[moho]

so I just replaced my spark plugs myself on my e90 325i 2006 i bought the Bosch ones from amazon, now when idling it drops almost 150rpm when the ac is on and little less when no ac.
can is vibrating pretty bad. goes away when driving
anyone experience this?

edit:
just did some research and it looks like myvalve cover gasket is bad. although it was idling fine before I replaced the spark plugs, maybe I removed the seal (there was a lot of oil in one of the spark plug coils/ plug compartment. I am surely losing vacuum at idle as I have the torque app with an obd2 adapter and I can see it losing vacuum clearly.

so big question, safe to drive?going on a 9 hour road trip tomorrow, do I need to call it off? I can get it fixed soon if it's not a big deal.

[moho]

updated with new info.

[Bamaben]

Anytime you pull valve cover it should be replaced, unless you just recently replaced it. As long as it's running fine should be safe to drive. I just wouldn't like oil filling up in my plug hole because it could foul a coil pack

[Three_thirty_I]

Valve cover wasn't pulled, just the spark plugs replaced. I don't think the valve cover gasket leak is causing the problem, chances are (as mentioned above) it's that coil pack that was swimming in the oil - they don't like oil. In the meantime I would clean the oil out of the spark hole and clean the coil pack where it goes onto the spark plug, use a contact cleaner etc. It won't solve the problem, but may help it last for the long journey. Since you can run diagnostics, try and see if you can detect a misfire on that specific cylinder. If you do, then to confirm that it is that coil pack, just swap it's position with one of the other coil packs to see if the misfire follows it. But you will have to get the valve cover replaced along with replacing that coil pack of course. Not to find excuses to blow money, but if there is the slightest suspicion that there could be a potential future problem with the eccentric shaft sensor, oil leak into the plug, then it would make sense to replace that too, but only if there is enough to justify that - that's an expensive sensor.

[moho]

ahhh thanks a lot guys you saved my day.
turns out there was still a lot of oil inside one of the packs, I cleaned it out and now it runs smooth.
thanks again!

[Three_thirty_I]

Originally Posted by moho

ahhh thanks a lot guys you saved my day.
turns out there was still a lot of oil inside one of the packs, I cleaned it out and now it runs smooth.
thanks again!

You may have caught it in time. Hope it behaves and you can get the valve cover gasket replaced in due course without any further problems.

[moho]

Originally Posted by Three_thirty_I

You may have caught it in time. Hope it behaves and you can get the valve cover gasket replaced in due course without any further problems.

so I thought that it was fixed, did not go on the trip though as my water pump failed about 50 miles from home, so i just finished replacing that(Damn that rear mounting bolt is hard to get to) anyways, it still skips/almost dies at idle when warm(~6-800rpm), and runs smooth at around 1100rpm.
So i thought i had maybe dropped one of the spark plugs, ordered OEM NGK from amazon, the exact model that were installed before i replaced them, and just got done installing them today, i checked the gap, and even torqued them to spec, and still rough idles...
so i guess i am going to have to replace the valve cover as well. but would that cause it to rough idle? i moved around the coils, cleaned them all with alcohol(although i did notice there is some room behind the actual plug connector there may still be oil inside of, maybe ill soak the inside coil w/alcohol), i am not getting any misfire codes anymore, but something is definitely still up

on a side note man, it seems like all these problems are hitting me at the same time lol, water pump, speaker(sound) problems, spark plugs, now this gasket, just had to install a passenger seat mat emulator w/seatbelt emulator but i love this car when it is not acting up.haha @130K miles i think im lucky i havent had trouble sooner

[Three_thirty_I]

Originally Posted by moho

so I thought that it was fixed, did not go on the trip though as my water pump failed about 50 miles from home, so i just finished replacing that(Damn that rear mounting bolt is hard to get to) anyways, it still skips/almost dies at idle when warm(~6-800rpm), and runs smooth at around 1100rpm.
So i thought i had maybe dropped one of the spark plugs, ordered OEM NGK from amazon, the exact model that were installed before i replaced them, and just got done installing them today, i checked the gap, and even torqued them to spec, and still rough idles...
so i guess i am going to have to replace the valve cover as well. but would that cause it to rough idle? i moved around the coils, cleaned them all with alcohol(although i did notice there is some room behind the actual plug connector there may still be oil inside of, maybe ill soak the inside coil w/alcohol), i am not getting any misfire codes anymore, but something is definitely still up

on a side note man, it seems like all these problems are hitting me at the same time lol, water pump, speaker(sound) problems, spark plugs, now this gasket, just had to install a passenger seat mat emulator w/seatbelt emulator but i love this car when it is not acting up.haha @130K miles i think im lucky i havent had trouble sooner

I feel your pain! Mine is also been giving me issues for ages now, and worst thing now that I am battling with is an intermittent battery drain. So I can't even just park the car in my garage and trust that all is well, I have to keep an eye on battery voltage to detect when this is happening. Will eventually get to the bottom of that, can only be a faulty door lock or something like that which is fairly common. But it's annoying! Maybe people confused Alfa ownership for BMW ownership??

[PhaseP]

Originally Posted by moho

so I thought that it was fixed, did not go on the trip though as my water pump failed about 50 miles from home, so i just finished replacing that(Damn that rear mounting bolt is hard to get to) anyways, it still skips/almost dies at idle when warm(~6-800rpm), and runs smooth at around 1100rpm

Any codes you could pull from the car? Those will tell more.

One culprit could be your breather valve/oil separator that is tucked inside the turns of the intake manifold in your '06 325, since it is supposed seal at idle high engine vacuum and open up as vacuum reduces with rpm rising. Since you are having problem only at idle.

[moho]

so I didn't check one of the coils all the way
works fine after buying a new coil.....