it. Ugh.

You probably need to get yourself a Bentley's repair manual so you can do some of your own repairs. They're expensive as manuals go ($75-100) but they contain a wealth of information. Also, let me tell you there's LOTS of help for these cars on the internet.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy yours as much as my wife and I enjoy our 740iL.

hi and many thanks for the reply. Will visit the links and see what I can dig up.

thanks again

ed