E92 M3 Erratic Idle After Fill-Up

[kscarrol]

Thanks gpitts, give us an update once the increased emissions is resolved. I am going to the dealer Wed and will show them my video as they "could not replicate".

[JHFW89225]

I am having the same problem. Been to multiple BMW over the last year and still haven't found a cure for it. Any insight into the issue?

[US///M3]

Maybe it's a coincidence but I've been running Chevron's Techron fuel system/fuel injector cleaner for the last 2 weeks and today I got the car updated to 240E and the erratic idle after fill-ups is gone.

[kscarrol]

I've been on 240e for quite a while now... And this started after filling up at my local Shell so I switched to Chevron thinking it might be bad gas and for the Techron. Still does it...

In fact, I added a bottle of Techron before filling up at Shell the other day. You see the results in the video I posted...

[US///M3]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

I've been on 240e for quite a while now... And this started after filling up at my local Shell so I switched to Chevron thinking it might be bad gas and for the Techron. Still does it...

In fact, I added a bottle of Techron before filling up at Shell the other day. You see the results in the video I posted...

Is the 240E the latest version (ISTAP/P 51.3.002) or maybe I have something different?

[kscarrol]

I think it is the latest. It has been out for a while but given the age of the M3 they have not issued any new updates in a while.

[RezTTU]

My dealer has had my car for 3.5 weeks now. They're changing out the idle control valve tomorrow. Something tells me that will not solve the problem. Only time well tell I suppose.

[kscarrol]

Ugh! Sorry to hear that! Guess we are all heading down the same path... Let us know if the idle control valve replacement does the trick.

[JHFW89225]

Originally Posted by M3DreamTTU

My dealer has had my car for 3.5 weeks now. They're changing out the idle control valve tomorrow. Something tells me that will not solve the problem. Only time well tell I suppose.

I've had the Idle Control Valve replaced, did not solve the problem. It happen right after I picked up the car and went to fill gas.

[kscarrol]

Had a guy on another forum said he had a stalling issue pretty much after every fill up and it was the purge valve. Said it took a while but the car eventually threw a code...

[JHFW89225]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

Had a guy on another forum said he had a stalling issue pretty much after every fill up and it was the purge valve. Said it took a while but the car eventually threw a code...

I suspect its something to do with the fuel system as well. (Fuel filter, fuel pump, vapor purge valve etc..)

[US///M3]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

I think it is the latest. It has been out for a while but given the age of the M3 they have not issued any new updates in a while.

I might have something different, I think 240E is version: ISTA/P 47.1.

[kscarrol]

Originally Posted by JHFW89225

I've had the Idle Control Valve replaced, did not solve the problem. It happen right after I picked up the car and went to fill gas.

Stopped by my dealer this morning to show them the video. Head service tech asked if I have any software on the car (I don't) then said he would change the idle control valve. Wouldn't mind getting that done before my warranty expires in Oct but I mentioned the gas purge valve and he said yes, it could be that as well, that sometimes they stick open... I'll bring it back to them at a later date for the work.

[e92zero]

hmm, where is this gas purge valve? My car just started to 'stumble' a few times now so want to see what's involved for the fix.

[gpitts]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

Thanks gpitts, give us an update once the increased emissions is resolved. I am going to the dealer Wed and will show them my video as they "could not replicate".

Just got a call today on my car. They replaced another portion of the idle control assembly (thought it was one part - silly me!), and also a portion of the VANOS system. They say the fault is now cleared, and they've started the engine several times and it seems to be resolved. When I pick her up tomorrow, I'll give a complete breakdown of all the proper part names.

[gpitts]

Originally Posted by US///M3

Maybe it's a coincidence but I've been running Chevron's Techron fuel system/fuel injector cleaner for the last 2 weeks and today I got the car updated to 240E and the erratic idle after fill-ups is gone.

Great to hear! In my case, they updated all the firmware when I took the car in the first time around, but it did not seem to address the issue. On my first fill-up, the same issue occurred again. As I mentioned in my other post, tomorrow I will aggregate all the pieces they replaced on my car, and post it here. Perhaps that could be helpful to some others having the issue.

[kscarrol]

Hopefully this resolves it for you! Gpitts, was you car actually throwing fault codes? Mine is not...

[gpitts]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

Hopefully this resolves it for you! Gpitts, was you car actually throwing fault codes? Mine is not...

No fault codes whatsoever... that's what made this issue so maddening, since everything on the car is instrumented and monitored. Well, nearly everything.

Most of the parts replaced on my car were in the unmonitored part of the fuel system, so a fault in them would not have been seen. However, I still find it odd that nothing is logged if the car's engine stops running at idle. I realize that a non-DCT car can be stalled by dropping the clutch without applying any throttle, but still...

[Merlin_83]

Greetings,

This is somewhat off the topic, but does involve the use of higher octane fuels. So, many years ago when I was a starving college student I worked at an airport in Marin County, CA. - I drove around all day with a huge tanker truck and provided fill-ups to planes arriving or departing from the airport, plus the FBO (fixed base operation) had a flight school so I was always filling planes with gas for those planes as well,it was a great job, so much fun - got paid hardly anything, but the perks were good. On my days off I got to fly with pilots on 'check-runs'. We would load up huge bags of checks that had been processed and needed to be returned to the banks (they did this before technology made this process obsolete) - and, and....I got to fill my 1976 VW Rabbit with 100 octane LL (low-lead) Avgas. I had to pay for it and back then circa 1985 it was about $2+ for 100 LL Avgas. Keep in mind my Rabbit had an old-school carburetor engine - in 1977 the VW Rabbits went to FI. Well, the little bugger wasn't faster per se, but it ran super smooth and was more 'peppy'-

Interesting sidebar - on some weekends there was a guy that would bring his offshore cigarette racing boat and fill it with the Avgas 100 LL. He have to call ahead and be certain we had enough gas on hand to fill the boat - I think it took something like 400+ gallons. My manger would get pissed because although he purchased a lot of gas, if he came out early on a Saturday he could potentially buy all the gas allotted for the weekend and we would not get the re-fill tanker from the fuel distributor until Monday AM.

Here in Oregon - the best I can do is 92 or 91 at Chevron - although I am intrigued if perhaps Shell has the 93 Super V err, whatever it was called around here in Porkland (deliberate spelling, people are so fat here - I grew up in SoCal) - sorry, that's not very nice to say, but it seems like people here don't know how to eat properly or know about exercise

Cheers,
Merlin

[fastmike]

My car does this too but I haven't seen any solid fixes.

My mechanics theory is it could be related to the charcoal canister dumping fuel at idle, causing it to go too rich, hence the rpms stalling. Haven't tried to resolve it though.

Definitely keep us posted to see if there's any solid fixes.

[5soko]

On my M5, i changed the charcoal canister for the fuel tank and this did not help.

[gpitts]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

Hopefully this resolves it for you! Gpitts, was you car actually throwing fault codes? Mine is not...

Well, so far so good. I committed to post all the odds-n-ends that they changed, so see the attached images. Additionally, I put in a tank of 92 octane ethanol-free gasoline today just to see whether it makes a difference in performance, etc.