I have an '84 318i that I turned into a LeMons track car (all stock). In the last race the car lost power at the end of the day. The driver thought the car was low on gas, so I took it back out with a full tank and a loud clunking noise started from what sounded like the bottom part of the engine. The car didn't have enough power to get into third gear either. After reading the Bentley manual, I came to the conclusion that a connecting rod was about to fail.
I finally got a chance to start fixing the car (about 1 month after the race). While running the car to move it onto my lift, I no longer hear the clunking noise. I also installed an oil pressure gauge and the engine is getting between 50 and 60 psi at idle. I drained the oil and no metal shavings came out. I also removed the oil pan and there were no pieces of metal either. There was a loose bolt laying in the oil pan about the size of an oil pan bolt, but a little longer. I didn't see anything else that looked like a problem.
What should be my next route? tear down the engine and inspect the connecting rods, or can that be done by looking through the oil pan opening somehow?
I finally got a chance to start fixing the car (about 1 month after the race). While running the car to move it onto my lift, I no longer hear the clunking noise. I also installed an oil pressure gauge and the engine is getting between 50 and 60 psi at idle. I drained the oil and no metal shavings came out. I also removed the oil pan and there were no pieces of metal either. There was a loose bolt laying in the oil pan about the size of an oil pan bolt, but a little longer. I didn't see anything else that looked like a problem.
What should be my next route? tear down the engine and inspect the connecting rods, or can that be done by looking through the oil pan opening somehow?
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