re:Subject: The heat melts my car's performance!

["." <scm1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

You said......

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Hi,

  94 325i stock.  On colder days (<70degrees) my car feels powerful.  A
  quick blip of the throttle sends you back in your seat nicely.  One
  thing I've noticed, though is that hotter temperatures and longer
  drives seems to diminish the power of the car dramatically.  I don't
  get nearly the same push back in the seat no matter how much I punch
  the throttle.  Turn on the A/C and forget it.  Car feels like a Geo.
  Not much fun to drive when it drives like a dog.

  I've had the car for 2.5 years and it's always been this way.  Is this
  something I have to live with or is there any modification that will
  help with the loss of performance due to high temps?

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Hi Jason,

The hotter the weather, the less performance you will get, its a scientific rule! Hot
air is less dense than cold air. On hot days you get less-dense air in the cylinders
so when they ignite there is less oxygen to support the combustion process meaning
less expansion of the gasses meaning less push on the piston meaning less power! Some
manufacturers have tried to compensate for this by cooling the air-charge via
intercoolers or in the case of Saab as I recall, water injection (water contains
oxygen so cools and provides more gas to expand when combusted).
There is not a huge deal you can do about it and everyone (generalisation here....)
suffers from the same problems, more or less. You could fit an aftermarket
water-injection kit, use a higher octane fuel, try ram-air induction etc but there is
no easy answer to this one. If its any consolation, I live in the UK which seems to
have crappy summers lately. I would gladly 'suffer' a slight horespower drop if it
meant we had a nice warm period and i could cruise around with the air-con on looking
at the pretty girls in summer dresses............:-)

I hope this clears a few thngs up for you.

regards

Sean
'95 328iCoupe Sport

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