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1997 BMW Z3 BMW Z3 1.9 M/T Stalling at high speed/high RPM

Tiny
CHITOR
  • MEMBER
  • 1997 BMW Z3
  • 4 CYL
  • 2WD
  • MANUAL
  • 48,000 MILES
Hi,

This is my first post here. My car is a 1997 BMW Z3 1.9L 4cyl M/T. With 50,000 kms

Im experiencing stalling/misfiring during high speeds or high rpm usually when I hit the 180kph or when nearing rpm redline. The car sounded like starving for fuel/power. I dont have "check engine light". But when I turn off the engine and start it again after a few seconds, engine will run fine again. Runs fine in idle and everything seems okay if I limit my speed maybe up to 160kph or around 5000-5300 rpm.

I already changed the fuel filter and sparkplugs. Fuel pump seems okay. No problems during start ups and idle. I only experienced stalling/misfiring during high speed/high rpm but no check engine light.

What else could be the problem?

Thanks and hoping you can help me.
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Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 AT 8:15 PM

11 Replies

Tiny
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  • MECHANIC
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This could take some back and forth between us to figure out. The first thing that comes to my mind is ignition, perhaps coils or spark plug caps, or a cam/crankshaft sensor, that version of Motronic has some weird issues from time to time. Faults not currently present can be real hair pullers. I will sleep on it and see if something shows up, it's been a very long day today.
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Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 AT 10:59 PM
Tiny
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Thanks. I hope you'll come up with ideas. Probably I'll start with changing the sparkplug wires since these are fairly cheap. And will go on from there.
I will appreceiate it very much any ideas that you can give. Is it possible that I am just bumping on the speed limiter at 180kph?

Thanks. Again.
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Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 AT 11:28 PM
Tiny
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6000 rpm is the maximum sustained engine speed and yes it is possible you are hitting the limiter, funny what being tired does to the mind. There are aftermarket suppliers that can assist in raising the limiter, I will see if I can do a bit of digging on this end.
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Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 AT 7:17 AM
Tiny
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Thanks for the reply. I will try to duplicate the issue this weekend and try to rev the rpm above 5000 in each gear and see if the issue will happen consistently on all gears and on how high is the rpm when it happens. Will post results here so that you can give your opinions.

Thanks again, I appreciate all your efforts.

By the way, can I rule out the possibility of a failing fuel pump? And since I dont get any CEL, can I also rule out defective cat converter?
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Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 AT 8:06 PM
Tiny
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A fuel pump failure is going to set misfire faults, cat failures will set faults. Plugged cats on OBDII cars usually mean a flashing CEL
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Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 AT 11:20 PM
Tiny
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Hi,

I have tested the car today and was able to isolate the occurence of the issue. The power cutoff/misfire only happens after I reached the redline(6500) on any gear and 180kph. Then when I turned off the engine and started it again, car will run fine again.
Car runs fine all the way if avoid reaching the redline in any gear and 180kph.

Am I just bumping on the rev/speed limiter and I dont have to worry about anything?

By the way my z3 is a Japanese version.

Thanks.
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Saturday, August 28th, 2010 AT 8:22 PM
Tiny
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Am I just bumping on the rev/speed limiter and I dont have to worry about anything?

You are. You dont.
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Saturday, August 28th, 2010 AT 10:47 PM
Tiny
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Thank you very much. Now I can sleep peacefully. :)

Thanks again! I love this site!
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Monday, August 30th, 2010 AT 3:08 AM
Tiny
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Hi

One last question, when this happens my instinct is to shutoff the engine and re-start. Do I need to do this? Or should I just continue to drive with the engine running rough and it will automatically run normal again?

What if a re-start is needed to make it run fine again? Then I have a problem? Oh no. Back to testing again?

Thanks.
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Monday, August 30th, 2010 AT 8:08 PM
Tiny
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How about not ringing that little cars' neck every time you drive it. Would that work?
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Monday, August 30th, 2010 AT 10:55 PM
Tiny
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Actually, I really don't usually drive that fast. I just want to make sure that there's nothing wrong with the car and I would not encounter any surprises during driving.

Thank you very much for your help. I really appreciate it a lot.
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Monday, August 30th, 2010 AT 11:24 PM

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