[starmate5]

Hello and Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to all.

I have owned my 2003 325Cic for just shy three years and it only has about 63k on it. Has been babied. In the past year, we have not only replaced the battery and alternator, but the power steering system to name a few things. Now I have a problem and don't know where to start. Let me just mention, the alternator was changed about four months ago, if that helps.

Seems the idle on the vehicle gets so low that sometimes I elect to pop it into neutral (yes, it IS automatically unfortunately) to make sure it won't die when it's cold and at a light. Other times, when I brake, I hear the engine go into very low revs and I wait to see if it will die - sounds like it is going to. It usually doesn't, but it does change drastically to a not so healthy sound.

Does anyone know what this could be? My husband put it on his computer and nothing came up being wrong, but it is definitely not the same. I don't want to wait till I'm stuck on the side of the road waiting for a tow.

Thanks for any suggestions!
Lori

 

[smolck]

Hard to diagnose from here, especially when the symptom is subjective. "low idle" can mean a lot of things. I have seen a bad torque converter cause this issue, but it might be as easy as cleaning the idle control valve. It is free and not too hard to do, that is where I'd start.

 

[starmate5]

Okay, then. At least it's a starting point. Thank you very much for the suggestion. Will let you know if that was the answer. This is usually the problem with older cars, if you hold onto them long enough, things just naturally will start to wear out and you will end up rebuilding it piece by piece. If things continue to go wrong, I may have to say goodbye to this baby of mine

 

[smolck]

Okay, then. At least it's a starting point. Thank you very much for the suggestion. Will let you know if that was the answer. This is usually the problem with older cars, if you hold onto them long enough, things just naturally will start to wear out and you will end up rebuilding it piece by piece. If things continue to go wrong, I may have to say goodbye to this baby of mine

At 67k miles you aren't even to the good part of BMW ownership yet.

 

[starmate5]

At 67k miles you aren't even to the good part of BMW ownership yet.

I like that!!! Good to know there's a lot more life left in my baby here. I know it's not a new car by year, but it's still one I want to keep for as long as I can.