running out of options

1994 318i 5spd 139k
everything under the hood is clean
i have replaced and cleaned everything on this car
except the maf i cleaned it but i didnt look like it needed to be cleaned.
my car is still running rich at idle but ONLY at idle
so rich that with in 5 minutes it will use and eighth of a tank just sitting there
while driving it runs wonderful but i think my rpms are a little too high..when running 70 its right at 4k rpms
i also have to change my oil pretty often this running rich problem is seriously messing with it
i just want to know if there is an easy way for me to check my maf to make sure its bad without replacing it bacause thats 400$ i cant spend just yet
i LOVE this car and i refuse to sell it i will drive it for the rest of my life like this if i never fix it
im also wondering what might be going on with my front end all tires are balanced and perfect i took it to a shop for them to look at it and they couldnt find one flaw with my suspension but when im driving it wobbles when pulling to the right and when i hit a bump i damn near lose control of my baby so im thinking control arm or bushing but they look fine should i go ahead and replace it anyways?
if i need to up load a video or something of how aweful my car sounds right now if that would help then i can
sorry this is so long i just dont trust the mechanics at any shops around here

Have you checked your O2 sensors? If it fails it could make the car run rich as the car doesn't know the ratio coming out the exhaust so it can't compensate properly.

As for the wobble, that's called bump steer. Check your ball joints and control arms. Something is loose and allowing the wheels to move slightly. Jack the front end up and look for play.

we replaced the o2 sensor but its still giving me the lambda code 1222 ive checked for vaccum leaks there was one that i did find but i fixed it ive taken the manifold off and clamped all of those hoses just in case also but nothing ive done has changed anything. i was thinking of resetting the computer someone told me how to do it i dont remember but could that be whats wrong with it since we've fixed so many different things?

It's possible. Code 1222 is the only one showing up?

Originally Posted by rampage601

so rich that with in 5 minutes it will use and eighth of a tank just sitting there

No way it can be using 2+ gallons of gas at idle in 5 minutes. It would flood to the point it wouldn't run at all.

Originally Posted by rampage601

im also wondering what might be going on with my front end all tires are balanced and perfect i took it to a shop for them to look at it and they couldnt find one flaw with my suspension but when im driving it wobbles when pulling to the right and when i hit a bump i damn near lose control of my baby so im thinking control arm or bushing but they look fine should i go ahead and replace it anyways?

Tie rod ends, inner and outer. If you don't have tools and know-how to DIY, you're going to HAVE to trust some shop to do the work, and you'll have to get an alignment after the parts are replaced, which is not a home workshop job.

oh and another thing before i turned the throttle and idle up it would run but always stall out at a stop
and i for got to say the idle is erratic and around 1-2 sometimes 3k

18mpg is absolutely awful mileage for a 4 cylinder. Normal mileage is 25+. My M42 get's 27-30 consistently. It might seem fine while driving it, but, believe me, get it burning efficiently and performance will be noticeably improved. The 1.8/1.9s need all the help they can get.

It is physically impossible for your car to put 2 1/4th gallons of gas (1/8th of an 18 gallon tank) through the four injectors in 5 minutes, even at wide open throttle, let alone at idle. You have 4 injectors that at maximum can pass 18.5 pounds of fuel per HOUR each. That would be 74 pounds of fuel in one hour, or 6.167 pounds in five minutes. That's barely over ONE gallon. Unless you've put in 40 pound injectors, or your 18.5 pound injectors are seriously damaged/leaking/flowing WAY more than designed, there's no way 2+ gallons are going through your engine in 5 minutes at idle. Most likely your fuel gauge isn't accurate. Not many of them in our E36s are.

What kind of plugs are you using? These engines do NOT like Platinums or four-prong plugs. Plain old NGK coppers work better than anything in the long term.

oh yes it definitely is other than idle i get 18 mpg on the highway but when i come back to a stop the black smoke is definitely noticeable and thats the only code im getting with the stomp test
it drives SMOOTH other than the wobble im having except it is very sensitive on the gas
if you barely touch the throttle it wants to jar you around until you give it more gas and it doesnt like low rpms its like i cant just cruise its fast or nothing at all
and i noticed the other day that every time the car is elevated in any type if angle that it will start to bog down like it wants to die if i sit in that position long enough it will but it cranks right back up with no problem
my compression is perfect internals are clean everything under the hood is clean well taken care of and in good shape
i dont know of any import shops in my area should i just try to find one and take it to them?
oh and i have the idle and throttle postiton turned up so it will crank but even when i turn it down when i try to crank it it will turn over and and huge black cloud will come out so running or not its rich regardless

Does the car run better with the maf unplugged? Even with an unplugged MAF you shouldn't be draining that much fuel, if it subsides though, maybe its something you could look into.

you call 18mpg running wonderful? dude i have the M54 and i get 26mpg...

EDIT: supposed to be M52...

Originally Posted by veteran011

you call 18mpg running wonderful? dude i have the M54 and i get 26mpg...

you have an m54 in your e36?

mine gets 22 and its running pretty rich

that was a typo. supposed to be M52...

and yea i get 26.4 according to the OBC. i verified it with maths too so i know its pretty accurate.

Originally Posted by rampage601

when i checked my compression all of my plugs were bad except for one so what are the odds that 3 injectors are stuck open and one isnt? i havent gotten around to checking my injectors but its on my list along with the coolant temp sensor
what is a t-stat and how do i check it
as for the way my car sounds its aweful..i dont know if it has anything to do with the problems its having but ill try to get a video of it tomorrow after work and maybe it will help yall help me narrow it down
i am getting the 1222 code and thats the only one
i was abandoned and sat for three years..
i dont know if this is the reason it was left behind or how much it has to do with the way its running but i definitely have to figure it out quick..
by the way what kind of freon do these cars take..hopefully nothing special

if it's running like big fat poop, the last thing that you need to worry about is the air conditioning...

as for the 3 'bad' plugs, i am going to assume that they were all black and fouled out?? what was the difference between them and the last one?? how do you know that the 3 were 'ok', and the last one was 'bad'??

Originally Posted by rampage601

Oh I'm not familiar with all these short cuts y'all use for stuff..
I also noticed that when I fill my car up it hesitates until I burn some of the gas out? Why is that?
But my tstat is fine I've already checked it

Originally Posted by jonesin

How did you check it?

The only way to actually do so is to put it in a pot of water on the stove, and physically watch it open at the right temperature (82 or 90*C)

you beat me to the question, there, ed.

but you could verify the temp operation with a thermal gun. no need to go get the cookware to check a car part...we *are* in (wait, what's the year again?? )


anyway, i will wait for the video to see what we're dealing with here. unitl then, it's a guessing game at best.

however, i do believe that this is a candidate for a competant tech to take and do an assessment on.



df

Hey I'm just saying for it running as rich as it is I'm still getting better mpgs than my dads truck
And then that must mean that my gauge is way off it also runs out of gas around a quarter and my warning light stopped working
What I unplug the maf it acts like it doesn't even effect it
I wanna do this myself but damn it's getting tedious
I also haven't checked my injectors I was goin to yesterday but I got dark on me

I'm running bosch plugs

if you unplugged the MAF and it runs the exact same then your MAF is toast.

Awe damn it!
You're the only one that has been able to tell me what that means
I asked a mechanic here in Jackson and he had no idea.

the car running the same means that its ALWAYS running in limp mode. when you get a new one you will get not only MUCH better mileage you'll get MUCH better performance (still not as good as a 6-cyl )

well, there is ar rely for oxygen sensor change that, but to me it sounds like compleate disaster in intake system, one of the hoses is loose, or butterfly sensor.
check the house from idle valve to intake manifold
here is a vid how mines was runing, but in my case it was more than an o2 sensor
it was long ago and there was two problems, oxigen sensor AND reley

Ok I double checked it
When I unplug it it surges

Originally Posted by rampage601

Ok I double checked it
When I unplug it it surges

take off batary termal for 15 min and see what difference that made if itl be one of the sensors it shuld go for while and then will start to strugle, if it is a air leake itl strugle from the beggining

you could also have one of several things, or a combination of these things, going on.

this could be improper fuel pressure, restricted return line, carbon canister getting full vacuum, stuck open injector, vacuum leak, faulty coolant temp sensor, faulty t-stat, poor wiring connection (excessive resistance in a circuit), and/or a faulty sensor input.

not to mention the fact that now the plugs are all fouled, and the oil is fuel soaked.

i suggest that you get this sorted out soon or you will be needing to replace the cat soon.

and the surging when unplugging the maf indicates to me that the dme is seeing a signal.




df

Originally Posted by drivinfaster

you could also have one of several things, or a combination of these things, going on.

this could be improper fuel pressure, restricted return line, carbon canister getting full vacuum, stuck open injector, vacuum leak, faulty coolant temp sensor, faulty t-stat, poor wiring connection (excessive resistance in a circuit), and/or a faulty sensor input.

not to mention the fact that now the plugs are all fouled, and the oil is fuel soaked.

i suggest that you get this sorted out soon or you will be needing to replace the cat soon.

and the surging when unplugging the maf indicates to me that the dme is seeing a signal.




df

when i checked my compression all of my plugs were bad except for one so what are the odds that 3 injectors are stuck open and one isnt? i havent gotten around to checking my injectors but its on my list along with the coolant temp sensor
what is a t-stat and how do i check it
as for the way my car sounds its aweful..i dont know if it has anything to do with the problems its having but ill try to get a video of it tomorrow after work and maybe it will help yall help me narrow it down
i am getting the 1222 code and thats the only one
i was abandoned and sat for three years..
i dont know if this is the reason it was left behind or how much it has to do with the way its running but i definitely have to figure it out quick..
by the way what kind of freon do these cars take..hopefully nothing special

I did that after I replaced my o2 sensor and it was bad from the beginning but I'm pretty sure I clamped down all the hoses under the intake good

clamping down the hose isnt the only thing. there could be cracks in the hoses allowing air out or in. did you check for cracks?