85 318i Issues

[Hey_You]

Haha, my foot was off the go pedal until it started to stumble back to life, then I fluttered it to bring up the RPM's, so I wasn't just mashing on it the whole time. I'll check my plugs, see what they look like. It usually smells like fuel somewhat when it first starts anyways, but this time it was MUCH more noticeable. I'll also check my plug wires, coil connection, and my fuel relay connection just to make sure.
Also, I had just driven for 45 minutes, so the engine was far from cold. Not sure if that makes a difference in it

[Jaxx_]

check the cold resistance of your coil, then heat soak it(idle with hood down for a while) and see if it changes. If it does, it's time to get a new spark coil.

If you can have it happen again with the hood open, it might not be something over heating.

I had this issue when my coil was dying, stopped to get some pizza after driving home and when I went to start it it would hardly fire. I ended up flooding the cyls (got a tow home) and the next day it fired up without issues. The coil issue could not be replicated with the hood open and my fan on. resistance was out of spec on the coil when measured with a multimeter. Often, it's only worse with it warm.(especially being right next to the exhaust manifold) Megasquirt solved the issue. ;)

[crazyman]

Yeah the other thing that I forgot to ask was if he ever put the timing back to factory spec's. Cus he advanced it a bit to squeeze a little more power out of it. If he never put it back, that's probably going to be the cause of why it died and why he had to have his foot on the floor before it started up.

[Jaxx_]

Yeah the other thing that I forgot to ask was if he ever put the timing back to factory spec's. Cus he advanced it a bit to squeeze a little more power out of it. If he never put it back, that's probably going to be the cause of why it died and why he had to have his foot on the floor before it started up.

if it was too advanced he would be getting backfires though the intake.

[crazyman]

Hey guy's sorry about that last post I did with timing the thing. My computer is retarded and never loaded the whole page. So I wound up not seeing the last couple of post you guy's did. If you have like an extra $40 I would just replace the coil with an msd, in my own opinion. I did that a few months back and got a little more gas mileage. When I did the only real thing I noticed is that it ran smoother.

[Hey_You]

Well, today while driving the bronze bomber was having some spark blowout issues cruising up to my parents. It would happen at about 3500+ rpm or above half throttle. I had just reset my timing close to stock the day before and hadn't had any issues with it. I managed to almost make it to where I was heading when I caught a red light. When I put it in neutral, my car imediately stalled, and I pushed it into a parking lot. After that, I went ahead and replaced my spark plugs, still no life, checked my coil wire; corroded at the coil side and broke when I pulled it out at both ends. Replaced my coil wire. Still no life. Replaced my coil, and STILL no firing. The old man and I checked for spark, which we are definately getting. We are definately getting fuel because that's all I can smell, and when I pulled the new plugs to check for spark, they were covered in it. I tried to advance my timing again, but it still won't fire and run. Could I have possibly skipped a tooth on my timing chain? Would valved being out of adjustment have this big of an effect? Car is now towed to my parents (where I normally work on it) but I'm without my own vehicle until I can get her running.

[Beach Bum]

What is the spark plug gap? Also, check the coil voltage to see just how strong your spark is.

[Hey_You]

Gap is eye-balled to about .030" (as close to my old ones as I could get without my gapper, it was a parking lot repair afterall) and the coil is a MSD Blaster 3...should not be any issues with spark. (Visually tested, haven't hooked up the voltometer to it)

[crazyman]

What is your compression on it? That could also be a culprit. Since you say you have fuel and spark, I would be looking to see if you might have a bad head gasket. That is starting to let enough water in to keep it from firing. If you need the specs for testing the coil I can give it to you cus I'm running the exact same coil in mine.

[Hey_You]

Is there a crank position sensor on these old m10's?

[Beach Bum]

Is there a crank position sensor on these old m10's?

No.

[Hey_You]

Did a compression test today, not holding compression across the board. Looks like my headgasket popped. Either going to repair it, or get ready for a swap, still need to do some more research

[crazyman]

What swap are you thinking about doing?

[Hey_You]

Found a donor 86' 535i for...$200. Tranny is bad, but mine is still good :)

[Farbin Kaiber]

You do know that bad compression all across the block can also be due to excessive fucking with valve clearance.


I'm so done with this thread, take it to a shop, pay the diagnostic, stop being a dumbass.