350i Starting/ running problems

[Paulmarshall]

Experienced a couple of problems in the last few days. Not sure if they are related, hopefuuly someone will have experienced similar.
When starting from cold the engine is very reluctant to turn over almost flat battery like, then it speeds up and starts first time. I can almost live with this if I know what caused it(less worry).
The second problem is during driving. The car feels as if it is holding back, sort of choked. Not excessive but enough to notice and then periodically will cut out completely or nearly cut out but catches again if you give it some right foot. The car always starts again first time albeit with some effort.
Any help would be appreciated.

On an unrelated topic I have owned a 350i for a year now and in all that time have never seen another wedge on the roads. It was great to spot a black Wedge on Sat around 2ish in Westbury Glos and a Metallic blue one Monday 9ish in Oxford. Made my days except for the fact I was in the Mondeo and the B******* had the top down enjoying themselves.

[danny hoffman]

Apart from the usual earth/dirty connections I would suspect the battery. Does it do the same after you charge it?

[Paulmarshall]

I did charge the battery was ok for the first cold start after charge, but went back to misbehaving.

[Pettsie]

New battery required then. Have the old batterey tested, sounds like its at fault. At least its a cheap fix

[gaz666]

Had a similar problem, engine holding back when you floor it, a sort of hesitant missing sort of thing. Cleaned up the earth strap points from engine to chassis cured it.

[Paulmarshall]

Think I have found out the problem. Car cut out at lights yesterday. When it eventually started an enormous cloud of steam out of the exhaust. I guess the head gaskets gone. Anyone done their head gaskets? Anything special to worry about?

[wedg1e]

Aye, plenty to worry about.... like where do you stop throwing money at it?
Tends to escalate: you start off intending to just whip off the heads and change the gaskets, then you realise that you 'need' a rebore... and you may as well change the cam and followers... and then there's all those hoses... and that wiring that's perished.... and hmmm, isn't that chassis rusty just there, maybe I should paint it...!
I set out to fit 5 Helicoils in the n/s head and spent over a thousand quid
But if you REALLY must just do the head gaskets: no real problems as long as the heads haven't warped or cracked (or, worse still, the block's cracked!). Just a bad back from leaning so far over the car for long periods.

Ian

[stainless_steve]

Might be better to just drop a 4.6 in it

[danny hoffman]

Are you sure it was steam? It white smoke can be caused if the engine is flooded.

Danny

[gf350]

When the head gasket went in my other car it wouldn't turn over easily because one of the cylnders was flooded. When it did start there was a 'lot' of steam coming out. So much so you couldn't really see out of the back window, you could smell the antifreze as well.
I needed a new head as well as it was cracked!!.
If worst case you need new heads for a rover v8 they can be had fairly cheap though.
eg.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=31348&item=2408823857&rd=1

Gareth.

[Paulmarshall]

I guess the thing that worries me most is whether the heads are cracked or warped. How can I tell. He of limited engineering knowledge. Thanks for the posts. Got to keep your sense of humour in the midst of all this steam(coming out of my ears too!)

Paul

[gf350]

Paulmarshall said: I guess the thing that worries me most is whether the heads are cracked or warped. How can I tell. He of limited engineering knowledge. Thanks for the posts. Got to keep your sense of humour in the midst of all this steam(coming out of my ears too!)

Paul

Paul,
My bmw used to have a lot of pressure in the expansion tank which was getting through the crack in the head.
Was like that for well over 2 years though until the steam thing happened. It emulated from an overheating incident before I got it.
Unless your car has overheated in a big way the heads will probably be ok, but it would be a good idea to get them pressure tested and skimmed before putting them back (not expensive).
If you need some new ones theres lots of second hand ones on the net for up to £200, If you go for the 4.6 ones it would be better as they have the vitesse type valves I think.
Gareth.

[jmorgan]

I do not know much about these motors other than what I have been told. So I had someone check my heads. After stripping down it was about £50 to test the pair. Would get 2nd hand one's tested as well unless you knew the source. Just my 2p worth.