M10 engine problems

[riverdale21]

Hey I've got an 318i with M10 engine that has been giving me greif.

The car will crank and idle real rough. Purcahsed the car wihout a distributor, installed a distributor (bentley manual correct process) with new cap, rotor, plugs. Also have replaced head gasket and fuel injectors.

The problem with the car isn't just the rough idle issue, idles about 900rpm. The car doesn't like to rev. It will crank but when giving it gas the engine will hesitate then slowly rev up. After full throttle when decellerating it will slowly come down to idle and most times will die right after. It won't rev above 4000 rpm without dying. What could be the culprit?

I'm guessing it's a fuel pump issue. I don't have a fuel pressure guage but I have a stethiscope. The fuel inlet makes a much louder noise than the outlet and when placed on the external fuel pump there is a ticking noise.

[peete]

Make sure there are no air leaks in the intake elbow or the ICV elbow.
Was this a new distributor? Old ones that have axial play will cause hesitation.

Make sure the door in the AFM moves freely.

Where are you located? I have a spare ECU you can borrow to see if that clears it up.

[riverdale21]

Found a leak at the ICV hose, replaced that. AFM flapper door has free movement. And cleaned the ICV, it also is functioning properly. The distributor was from the junk yard but has no play in the shaft, it spins freely. New cap, rotor, and plugs.

Also replaced the fuel pump and fuel pressure regulator, and put a few gallons of new fuel in the tank.

Still having the hesitation, and the car will barely idle.

Would a clogged catalytic converter cause this too? I disconnected the exhaust after the cat, as the catalyst is welded to the header, it runs a little smoother (maybe clogged muffler downstream I'll fix that when it's on the road). The car had been sitting for a couple of years before I decided to tackle it and try to get it road worthy.

Any more suggestions?

If I'm still having issues like this I'm just going to buy a new motor and toss it in and use this motor to rebuild into a 2.0 for boost.

On a side note:

I've got another 2.0 mechanical injected M10 laying around that may need a rebuild. While I was taking the mechanical injection off I noticed cylinder #3 was full of oil. The guy I got the engine from said it was an 87k mile rebuild from a wrecked 320i. Any reason the cylinder would be full of oil? Or in other words should I empty the cylinder and risk swapping the 2.0 (with 318i injection) in my car?

[riverdale21]

Where are you located? I have a spare ECU you can borrow to see if that clears it up.

I'm in Marietta, GA

[peete]

Definitely give the cat a try. I forgot about that. I have a spare cat that won't pass smog but it isn't clogged. You're welcome to troubleshoot with it. I plan to cut out the cat and install a "test pipe" since I'm coming up on antique status.The parts manager at Global is a big E30 M10 guy, he may have a spare manifold, Jon is his name.Have you done a compression test?Electrically test all of the injectors?Also, I wonder if the timing chain is severely stretched or possibly jumped timing? You could pull the tensioner and if it looks trashed maybe go from there.As for the oil in the cylinder it's most likely a worn out valve guide and seal.

[riverdale21]

Cut the exhaust off after the header. Sounds like a Harley when it does idle. But it's still difficult to crank and still dies.

[Jean]

also check the fpr and the vacuum line going to it if you haven't already. that was a problem on mine when it had problems revving past 3500rpm or so...