BMW 520 i SE 1989

In article <4872A2D0.328.DeleteThis@unixnerd.demon.co.uk>,
John Burns <john.DeleteThis@unixnerd.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Could be a few things. Temperature sensor (or it's wiring) may not be
> telling the ECU that the engine is cold.

IMHO they usually fail the other way round - causing overfuelling.

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Dave Plowman dave.DeleteThis@davenoise.co.uk London SW
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On Jul 7, 3:22 am, Fiddler <n... DeleteThis @000.com> wrote:
> Problem with cold starting. Hit or miss. If you miss it, car floods
> and I have to wait for a while to have another go. If it kicks in, I
> still have to wait a while for engine to warm up before I can drive
> away otherwise the engine cuts off and of course the steering locks.
> Is it something to do with the auto choke? Either way, what can I do
> to solve this problem.
>
> Would be most grateful for ANY help or suggestions on the above.
>
> Fiddler
>
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HI,
I've seen this problem on other cars I've worked on. It turned out to
be leaking gaskets on intake manifold and leaking engine vacuum lines.
On older engines, the heat destroys these parts and it's hard to
diagnose it down to one vacuum line or one gasket on the manifold.

After I replaced all vacuum lines with silicon ones and put new
gaskets for intake manifold all these odd problems went away. The
engine also ran much smoother.

Is your engine running a bit rough when it does run? Have you run any
computer diagnostics on it?
What's the mileage?

Good luck,

Oskar
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Fiddler <none.RemoveThis@000.com> wrote:
>Problem with cold starting. Hit or miss. If you miss it, car floods
>and I have to wait for a while to have another go. If it kicks in, I
>still have to wait a while for engine to warm up before I can drive
>away otherwise the engine cuts off and of course the steering locks.
>Is it something to do with the auto choke? Either way, what can I do
>to solve this problem.

There is no carb to flood and no automatic choke. Before doing anything
else, I would do a very careful search for vacuum leaks, check the air
mass sensor, and carefully inspect the hose between the air mass sensor
and the throttle body. I'd also make sure the throttle body isn't gunked
up and that the throttle is moving properly while I have the thing out
for inspection... it wouldn't hurt to clean the throttle body anyway.
If that doesn't do it then it's time to start checking other sensors...
--scott

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