Engine Issue (Dealer says normal)

A

alanogden

Member
Hi,

I have a new 2.0i Z4 with 2k miles on the clock now.

Holding the car at the clutch bite point, on even very level surfaces more often than not causes the engine revs to dip from 7/800 (depending on whether the aircon is on) to 500 revs and then subsequently bounce around like an anti-stall is kicking in.

At the lights this is annoying at best, and people around me think I'm revving like a boy racer about to floor it ( :P )

It's been into the dealer's twice, the second time being today and they've just rang me up and said 'computer says no' and they've tested it against another 2.0i Z4 they have on site (saw it this morning actually) and they said that does the same thing. I took the service rep out for a drive this morning and he saw it and said hmmm.

Can anyone else confirm if theirs does this? It does not seem normal to me and feels like it's going to stall. The service rep actually stalled it because of this on the drive this morning.

Many thanks,

Alan
 
When you say revs are bouncing around, can you be more specific? i.e. how high are the revs climbing. are the revs going up and down rather than an even idle without touching the throttle?

Mine doesn't do this at all, revs stay constant at idle until you increase revs to pull away :|

Tim.
 
Hi,

ok when you idle at 800 revs and you hold the car on the bite point, mine will bounce down to 500 and then jump to 900 and then fall to 500 again. Imagine the car was about to stall. It will then drop to 500 and 'bounce' to 900 again till I pull away (bogged down a bit).

What's getting me is the dealer said they had a new z4 in and the tech tried this on that car and it did the same. Puzzled.
 
alanogden said:
Hi,

ok when you idle at 800 revs and you hold the car on the bite point, mine will bounce down to 500 and then jump to 900 and then fall to 500 again. Imagine the car was about to stall. It will then drop to 500 and 'bounce' to 900 again till I pull away (bogged down a bit).

What's getting me is the dealer said they had a new z4 in and the tech tried this on that car and it did the same. Puzzled.
Click to expand...

I can only think if your holding the car on the clutch bite point and not touching the throttle then its the anti stall kicking in as your not giving it enough revs so the car is doing it for you. I'm puzzled as why your holding the car on the clutch bite point? is this because your not putting the electronic parking brake on?

If it did the same on another Z4 like the dealer implied then this would make sense? If the car is idling in neutral with your foot off the throttle and the revs are going up and down by itself then yes there is a problem but from what your describing it sounds normal if its the anti stall.

Tim.
 
I appreciate we'd normally put the parking brake on, but I'm illustrating a point. Obviously you don't put the parking brake on at every stop, be it in traffic or at the lights if they're changing soon.

On most cars you can hold the car at the bite point in readiness to pull away, after which you'd apply throttle and pull away smoothly.

I'm saying that the hold point is idling too low, and beacause of that, it's bouncing around in anti-stall. It's like the engine is idling 50-100 revs too low.

The natural reply here is to say that I drive x amount of cars and this never happens etc, but my previous MX5, BMW 5 series, even the Vauxhall Astra (all petrol) never did this. It's just a weird under idling problem to me.

Thanks,

Alan
 
alanogden said:
I appreciate we'd normally put the parking brake on, but I'm illustrating a point. Obviously you don't put the parking brake on at every stop, be it in traffic or at the lights if they're changing soon.

On most cars you can hold the car at the bite point in readiness to pull away, after which you'd apply throttle and pull away smoothly.

I'm saying that the hold point is idling too low, and beacause of that, it's bouncing around in anti-stall. It's like the engine is idling 50-100 revs too low.

The natural reply here is to say that I drive x amount of cars and this never happens etc, but my previous MX5, BMW 5 series, even the Vauxhall Astra (all petrol) never did this. It's just a weird under idling problem to me.

Thanks,

Alan
Click to expand...

Hmmmm afraid I'm unsure then Alan, I tend not to hold the car on the clutch bite point as mostly use the EPB and then pull away as normal. I would give it a try as you've described but the Zed is tucked away for winter at the mo so maybe someone else can chime in :)

Tim.
 
No disrespect intended. Why would you want it at the bite point? Your clutch should either be fully engaged or disengaged.
 
no disrespect taken at all. This is a minor issue really and I'm taking a hard line to illustrate a point. Perhaps I'm blowing it up to be bigger than it is (again to make a point).

Naturally, when stopped, apply the EPB and pull away after fully disengaged.

I only noticed it the first time after pulling up to lights and they changed after I'd dropped down to 1st and was about to apply the EPB and the lights changed, clutch in and pull away and it bogged down at 500rpm.

After that, started testing it and am showing those points above. In other cars, this does not happen. Perhaps the Z4 has a lower idle rev?

bigdog, are you say that pulling up to an incline on a side road you'd apply the EPB and wait or hold it on the clutch before pulling away? Just out of interest.
 
having said that, just talking to a friend who has an RX8 and I think I have it easy :)

Also I'd just like to say that despite the above, I LOVE this car :)
 
Did you witness the dealer tech try the other car? Could be they misinterpreted what you said?
 
kevinmarkwhite said:
Did you witness the dealer tech try the other car? Could be they misinterpreted what you said?
Click to expand...

Dealers are crap at listening so unless as Kevin said you witnessed this on the other car go back and Ask them to demonstrate.

My last car the temp gauge would not move from cold very much took to dealer who advised all was fine. I wasn't happy so said I will be down first thing in the morning and could I take a tech out with me to demonstrate. They agreed, so out we went, done less than a couple of miles and the tech agreed there was a fault.

I asked him if he had tested the car himself to which he replied, no somebody else had but had started the car and eft it stationary to warm it up, which of course it did with no cold air to cool it down. Turned out the stat was stuck open.
 
This may seem stupid but...Could you deliberately try and get close to stalling it? If the results are the same then you'll know its the same anti stall system rather than a cpu glitch or clutch issue.
 
Alan glad you are enjoying the Z4, I got mine in December. In our old manual vw golf my wife had a habit of "sitting" on the clutch at bite point for minutes on end (even on hill starts and long waits at the lights) wearing it out. Because of this I paid the extra and got an automatic z4 as that was cheaper than a divorce.

So, I can't help you at all! But... if you have the nav system would be v grateful if you'd check out my thread on the traffic problems I'm having and comment if appropriate.

Cheers.
 
What does it rev at in neutral?

Dont want to sound patronising, but when you say you are holding it at biting point, are you giving it any throttle at all?

I tend to use the handbrake button, but today held on biting point a few times and the revs were about, or over 1000rpm, but I had some throttle on.
 
Hi, I'm having the same problem with my one.
Too little revs and it kangaroo's and that few too many and wheel spin.
However this only happens from cold and after 2-3 standing starts has completely disappeared.
I like to think it's just corrosion on the clutch surface burning off as my disks fur up a little until I've hit the breaks a couple of times.
Doesn't seem a problem in the summer.
 
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