BMW E36 Forum

new here so not sure if this is the right place, what does anyone think ? comments welcome, Right I brimmed my fuel tank to overflow, (on my 328i coupe 1997 , 91k miles) I drove on a round trip 183.9 miles back to the same petrol pump, and re brimmed the tank, and to my surprise it only took £29.05 = 21.53 litres, if I'm not mistaken that works out at approx 45mpg speed range was varied as half journey was A road at 80mph and B roads 30 to 60 mph how does this compare with others with a similar size engine please, also very recently changed spark plugs, colour on electrode was a nice grey so dont seem to be running weak, but centre electrode porcelain was a red colour has anyone any thoughts on that, also my twin tail pipes have no soot of any colour at all, Is this normal? how does this compare to other 328i 's. Fuel is just standard un-leaded.

Sounds like you have a good un there my friend. I don't think the red coating is anything to worry about. Fuel additives can cause it and apparently is not a sign of engine probs. I want to purchase an engine code set and see what that throws up. You can get them on ebay but most seem to only work on newer cars (2001 on) obd2?? Anyone shed any light on this? I saw some for the e36 on Amazon. They look cylindrical. Also if you've any ideas on my 'engine shake ' prob please . lol

That's just over 7L/100km which is right around where is should be. My auto 328 coupé will do the same. I couldn't get it that low until I replaced a faulty cam sensor.

Lealan38 is correct, the additives in cheap fuel and octane boosters can cause red porcelain.


@Lealan38
There's carsoft interfaces for e36 OBD2 on ebay. I have one and it's nothing but trouble. I'd suggest you steer clear of them.

OK will avoid . Cheers VMZ man. Are Beemers popular in Australia?

They're not as popular as they should be! BMW is about the 14th on the list of most cars sold this year, so they're doing ok I guess.

As a country we tend to prefer cars with excess power to cars that handle well, which hurts BMW a bit.

Since i purchased my BMW i keep seeing loads of um on the roads . I think they attract each other.lol. In the UK it's like a big mixed bag of different makes of cars . I think the 'school run' mothers seem to like their 4x4's. Gas guzzlers. My last car was a Ford Mondeo ST24 so i've dropped in power quite a bit but hey! This ones better on fuel and reminds me of the Mark 2 Golf i owned several years ago which i also liked and it had a long sunroof . I like having the sunroof and have had it back on several occasions this summer.