Subject: Loss of power Author: Sean : member since February, 2005 : 1124 posts Posted on: 2009-05-12 13:53:50

Hey all, the 88 528E is giving me some problems. It is now my mother-in-laws daily driver, so unfortunately I do not get to drive it all that often, but I do get phone calls often :-(. Anyway the symptoms are that every now and then it will lose power at speed. For instance this weekend i was driving it and it lost power, the engine was still running and I was able to maintain speed, but there was no acceleration, every now and then i would here a click and then it would surge back to life. (I think that it is misfiring, or the injectors may not be getting their signal) I checked the spark plugs and the cap and rotor, because the first time I was able to catch it, it was misfiring. However, i let it cool down and it idled just a smooth as can be. When it happened this weekend, I remembered that someone had mentioned that the Temp switch on the T-stat housing could cause some issues. So I shut her down and pulled the connector to the switch and when I restarted she ran just fine. On my trip home I left the switch disconnected and she ran fine as well. Unfortunately, when I reconnected the switch the symptoms did not return. The MIL is driving the car this week with the switch disconnected, hopefully she will tell me if it is cured. Does anyone else have any ideas?




82 528e X 2 (US) one died in a accident the other was traded in with >400,000 miles
86 325 (US) 150,000 miles
87 325eS (US) 220,000 miles died saving my life someone tried to hit me head on
88 528e (US) x2 >200,000 and still going strong, the other >300,000 miles saved my sisters life, but gave its own (head on collison at 120 mph what an idiot, she was doing 55 in the other direction)
89 528i (US) 270,000 miles Gave up the ghost, only one I have seen not to make it to 300k before dying on its own (low compression in cyln 3-6 and no combustion in cyln 2 and broken intake rocker cyln 1 but, it still ran drove to dealer to trade in)
90 325iC (US) 140,000 miles
91 325iC (US) 190,000 miles saved my life but gave its own (T bone to drivers door at 45 mph)
94 325iC (US) 160,000 miles
98 750iL (US) 180,000 miles
01 325i (US) 30,000 miles
Now you know why I drive BMWs it is not about the money it is not about the glamor they save lives, they drive exceptionally well, and they last forever.

• Loss of power - Sean 2009-05-12 13:53:50 (1933 views)
  • backfiring - natelambert 2010-08-13 11:53:39 (1449 views)
    • Re: backfiring - natelambert 2010-09-22 18:12:19 (798 views)
  • Well???...has your MIL's meatloaf been really dry.... - Area52 2009-05-21 00:48:31 (1920 views)
    • Bad gas mileage but no other problems with the switch disconnected (nt) - Sean 2009-05-22 22:33:08 (1888 views)