hot (and now cold?) starting problem
 

Hi,

This is regarding a non-mercedes, but I always frequent mercedesshop.com, and have not found a good BMW board. I have a 91 318i (M42 engine, E30 series) with just under 78k on it. The car occasionally has an odd idle speed. Today I was out running errands after taking a 15 minute interstate trip. I also got gas (It has a chip, but tried to put 89 in it to see if it would run at all). It ran fine with the new gas while doing the errands, but then I went home for about 15 minutes, and when I was ready to go out again, The car wouldnt start. The car will crank, and it seems like most times it will even catch, but immediately thereafter it dies. There is also a strong smell of gasoline outside.

I have noticed this before, where if I have driven the car and it was up to temperature, then try to drive it a little while later, it will start and catch, but then the idle will be really erratic, dropping below 500, above 1000 and then very slowly coming into a constant speed.

Any ideas/suggestions what this might be? It is very annoying, and I hope to get to the bottom of this without much expense.

Thanks

JMH


P.S. Now as an update, about three hours later, the car still wont start, despite being relatively cool, and when it cranks, it doesnt even start to catch anymore, it just cranks until I stop it, then nothing. No smell of gasoline either.

Also, the OBD check engine code is 1444, which indicates no problems over the last 30 starts...

JMH

try this..
 

check the fuel filter; fuel pressure both hi/return lines. then, check the air filter and the spark plugs to make sure they didn't foul up.
Hope it helps.