1987 (series 2) e30 318, manual trans
Hello again e30 gods,
I've narrowed down my issue almost certainly to a fuel problem.
For some background, the car drove fine after buying it, a few days later it idled slightly rough then started dying. After shutting it off I could restart it and it would be fine for a few minutes then bog down again.
Originally thought the issue was spark but after removing the old broken down fuel from the tank and adding a bit of fresh gas, it ran much much better and actually idled under its own power, however would still bog down extremely hard and stall when driving. I had read somewhere that if one of the pumps goes out or is clogged, the other one can still run the car provided the tank is mostly full, but as the level drops it gets worse and worse at sucking up enough fuel and as such bogs down hard.
Figured I'd try it, and I put a full tank in the car.
As of right now it runs great besides a very small hesitation here and there (which might even be my mind playing tricks on me at this point 🥴).
So my main question is:
Is this a viable diagnosis? Has anyone heard of this happening where one pump can somewhat run the car if the tank is pretty close to full, but bogs down when the level drops? If so, which pump is it likely to be? I've already got a replacement filter I'm going to throw on, but wanted to consult the cult first and see if anyone has had this happen or heard of a similar issue before I start throwing parts at it hoping to fix it.
The previous owner had also apparently replaced the pumps, which makes me think he may have done something wrong/misdiagnosed a fuel issue.
Thank you all!
(Also I can't stomp test as my car is a euro spec so no CEL :/)​
Hello again e30 gods,
I've narrowed down my issue almost certainly to a fuel problem.
For some background, the car drove fine after buying it, a few days later it idled slightly rough then started dying. After shutting it off I could restart it and it would be fine for a few minutes then bog down again.
Originally thought the issue was spark but after removing the old broken down fuel from the tank and adding a bit of fresh gas, it ran much much better and actually idled under its own power, however would still bog down extremely hard and stall when driving. I had read somewhere that if one of the pumps goes out or is clogged, the other one can still run the car provided the tank is mostly full, but as the level drops it gets worse and worse at sucking up enough fuel and as such bogs down hard.
Figured I'd try it, and I put a full tank in the car.
As of right now it runs great besides a very small hesitation here and there (which might even be my mind playing tricks on me at this point 🥴).
So my main question is:
Is this a viable diagnosis? Has anyone heard of this happening where one pump can somewhat run the car if the tank is pretty close to full, but bogs down when the level drops? If so, which pump is it likely to be? I've already got a replacement filter I'm going to throw on, but wanted to consult the cult first and see if anyone has had this happen or heard of a similar issue before I start throwing parts at it hoping to fix it.
The previous owner had also apparently replaced the pumps, which makes me think he may have done something wrong/misdiagnosed a fuel issue.
Thank you all!
(Also I can't stomp test as my car is a euro spec so no CEL :/)​
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