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      12-11-2018, 07:45 PM   #1
dimammx
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Car behaves as 2 different vehicles

So I have 335i with 8k miles on it.
And is behaves in a way such one day it is slow and sluggish while on other days it feels like a rocket.
So today pressing gas about 35% resulted in same acceleration as pressing gas 90% the other day.
Also when it is sluggish it feels like NA engine, you really have to rev it up to 6k-7k and even then it is not pulling strong.
No errors on dashboard. Dealer scanned it about 2 month ago and found no codes.
Any ideas on what might be causing it.

NO mods installed.
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      12-11-2018, 08:35 PM   #2
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Blown charge pipe or boost leak somewhere else possibly? I'd even suggest a bad spark plug or coil pack though I think that would throw a warning in idrive.

Surely you arent just driving in eco pro one day and sport+ the other?
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      12-11-2018, 09:24 PM   #3
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Nope same driving mode.
Same tank of gas, almost same outside temps, same elevation.

I actually was thinking i just got used to power and it was fine, when 2 days ago it decided to have more power. It actually fells more powerful then my friend's Prius now
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      12-11-2018, 09:39 PM   #4
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Try resetting transmission/throttle adaptations.
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      12-12-2018, 03:33 AM   #5
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Have you pulled up the sport display?
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      12-12-2018, 05:19 AM   #6
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Might be some issue with the valvetronic. Or some issue with the DME it may need to be updated or reflashed.
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      12-12-2018, 06:20 AM   #7
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You have a brand new car - take it to the dealer (a good one) for warranty service.
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      12-12-2018, 09:07 AM   #8
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This happens to my car too. Not as drastic as you describe, but on some days I can tell it runs a little sluggish and on others it is smooth as butter (all within the same season with slight variations of course). I have seen others post about this too. Not sure what the underlying cause is. Your case sounds more drastic though, so may be something more complex.
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      12-12-2018, 09:23 AM   #9
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Please take it to the dealer.

Before doing that; try and capture video of the instrument cluster showing the speedo and tach moving.

If they move at noticeably different rates on different days, as you say, (under full acceleration) you'll have something tangible to show the dealer, which will minimize the chances of an "unable to duplicate customer concern" diagnosis from the dealer.
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      12-12-2018, 07:52 PM   #10
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Whatever is making it do this is bound to show up when they plug it in to diagnostics at the dealer - it might not be a specific fault reported, but I believe it also logs throttle input, gear, speed etc, not too hard to see if the driver has throttle 100% in 3rd for 8 seconds and the car is still not at 60mph... It might be they have to fit a data-logger and let you drive around for a week, not sure how BMW do it.

Whatever though, main thing is it's new car so it's very important you keep on at them until it's resolved. Just make sure you pop in once a day and discuss your "FAULTY CAR VERY LOUDLY" at the sales counter until they decide to take it seriously to shut you up
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      12-12-2018, 08:37 PM   #11
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Thank you guys for suggestions. Just took it to dealer today. It has no power problem right now but as it turns out warranty is about to expire so had to bring it in as is.

Also it is not that NEW it is 2015, just with very low miles since i was commuting to work in the past.
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      12-13-2018, 02:06 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dimammx View Post
Thank you guys for suggestions. Just took it to dealer today. It has no power problem right now but as it turns out warranty is about to expire so had to bring it in as is.

Also it is not that NEW it is 2015, just with very low miles since i was commuting to work in the past.
Ok that's a bit stressful... I think it's vital that if they claim there is no problem with the car, you ask for that in writing and once you have it, you should extend the warranty for a year. Hopefully they will find and fix the fault of course, but if not you really want that warranty and you want to remove the possibility of them claiming the fault existed prior to the new warranty start date. They either need to acknowledge the fault exists now, under the current warranty or give the car a clean bill of health and allow you to extend warranty. They can't have it both ways..
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      12-15-2018, 08:53 PM   #13
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So just picked up my car from dealer; As predicted they were not able to replicate the issue. By me estimate they drove it for about 60-65 miles. The SA stated that since there is an entry in the system if the issue comes back within reasonable time they will be able to cover it.
I had Nissan Murano rental for 3 days (V6 260-hp, 240 TQ ). And my car feels sluggish compared to Nissan. Just driving off the lot my first thought was “ Hmm this is kind of slow, do I have my parking brake on?”.
King of hard to describe but car just feels heavy.
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      12-15-2018, 11:50 PM   #14
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I've always had the same thing with any car. Including the f30. Some days it rips and drives really smooth ... Then the next day or two, it is a dog. The torque just doesn't hit the same. Ok in the high revs but the low and midrange just isn't there.

I've always thought it was atmospheric conditions. Temperature pressure moisture. And altitude but that doesn't really change. I don't know though maybe it's all placebo or someone can explain. Maybe my butt dyno varies.

There's boost weather in September/October when it hits really well.
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      12-16-2018, 02:10 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by YuminNuman View Post
I've always had the same thing with any car. Including the f30. Some days it rips and drives really smooth ... Then the next day or two, it is a dog. The torque just doesn't hit the same. Ok in the high revs but the low and midrange just isn't there.

I've always thought it was atmospheric conditions. Temperature pressure moisture. And altitude but that doesn't really change. I don't know though maybe it's all placebo or someone can explain. Maybe my butt dyno varies.

There's boost weather in September/October when it hits really well.
I had a similar experience with my 330d and also attributed it to the weather. My guess is it's not only the temperature outside but also the humidity that has a difference. But the car was definitely grumpy on some days, and playful on others.
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      12-18-2018, 12:00 AM   #16
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Dealer said no error codes active or stored.
Would boost leak always cause an error or can go unnoticed? But if it is a leak why some days it works fine but not on others, makes no sense.
I noticed my inter cooler has some old dings, i checked it with soapy water no bubbles but it was at idle so not much pressure.
Today on the on ramp had a hard time catching up to i3, kind of embracing.

Last edited by dimammx; 12-18-2018 at 09:49 AM..
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      12-18-2018, 09:18 AM   #17
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i was thinking maybe a small crack in the charge pipe just starting to split.

Maybe the turbo is dying and not spinning freely anymore?

My cars acts differently all the time but its due to weather going from 110 degrees to 60 degrees day/night.
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      12-18-2018, 10:05 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dimammx View Post
Dealer said no error codes active or stored.
Would boost leak always cause an error or can go unnoticed? But if it is a leak why some days it works fine but not on others, makes no sense.
I noticed my inter cooler has some old dings, i checked it with soapy water no bubbles but it was at idle so not much pressure.
Today on the on ramp had a hard time catching up to i3, kind of embracing.
You can't accept that with your warranty about to expire. It's clearly not right, no matter what others here are relating to in their own experience, what you're describing is clearly far worse.

You're driving and paying for a fast car and getting dicked on by cars that are at least 2 seconds slower to highway speeds. Worse, all the time it's unresolved the car is losing value and it will still need to be fixed ahead of future sale. You really need to get them to take it seriously now. There is clearly a fault, and with sufficient effort they will be able to find it.
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      12-19-2018, 03:06 PM   #19
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It sounds exactly like when the car is in ECO mode. You said it is not, but did you try switching to sport when it does that? That does stink.

My older e90 sort of did that. After changing the transmission fluid, it shifted a lot better. I'm pretty sure it was under-filled. I doubt a car with low miles would have that issue, but who knows ...
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      12-19-2018, 03:38 PM   #20
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Go on any automotive forum and you'll see the same exact thing reported. This is the nature of car's with various electronics, safeguards, and nannies. My M235 can behave differently from day to day.

What driving mode are you using the most?

RWD or AWD?
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      12-19-2018, 03:52 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by XutvJet View Post
Go on any automotive forum and you'll see the same exact thing reported. This is the nature of car's with various electronics, safeguards, and nannies. My M235 can behave differently from day to day.

What driving mode are you using the most?

RWD or AWD?
Seriously op, I know a lot of comments similar to the above are being made, but what you describe is not the same thing at all.

There are indeed various processes the car will run to keep the engine and exhaust as clean as possible, and it's also true that atmospheric changes can make a noticeable difference. But even if your car was on a decoking cycle, and it was warm and low pressure, and you had accidentally knocked it into eco-drive, you still wouldn't get the performance drop you have described.

The fact that people want to relate with their own experiences is fair enough and natural. But that does not mean you're suffering the same core problem.

To try and move this on in a useful direction, have you noticed any sort of pattern to the periods of low power? For example does the power always drop initially after a period of healthy perforance since starting the car? Or is it totally random and can be restored during the same drive? Is there any other common factor? Such as low performance shortly after filling up?

You can also take some oil from the car (just repeat oil dip and wipe onto any clean smooth surface) and check for little flecks of particulate in the oil. This can be a sign something is running rough and intermittently re-polishing a temporarily smooth surface.

Last, you can have a friend drive behind you as you shift down and throttle up to see if there is any smoke kicked out.

This is not a complete trouble shooting list, but it's a start. Something is clearly wrong g and with enough effort, it will be figured out.
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      12-19-2018, 05:05 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by XutvJet View Post
Go on any automotive forum and you'll see the same exact thing reported. This is the nature of car's with various electronics, safeguards, and nannies. My M235 can behave differently from day to day.

What driving mode are you using the most?

RWD or AWD?
I don't think this is the OP's problem at all. Sounds more serious than that to me,

OP - I would take it to another dealer or to a good indy shop for diagnosis. What you are experiencing is not normal.
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