[krnboy817]

got the car washed at the coin wash... pulled the car out and cleaned the interior for about 10 min. drove off and stopped at a light 300 yrds from the car wash.

holding the brake, the car started stalling out (its AT tranny)... gave some gas and tried to keep it alive. from the drivers seat you could see that it started to smoke from under the hood coming out fromt he kidney grills. light turned green gave full gas and car started moving with massive engine shake.

drove into a parking lot about 150 yrds from the light and parked the car with engine running. sounds fine. runs fine.

got back in, started driving and noticed the car feels laggy and hesitant than before the "smoke" and stall incident.

parked back at work and got home 8 hrs later and smell of burning rubber or metal comes from the engine bay when hood open.

any one might have an idea?

had the lifters replaced, but recently the ticking came back like never before and a maintenance was performed about a 3 weeks ago (driven 3 times since and parked outside for rest of the time) because the ticking got worse after the maintenance was done on the car.

[benzo23]

Holy shit dude id trade it in...

[krnboy817]

Originally Posted by benzo23

Holy shit dude id trade it in...

wish i could
way too upside down.

[benzo23]

its just a strange issue, are you sure the "smoke" wasn't steam evaporating from the front, sometimes after a wash mine will do that. But still never the less that doesn't explain the burning rubber or metal smell. Any oil leaks coming from the valve gasket or oil housing?

[krnboy817]

yeah it could be steam from the radiator or whatever but it was alot of steam then because it was around 2pm full sunshine and still was visible clearly.

when i checked there was no leak, anywhere from the engine... i havent checked the underside but visually from top no signs of leaks.

at first i even thought there was too much water up the exhaust but didnt think that would make steam/smoke up front.

[benzo23]

water in the exhaust wouldnt get up front, it would of dissipated before then, im just curious as to why the thing wanted to stall out. When you were at the coin wash how much pressure went into the grille area? would it of been enough to maybe get some water up under the engine cover and maybe on top of a coil? I really have no clue im just trying to come up with any sort of theory. Im also wondering about what you smelled, you can definitly tell the difference between steam burning off and anything oil,rubber, or coolant related. I would pull the bottom skid plate off and look to see if you see anything

[krnboy817]

yeah i think im going to do that tonight... take a look underneath.

1.) water pressure at the wash was enough to feel discomfort on your hand.
2.) i usually dont spray directly at the grill... just spray them along with washing the front facia.
3.) smell wasnt "sweet-like" when your buringin oil. its either rubber or coolant... cant really tell them apart.
4.) the dirt on the engine cover seemed like it never touch water... no water stain or marks near the coils.

thanks for the help btw... i think one of your theory will be right. ill just have to find which one. but its comforting to know that im wasnt too far off of the ball park on guessing the problem. thanks.

in the end ill probably will have to take it in... because now that i think of it, the car has been shaking alot first ten minutes of the drive in the morning when i stop at a stop light holding the brake pedal down.

[tldoxmf87]

This seems like a common thing after you take your car to a high pressure wash.. Could be different though.. but the general idea is that the car is trying to adapt to the changed oxygen level or whatever and thats why it 'feels' like its going to stall. I get the same experience after coming out of the high-pressure wash sometimes.. And smoke is very visible too. I was really worried at first but then when I searched the forum realized it's a common thing.
It's definately scary though so I just stopped taking my car to a high pressure wash..
Have you smelled water burning in the radiator before? Are you sure it's something else?

[krnboy817]

Originally Posted by tldoxmf87

This seems like a common thing after you take your car to a high pressure wash.. Could be different though.. but the general idea is that the car is trying to adapt to the changed oxygen level or whatever and thats why it 'feels' like its going to stall. I get the same experience after coming out of the high-pressure wash sometimes.. And smoke is very visible too. I was really worried at first but then when I searched the forum realized it's a common thing.
It's definately scary though so I just stopped taking my car to a high pressure wash..
Have you smelled water burning in the radiator before? Are you sure it's something else?

yeah i have been surfing the web and reading about the issue with other Bimmers having similar situations after the wash... but i dont think their experience was like a hydrolocking engine... or something in that sense. i really hope that its just a common issue like the others.

but i also dont know what water burning smells like either.

most likely i will go home later tonight and try to turn it over and see what happens.

thanks for all the inputs guys.

[benzo23]

Any luck underneath?

[krnboy817]

took the cover off and looked... nothing. no leaks. just some dirt from driving. doesnt even look like any water has been near it.

started the engine while i was underneath... nothing.

but something smells (burning) near the belts and the radiator fan. i doubt water burning since its been few days (although it has been raining) since washing. same type of smell as before. wondering if there is a crack or leak on the radiator... perhaps because the temp of the water from the wash was too cold for the temp of the radiator???

no steam/smoke... engine turned over with ease twice consecutively.

i think ill just have to take it to the dealer... before something really goes bad. if not oh well, least ill play it safe. sigh.

[benzo23]

Originally Posted by krnboy817

took the cover off and looked... nothing. no leaks. just some dirt from driving. doesnt even look like any water has been near it.

started the engine while i was underneath... nothing.

but something smells (burning) near the belts and the radiator fan. i doubt water burning since its been few days (although it has been raining) since washing. same type of smell as before. wondering if there is a crack or leak on the radiator... perhaps because the temp of the water from the wash was too cold for the temp of the radiator???

no steam/smoke... engine turned over with ease twice consecutively.

i think ill just have to take it to the dealer... before something really goes bad. if not oh well, least ill play it safe. sigh.

Next time its running pop the hood and dbl check to make sure the serp belt isnt slapping up against something. If you see no leaks then i wonder what could be burning, did you check under the engine cover to make sure your valve cover gasket isnt leaking? or that you dont have any broken head bolts? All burning water would smell like is just steam, like when youre boiling water on the stove top it would be pretty much the same if the steam had an odor for a car, it would have more of a gas smell for steam coming out of the exhaust, obviously. If it were me and you eliminated everything then id take it in. Like you said better safe than sorry. Is it CPO?

[krnboy817]

yeah its a CPO and today was the last day for the new car warranty so now i have to pay the 50 bucks when i take it in...

thanks ill check again tonight about the belt... then i guess i should check the bolts and leaks one more time... a little water could break engine bolts and such who knew...

[benzo23]

Ive learned that A N Y T H I N G is possible with these cars lol. Any luck with last night? Thank god its a cpo car mine is too and its saved me a lot of money. Trust me you'll be celebrating over the 50 bucks believe that. Keep us updated

[krnboy817]

alright so as of last night i have called BMW NA to make sure about my warranty status.

since i have had the lifters replaced at xx,xxx miles... BMW guarantees their work JUST on the lifter issue for 15,000 miles so it wouldnt cost me $50 to bring it in.

but as of Jan 12th my "new car" warranty was up so my CPO will be in effect which i would have to cough up $50 for whatever the problem is ( at least run the diagnostics at minimum). yes so $50 bucks would be nothing if i need ANY work from BMW done... but its like i shouldnt be even taking it back so much in the first place. and why is it so damn fragile?

anyhow, was going to go take another look at the car last night, but it was cold and raining. also its been sitting out side for the past 8 days now... guess im kind of out of it mood since i have never parked any of my cars out side... specially this long.

im going to leave it alone for another night and fire it back up on Saturday (since ill need the car that night) and get it washed again EXACTLY same way and see what happens. if it goes kaboom again, well the dealership has always been a walking distance from the wash anyways and ill let them come and get it from the scene.

surprised to see my 2005 xterra with 98,000 miles ( not babied at all ) is holding up much MUCH better than the 328i... sad.

[Dr Zoidberg]

A couple questions,

You just came from the coin-op car wash, do-it-yourself sprayer deal? .Did you open the hood and spray anything while you were washing it? Did you really try to clean off your grill/radiator?

Did you spray anything under the car?

The 'smoke" does sound like steam. But the symptoms you are describing sounds like a Ecentric shaft position sensor ( think TPS for older cars) or a possible vanos sensor problem all on the front of the engine.

Go out and check your windshield.. Is there a gap at the bottom of the glass where the wiper arm cowl meets the glass? There should be no gap. If there is, you got water on some electrical stuff.

IM guessing you got water in one of the sensor/plugs on the front of the engine, while a bit aggressively washing your car..

My first step would be, Go to the dealer or a Indy shop , and have them pull ALL the codes/history for every module, There will be stored events of crazy things happening that may or may not be currently present.

Let me know

[krnboy817]

You just came from the coin-op car wash, do-it-yourself sprayer deal? .Did you open the hood and spray anything while you were washing it? Did you really try to clean off your grill/radiator?

Yes, coin - op wash and was done my self. nothing under was sprayed. the grill and radiator was srayed as if you would normally washed the front facia of the vehicle. water was not directly forced or focused just at the grill and radiator in purpose of cleaning.

Did you spray anything under the car?

nothing under was sprayed, car was on ground level during the entire process. hood was closed and never opened until it was parked back at work about 30 min after the wash and back at home which was about 8 hours later.

The 'smoke" does sound like steam. But the symptoms you are describing sounds like a Ecentric shaft position sensor ( think TPS for older cars) or a possible vanos sensor problem all on the front of the engine.

may be steam, not sure... but it was something in that form of a smoke/steam that you could see out through your windshield in brad day light coming out from under the hood through the front grill.

Go out and check your windshield.. Is there a gap at the bottom of the glass where the wiper arm cowl meets the glass? There should be no gap. If there is, you got water on some electrical stuff.

will do. not too sure where you are talking about but i will be at best to figure out this location that youre referring to.

IM guessing you got water in one of the sensor/plugs on the front of the engine, while a bit aggressively washing your car..

did not know there was a sensor in the front so vulnerable... and so near the front.

My first step would be, Go to the dealer or a Indy shop , and have them pull ALL the codes/history for every module, There will be stored events of crazy things happening that may or may not be currently present.

will be taking the car into the dealership sometime this week. drove around for the first time after the incident today and car seems to run fine... but once in a while there would be a hick up... or rough idling while stopped at a light or in traffic. RPM seems to read out normally below 1k but when rough it would fluctuate above 1k ~ 1.2k

Let me know

sure will do. thanks for the heads up. kind of a relief to know something might be wrong... or more wrong than it seems.