l have a 1998 BMW 318ti and have been having problems for about 2 weeks.

First signs were is that the car seemed to bog down when going into reverse then all the sudden get this boost out of no where. l thought it was due to the cold since it has been getting cold here just recently.

Well l took it to the gas station to fill up just 2 nights ago and bought some injector cleaner.. Fill it up and mix the cleaner into the tank then try to start the car and it would not start.. Popped the hood and played with the battery and it started up so l drove home.

The car now has a very erratic idle..It will climb down to 300 rpm then kick back up to 700 rpm and keep repeating.. Now every time l drive it l now get 2 problems at IDLE. A rough idle and a burning smell.. The burning smell only occurs when l hit lights after a few minutes of driving. It does not occur when l just let the car idle..The car however, drives amazing with no problems or noises.. It is just this damn idle.


l checked the spark plugs and found 1 that had oil on it.. l was so sure this was the problem, but the new plugs did not do anything. The injector cleaner also did not do anything..l am starting to think that the foil smell was probably from oil due to the plug and the idle from the ICV.. At the same time however, l think the injectors are faulty..




Sorry for the long question, hopefully it does not detour anyone from answering.. Thanks for any light shed on this issue.
When l meant hit the lights l mean stop lights. Sorry :)

try tune up..plugs and plug wires...my car did same thing not to long ago and it was a bad plug wire..always try cheap first .plugs and wires..then if that doesnt work move on to maybe having injectors checked out..I,m willing to bet you have a bad plug wire though...very common

Its not that your question is long its confusing.

You do not have plug wires, u have ignition coils. Not cheap. (although they should be replaced about every 100,000)

Go to bimmerforums.com & find a used icv from someone who knows what they're talking about (and u can tell who knows their shite based on the number of total posts they've posted, & looking at some of their posts).

It is the ICV sticking. Some people will try & tell u to clean it, & sometimes that works. It is probably not as big of a pain w/ the 4-cyl, but l do not know.