93 325i bogging down

[daddyo8]

When in regular non-accelerating mode the engine hums along fine getting good mpg, etc. But when I accelerate the engine bogs down sputtering, hitting and missing, until I let up on the gas, then all is well.
Does this sound like the catalytic converter is restricted. How say you?

[Bear]

For a few bucks try putting a bottle or two of HEET, water out, dry gas (pretty much Iso Propyl Alcohol) in the fuel tank, sounds as if you MAY have some condensation in the fuel tank.

[daddyo8]

I'll try that tonite, but if it were a condensation problem, wouldn't it affect it all the time or is it that it is just NOTICEABLE upon acceleration?
Anyway thanks for the tip.

[Bear]

In my experience with condensation it often occurs when fuel level reaches 1/4 or less and also when accelerating (idle may be fine), in any case the treatment is inexpensive.

[daddyo8]

I used the heet, and then stp injector cleaner, and still rides rough. I guess I'll have to pull the plugs and see if I have any gunk on the contacts, kind of back-engineering the problem one bite at a time.Hope it doesn't require some $500 special proprietary part from Der Company.
Sometimes I wonder if I should have gone the "restoring the '57 Chevy" route, but (you guessed it) I wake up in a cold sweat and think "oh my God!!" what a horrible dream.

[Broken-wrench]

How many miles are on the car? If it checks out with no engine codes and the variable valve timing isn't an issue you could try this. Get some Red Line fuel injector cleaner. Run a full bottle in the next 3 tanks of PREMIUM fuel thru it. It will clean up the inside of your engine injectors, valves and piston tops. The stuff is MAGIC. I have State of Arizona emission testing data results on my OWN cars that this stuff REALLY works. I run a bottle thru the car at every oil change. The car has the emissions of a brand new car with 60K miles on it. But do check your plugs. I would recommend Bosch Platinum X4s.

[CassiesMan]

+1 on running Injector cleaner, but also make sure to check the plugs. It could be indicative of another problem. They may just be old and need some replacing, but there could be other issues.

[daddyo8]

Broken Wrench,
Would you suspect Autozone of carrying Redline Products? I'm in southwest Kansas and them and Napa is about it out here.
I saw the Bosch Platinum 4 on the bavauto catalog site. It would be nice to get them locally. I'll see.
Thanks

[Broken-wrench]

Auto Zone may have the Red Line product line. I think you can order it from Bavarian Autosports as well. By all means, pull the plugs and see what they look like. I suspect they are worn out. The Bosch plugs that were installed at the factory will be gone at 30K miles. The platinum jobs will go 100K with no trouble. But I think you should still pull the engine codes.

On my '94, to pull the engine codes, you insert the key into the ignition and turn it to the "on" position ~ DO NOT START the car. Within 5 seconds of turning it on, depress the accelerator pedal to the floor 5 times within 5 seconds. If you did it right, the check engine light will begin to blink out a 4 digit code ~ the number of flashes = the number. The first digit will be the number 1 (one flash). I think the all OK code is a 1444 but I'd have to check. Chilton's BMW manual lists all the available engine codes. You may be able to do a Google search for them. The codes will repeat until the key is turned to off. Count them several times to make sure you have them right. You may have more than one fault code coming at you so do it several times. Hopes this helps.