Throttle body BMW 318i

arts99

I had a very lucky escape on the motorway today. I was doing about 75 miles per hour in my 318i (2000) and all of a sudden the engine lost all acceleration and it felt as if the accelerator was stuck I had no option but to move from the fast lane to the hard shoulder, it was quite busy on the raod and I am glad that it didn’t cause an accident.

A thing like this has never happened to me before. I called for the roadside assistance and the guy who came to the rescue diagnosed that the fault was with the throttle body as for some reason it was stuck.

He took it off, cleaned it with a liquid cleaner and tried releasing it a number of times manually in his hand and occasionally it would get stuck, as I was about 2 hours away from home and it was Friday afternoon he said that he will try fitting it and see if it works by placing the foot on the accelerator gently, fortunately it did and I was able to get home.

He has advised me to get the throttle body changed; what I wanted to know is that has such a problem happened with anyone else? It’s a very dangerous situation to be in as the engine looses all power.

What I don’t understand is that why would it get stuck all of a sudden while engine was running? Normally when things wear out they start moving more freely then getting stuck....?

Can this issue be easily repaired or a new one has to be put in? Any ideas of the cost of a new throttle body?

Thank you

harveybobbles

Quite a common problem on the ones around 99-01.

Not the throttle body that needs replacing, but the throttle cable needs to be re-routed around the drivers footwell as it has too many corners to do and it gets it's self stuck.

arts99

Thank you for your reply.

He did'nt do anything with the cable, all he did was clean the throttle body with some kind of injector cleaner and it is working at the time being; however I have been very gentle with the accelerator so far and have pressed and released it slowly.

MX5huggy

If something gets dirt in it will stick open or closed.

shown73

It's up to you, but I think you would be well advised to trust Harvey's experience. AA men do vary, and they have to deal with all sorts, on a get-you-home basis. BMW will never admit that there was a fault around that time, of course, which is where years of practical experience comes in handy. I know where I would be looking first....

arts99

Thank you for your responses.

Where will you be looking shown73

Can anyone also advise a good place to get a BMW service in Sussex, just dont want to pay high prices that dealerships charge.

shown73

Throttle cable, as suggested....Perhaps you could have a quick look yourself. Are there any sharp corners, or kinks, that could be re-routed to straighten out? It would be a shame to be taken for a ride if thats all it was...