CEL & Car Lurches/"dies" @ 4500rpm

[skuyler]

(crossposted @ e30tech)

Well, if its not one things, its the other, huh?
1990 325i 5spd, 169k

This morning I planned on taking my car for a fun low-traffic mountain road joy ride. Unfortunately she had a headache and was too tired.

But seriously, I got in, put my key in the ignition, and its like all the electronics got reset and it wouldn't start (clock reset to 12:00, i dont think any of the gauge lights came on, don't remember).

I took the key out and tried it again, then it started up. Actually, it started early in the crank without any hesistation, but it barely got up to ~500rpms then slowly moved up to normal idle with the CEL on.

I, being a dumbass, went for a test drive after i checked obvious things and didn't notice anything wrong happening with the car, no sounds, no smells, nothing missing, etc.

Well, the car drove completely normally at normal RPMs, but getting on the main road, I hopped on it a little bit, and right around 4500rpms the car acted like it hit fuel cut, lurched, and then was fine below 4500. I tested that 3 times, and at 4500 it would "cut fuel" (i don't know for sure) and act like a little bitch.

I did the onboard diagnostic (not successfully). I don't think I read the code correctly, because it seemed to go 1, 12 (yes, twelve), then 3 or something...there were definitely no real pauses.

What has been recently done on the car:
wires, plugs, distributor/cap, rotor, oil change, fuel filter, afm cleaned, tps adjusted, tb cleaned.

The only thing that I suspect is that the fuel pump may be going, because it seems to whine a little more loudly than i suspect. however, that is only a guess


Any help is appreciated guys


(Also, what I presume is completely unrelated. Yesterday, my temp gauge was acting funny. It wouldn't really smoothly move around...it would get to the operating temp and sometimes jiggle there, like it had too much coffee or has parkinson's or something)

[jlevie]

But seriously, I got in, put my key in the ignition, and its like all the electronics got reset and it wouldn't start (clock reset to 12:00, i dont think any of the gauge lights came on, don't remember).

That says that the car lost electrical power. Since it started on the second try it doesn't sound like a dead battery and a loose connection is more likely. A loose connection could also cause the problems at higher rpm, or it could be unrelated. But I'd start with a search for the electrical problem.

[skuyler]

UPDATE


unplugged the battery, plugged it back in and checked the CEL. It gave me the glorious 1444 all's-good code. Took it for a spin, and its back up and in perfect health. Either it was a mystery one time problem (like my car had a premonition), or the ecu needs to reset itself.