Car stalls very uncommon

[Wadula]

Okay crew,

here is the funkiest problem i ever heard of.

A buddy of mine, the best btw , recently bought a 98 320i coupe. It's the sport edition as mine is, too. Now, when he drives home, he has to make a left, crossing the lane and get up a little, really little tiny curb. when he hits the curb there, right in front of the house, the car stalls. It jumps back on without problem but it just stalls occasionally.
Yes, he tried the same procedure on other curbs, but it happens no where else.

we think that it has to do with angle, speed and height of this special driveway. did anybody ever hear something similar or has an idea what it could be?

Thanks for looking in all yours crystal balls here....i am clueless.

 

[Wadula]

come on, no one?

 

[jcblaschke]

How bad does it stall, what does it sound like, what gear, and what RPM's

 

[Wadula]

neutral, idle, out. sound? well how does an engine sound that goes off. it just does it.

 

[frolf]

yow, i don't know what to say. sounds like a ghost to me.

 

[gusgar]

The car just want to rest at home, that's all.

 

[Wadula]

it stalls when being driven home, maybe she´s afraid of home? i wonder what the passat nxt to her is doing to her in the night....hmmmm

 

[BigEarl325is]

Well I'm not exactly sure if this applies to more than just 325s but maybe this could help. For some reason when 325s (once again I'm not sure how many this applies to, I just know it applies to 325s) are driven rather hard, not raced, but even driven rather sporty, for some reason the computer does not communicate very well with the rest of the engine. Let me explain. If I drive my car a little sporty one morning, I'll notice when coming up to lights that when I pull it out of gear and I'm still moving, my idle will jump up and down from 400 to 700 rpms, rather quickly. If I'm turning the steering wheel hard enough and I also have some of the electronics on, this presents a great load on the engine and it stalls while jumping back and forth. I know this all sounds confusing but I'll continue to explain. The reason the engine is jumping back and forth is because the idle being controlled by the computer communicates with the speed sensor and your differential. When it senses that the car is moving, i think it assumes (for one reason or another I'm not sure) that it's still in gear, therefore it doesn't bother putting enough fuel into the engine in order for the idle to be maintained. However, once the engine reaches about 400 rpms a warning goes off into the computer saying "Yo pal, we need some fuel here, pronto!" and the fuel injectors spit gobs of fuel in and BOOM 700 rpms. At this point the warning goes away and the computer says "Great, my job is done here!" and then all of a sudden it drops way back down to 400 and the process repeats itself. Now, in my experience I've been pulling into my driveway, turning the wheel pretty hard, with the radio on and the heated seats and the lights and then once the engine hits 400 all the load being applied by the power steering pump and the alternator make the engine stall and i settle in at the end of the driveway going "Mother of God!" This may, or may not be your friends problem, but it sounded kind of similar to my situation. Either way, if this is his problem, I'll go on to explain how to fix it, but that'll take another 20 lines to explain also.

 

[Kenny2g]

I think it's the angle. My car stalls if i slam on the brakes hard. Or when i am just standing. I kinda sounds like it's oging to shut off.

 

[Wadula]

earl, thanks for the input. i really appreciate your explanation.

he, my buddy, told me that he had the same problem, idle jumping, with his former car. it was the idle control valve that went down the drain. did you ever have that checked? if not it might be your solution, if yes, the computer really needs an upgrade

kenny, angle? when your car is standing and you hit the brakes hard, how does that change your angle?

 

[Kenny2g]

Wadula i think you miss understood my post. I mean that when am driving and happens to hit the brakes hard, then the car kinda stalls like it's going to shut off. However, it has never shut off on be before though. When i start my car, it doesn't matter if the engine is hot or cold.Or if i've being driving for a while, if the car is just on and standing, it sounds like it's going to shut off (In other words, the Idle jumps) . I don't think that's normal though. But like i said, it's never shut off before.

I've never done anything to the idle contol valve. I just got this car in May. How do you fix the idle control thing?

Hit me up.........

 

[andreyiv]

Kenny, my dad had a similar problem with his Corsica he had a while ago, but it was much worse. When he drove for a while and then came to a stop, the tranny stayed in gear and that caused the engine to stall. It was VERY similar to driving a manual and leaving it in second and then come to a complete stop, it just dies. He tried to fix the problem but I don't think he did. The last thing the mechanic wanted to is check some sensors in the tranny, my mom acted up and we gave the car to salvation army or something like that. It seems like you have the same problem but not as severe, if it's the sensor than maybe it went dead in the corsica and your's is close to it, but that is just a theory that has MANY weak points.

Wadula, when you brake, the angle of the car may not change if the suspesion is REALLY hard but as you know, weight shifts forward. With my tranny that had low ATF level, whenever I brake too hard and stop, the car wouldn't go into gear for some time. Usually the revs would reach 3,000 and then it would grip and jump really fast. I know this is the complete opposite of the problem your friend is having but maybe the problem is in the angle/weight shifting, but it sure seems really wierd to me.

 

[Wadula]

andre, the angle of braking is not that big of a change anyway, that is why i was so wondering. but thanks for the physical explanation

for kenny and earl i'd say it is the control valve as their reportings did not include any gearbox observations suchas sound or so. furthermore the car idles roughly which is a very reliable hint for the valve.
unfortunately i do not know how to fix it, of course change the valve, but not how or how mucgh it will be. i never had to do it so i am a newb on this one.