My 1988 e30 325ix - Garage'd

[bradnic]

great idea on the lens swap! gonna do the same on my IX

[jeenyus]

Got a good amount of cleaning done on the ix. I cleaned my grounding cable that's connected to my oil pan as it was so coated in grim. It solved my starting issue this far. Car doesn't short out like it was doing before. I don't have a before and after picture of the cable, but before I cleaned it, it was a black cable. After cleaning it, it was shinny.

I also cleaned my distributor box. I redid the heat wrap on it as well. It was in rough shape.

Before.


After.


Much better.

I got around to finishing my fog lights as well. I ended up painting the housing black. The inside was so beat I didn't have a choice. It doesn't make a difference in output either.

Painting.


Together.


I used RTV to seal the lens.

Installed they work great and match my parking lights pretty damn well!


The drivers side I haven't been able to get to work yet. I know exactly why it isn't working as well. It's so rusted there is no continuity. Here is a picture of the old bulb to give you an idea.

The base where the bulb sits is super rusted. I can tell at some point this driver side fog broke, sat broken for a while, them the owner must have replaced the lens. I only know this because the fog projector lens is pitted in a very distinct pattern and as well, the old seal was some shoddy silicone seal.

I'll be able to get it working soon and post pictures of the output.

[jeenyus]

Here are what the fog lights look like during the day. Match my blinkers fairly well.

[jeenyus]

New gas cap. Trying to figure out my fueling issue day by day. Still leaning toward the injectors, but who the fuck knows. Seems all the logical/easy stuff is out of the way.



Over the weekend I cleaned out the AFM as well as I could. I cleaned some more contact and grounding point for the starter and alternator. I unplugged all the injectors, one-by-one while the car was running to make sure my issue wasn't a faulty injector, but most definitely isn't that.

It just kind of seems like my fuel is depressurizing while the car is off (hence the fuel cap replacement). I'll keep looking.

[ThatM20Guy]

Sounds like it's time for a maf conversion and fuel cell ;)

It wouldn't be a fuel pressure regulator would it?

Hope you can figure it out. Still hunting idle/suspension issues over here.


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[jeenyus]

Sounds like it's time for a maf conversion and fuel cell ;)

It wouldn't be a fuel pressure regulator would it?

Hope you can figure it out. Still hunting idle/suspension issues over here.


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I appreciate the encouragement. The regulator got replaced some time last year so it should be fine, but then again, who knows. Haha! I'm gonna have to get some pressure testers and possibly a DIY smoker.

[ThatM20Guy]

I appreciate the encouragement. The regulator got replaced some time last year so it should be fine, but then again, who knows. Haha! I'm gonna have to get some pressure testers and possibly a DIY smoker.

Smoke test would be good. I got one last Saturday and found a leak on the oil return tube. The o-ring was bulging out so it had a sizable gap. Never would have found it without the smoke.


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[jeenyus]

Today I got some injectors. Tapatalk just fucked up reply I typed up so I'll make this quick.

I got injectors that are made for a Ford Contour. Same shit as the m20 basically, it better.



Old ones were worthless. Dirty and old, probably my issue starting was a poor flowing injector(s).


How the old one sits in the rail and the new one.


Installed.

[mike.bmw]

Good call on the injectors!

Were the original ones single pintle? New ones multi-pintle?

[jeenyus]

Good call on the injectors!

Were the original ones single pintle? New ones multi-pintle?

yea the old ones were the cooked M20 injectors. They were toast. The new ones are actually 4hole. A much better injector, they are also more quiet AND cheaper than most alternatives i've seen.

So far so good with them too! Car feels awake.

[jeenyus]

I am sad to say though, that replacing my injectors, aside from being fucking awesome, didn't remedy my issue on startup.

The car will die when i put down the gas pedal, OR it will rev to a certain point and drop back down, then rev, drop back down, rev, drop back down till it settles and then it will work just fine. It's the weirdest thing.

Unplugging the battery actually remedies the issue for a while till the ECU "adapts" and then it fucks up again. I'm reading through my Bentley as if i'm doing scripture studies and i cannot figure it out. It could be the ECU, but i don't want to assume anything at this point since I've replaced a lot of shit erroneously.

[jeenyus]

Smh... this car.



Another day, another tow.

I wish I could post videos, but I guess I can't. Car was driving fine, then all of a sudden, died and had no gas pedal reaction. Tried to start again and it would turn them start (barely) then die, still no gas pedal reaction.

Car day for a while, while I was waiting for a tow and so I tried to start it again and the car wouldn't even crank at this point. Battery was fine cause my windows worked and everything else, just no reaction.

I don't understand how a car can go from running perfectly fine to completely dying without warning or obvious reason.

Sigh* any advise?

[jeenyus]

I FIGURED IT OUT!

The fuel pump wiring had a shit connection. A friend and i pulled it out last night and replaced the wiring with something more secure. Car is running solid now. I really think all my issues can probably be summed up in this issue alone. I'm excited though! Time to work on making the car look good i hope.

[ThatM20Guy]

I FIGURED IT OUT!

The fuel pump wiring had a shit connection. A friend and i pulled it out last night and replaced the wiring with something more secure. Car is running solid now. I really think all my issues can probably be summed up in this issue alone. I'm excited though! Time to work on making the car look good i hope.

Good to hear! I'm going to be doing some cosmetic upgrades pretty soon to...maybe...


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[jeenyus]

So I could feel that my fuel pressure still wasn't what I was hopeful my it would be after fixing the fuel pump. I decided to check the fuel filter line. Turns out, that fuel hose was avocado toast.





So I put some nice new hose in there and the car seems to be doing fine/better. I noticed the issue after I replaced the fuel filter. When I moved the filter, I could hear pressure releasing from the hose. It could very well be a reason for fuel backing out after the car has sat for a while.

While I was under there, I noticed a not so nice surprise the tow-guy must have left me...


Would you take a look at this shit? This was probably from the same tow I received that my blinker lens went missing. That tow also took me for a ride to his house to drop his wife off... maybe I should complain.