B10 Touring failing to proceed

[woolley11]

Well after 3 years of ownership and no issues to report my B10 Touring decided to misbehave this morning.

Thinking it’s fuel judging by the way it ground to a halt - gradually and then no response from accelerator.

I was just on way to fuel station in village and car was showing 8 miles range - probably picked up some crud in tank possibly or fuel leak

Did my bit to hold up A1079 (Hull to York Road) - oops

Got it recovered to local garage so they’ll have a look.

[hap]

Does it turn over ? Mine was the fuel pump

[woolley11]

Yes it turns over ok

It basically felt like it went down to 3 cylinders and then as I tried to accelerate it got slower then stalled

[simon13]

ran out of fuel, ive been there many times!

[woolley11]

Update :

Got car back today - happily it had only run out of fuel as I was heading to fuel station (about 500 yds away). It did say I had a range of 10 miles - can’t rely on that obviously.

They checked her over and even topped up the engine oil, wash and vac.

All in all with recovery, 10 ltrs of fuel and the above it came to £90 + VAT

Been out and stretched her legs and all seems well - oh and put £30 fuel in !

[BarryM]

£90 to not fill up with petrol.....

I run mine pretty low and the wife always moans at me, maybe this will frighten me to do it a bit quicker in future!

[woolley11]

Yes the wife has ribbed me about it

Said if I can waist £108 like that she can go clothes shopping !!

[ali]

Well that is one way to find out how accurate the obc is

[woolley11]

Well we nearly had a repeat of the fuel issue today.

Not been in the Alpina for an about a week. Started ok and headed out but started been unresponsive to acceleration - got death stare from wife who was with me. There was about 20 miles on the screen but this went down rapidly and then started its tricks.

Anyway it picked up and we made it to fuel station. Been fine since. However wife has a nose like a drug sniffer dog and reckons she could smell petrol. I couldn’t smell anything but never can.

It’s going in for couple of tyres this week so will get them to put it on ramp at garage where I go and see if there is anything leaking/misting.

[JohnW]

I’ve a similar asset and can’t even have carnauba wax on my hands/clothes without a headache episode, cellulose paint is forbidden too without notice! .

If it’s fuel, then favourites at fault could be the pump, pipe, or just a blocked fuel filter. Lesser chance it may be an injector leaking/flooding.

[woolley11]

The “distance” in tank display tends to fall rapidly when starting off but then picks up so end up with apparently more miles in tank than you started off with.

Obviously once it’s warmed up and sussed your driving style, the mpg will increase.

Assume what’s physically in the tank dictates if you run out of fuel not the electronic/vacuum system.

[JohnW]

If there are no leaks then the fuel level sensor or it may be a corroded or loose connector to it. Though I’ve not seen one behave like that before.

Just a thought: Are you reading the mileage from the OBC? I seem to remember from the E36 coupe forum years ago that the OBC readings can wander out of kilter and it may need resetting.

[woolley11]

Yes just the OBC display on the cluster.

So I guess not 100% accurate but certainly an indicative.

[Charles]

This has reminded me of similar behaviour on my car a while back when the fuel level and OBC "range" started to behave differently to what I was used to, whereby it appeared that my fuel consumption was minimal for the first half of the tank and then plummeted for the second half - instead of the linear progression that I was used to. Luckily, I was able to judge fuel levels against the odometer readings to avoid running out inadvertently, but that was mainly because I was very familiar with how far I travel on a tank in normal circumstances.

In the end, the problem was chased down to one of the fuel level senders in the tank (there is a standalone one and a combined pump/sender located either side of the driveshaft saddle) which was sticking and causing the misreading. Given the high mileage and age of the car and the fact that the back seat was out anyway, I decided to replace both items at the same time.

Not sure if this is related to what you are experiencing but it might be worth considering as an option.

[woolley11]

Yes similar.

Certainly find the gauge doesn’t move much at start if over half a tank but does fall quickly after.

I’ll keep an eye on things and keep some notes.