These articles will be an ongoing source of BMW maintenance and tips and maybe some tricks to keep your beloved BMW in shipshape condition. I will also cover general maintenance like oil changes, brake pads replacement, etc., but as a rule these articles will inform, advise and enlighten you on some or most of the lesser known gremlins that tend to make your BMW experience unpleasant.
Let’s look at the engine.
* On higher mileage units the little ΒΌ inch vacuum pipe that connects the intake manifold to the idling speed valve tends to perish and split or it can even break off completely. This will cause your car to hesitate on pull-away and stutter and miss for a second or two but then settles down. The idling will also be erratic and the engine may even die when stopping. This is such a small item and is so easy to miss, but in the BMW maintenance tips you will always find the “How to” of items never mentioned elsewhere! The pipe can be found, as you stand facing the engine, with the one end sticking out of the idling speed valve. It then ducks underneath the intake pipes (on the older 1992 – 1993 models) to the intake manifold situated underneath the throttle cable assembly. On the newer models the pipe comes out of the intake manifold and a few inches to the left plugs into the idling speed valve. Just grab the pipe and give it a tug to make sure that it is still OK. It is simple to replace if suspect and costs only a few cents.
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