M20B23 Identity Crisis
First post! Hit a wall with this and finally had to quit lurking and register..
Anyhoo, I've got an '85 euro E30 with some fueling issues that have so far eluded me. I originally purchased this with the intention of making it my daily driver but haven't had a helluva lot of time to sort it out to the point where I feel comfortable parting ways with my current (Japanese.. I know) car. So it's sortof become an every-other-daily driver during the weeks when it isn't in the garage with some of its guts laid out on the work bench.
I won't go into the details of my EFI woes in this thread - that's a long story for another time. My immediate problem is that of my Cold Start Valve (aka Cold Start Injector or Starter Valve) or puzzling lack thereof.
See, I'm fairly certain this car is supposed to be equipped with one - the '85 323i should have an M20B23 with L-Jetronic fuel injection. L-Jetronic systems use a Cold Start Valve to enrich the mixture upon a cold start. My Bosch fuel injection book says so and so does the UK Haynes manual I found, the latter even has a procedure section about removing it but the b & w photo is too zoomed in to give any context for where the thing is supposed to live or what it really looks like. That Haynes book is a shit manual compared to the Bentley but I can only use the Bentley for things common to US models and the EFI on an M20B23 isn't one of them. The Bosch book is quite detailed but it talks about L-Jetronic in a generic, multi-application sense that's not specific to a certain car. Regardless, both books have similar diagrams that each indicate a Cold Start Injector should be kicking about somewhere.
When you enter in the last 7 digits of my VIN (9604914) to RealOEM, it tends to agree and lists a "Starter Valve" on both the Intake Manifold and the Fuel Injection System schematics as item #7 on the former and #9 on the latter:
Great, right? So, while doing some L-Jetronic research/diagnosis on my lunch break at work I go ahead and order one (P/N 13641285087 from RealOEM, 0280170043 equivalent on AutoHausAZ) without waiting to get home and actually look at my old one. Whoops.
Imagine my surprise when, once the new one had arrived, I couldn't seem to find and old one to replace with it! Not only that, but I can't even find where this thing is supposed to mount. The first diagram above seems to imply that it would bolt up to the "Connection Flange" listed as item #5 in the Intake Manifold diagram from RealOEM. Am I wrong?
Well, as it turns out, that face on the Connection Flange is blanked out on my manifold. I can see some features in the casting that would allow for the mounting holes to be reamed out and tapped but there's no hole for the nozzle/barrel of the Cold Start Valve to plunge into or the o-ring to seat in, just a flat circle about the size of a quarter.
Sooo, I'm perplexed. Does anyone know what this might mean? Is this blanked out Connection Flange typical of any other M20 variation? Is there a way to tell at a glance if this is in fact the 2.3 euro engine? Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the diagram and the Cold Start Valve is buried elsewhere? Any tips on pursuing this further?
Anyhoo, I've got an '85 euro E30 with some fueling issues that have so far eluded me. I originally purchased this with the intention of making it my daily driver but haven't had a helluva lot of time to sort it out to the point where I feel comfortable parting ways with my current (Japanese.. I know) car. So it's sortof become an every-other-daily driver during the weeks when it isn't in the garage with some of its guts laid out on the work bench.
I won't go into the details of my EFI woes in this thread - that's a long story for another time. My immediate problem is that of my Cold Start Valve (aka Cold Start Injector or Starter Valve) or puzzling lack thereof.
See, I'm fairly certain this car is supposed to be equipped with one - the '85 323i should have an M20B23 with L-Jetronic fuel injection. L-Jetronic systems use a Cold Start Valve to enrich the mixture upon a cold start. My Bosch fuel injection book says so and so does the UK Haynes manual I found, the latter even has a procedure section about removing it but the b & w photo is too zoomed in to give any context for where the thing is supposed to live or what it really looks like. That Haynes book is a shit manual compared to the Bentley but I can only use the Bentley for things common to US models and the EFI on an M20B23 isn't one of them. The Bosch book is quite detailed but it talks about L-Jetronic in a generic, multi-application sense that's not specific to a certain car. Regardless, both books have similar diagrams that each indicate a Cold Start Injector should be kicking about somewhere.
When you enter in the last 7 digits of my VIN (9604914) to RealOEM, it tends to agree and lists a "Starter Valve" on both the Intake Manifold and the Fuel Injection System schematics as item #7 on the former and #9 on the latter:
Great, right? So, while doing some L-Jetronic research/diagnosis on my lunch break at work I go ahead and order one (P/N 13641285087 from RealOEM, 0280170043 equivalent on AutoHausAZ) without waiting to get home and actually look at my old one. Whoops.
Imagine my surprise when, once the new one had arrived, I couldn't seem to find and old one to replace with it! Not only that, but I can't even find where this thing is supposed to mount. The first diagram above seems to imply that it would bolt up to the "Connection Flange" listed as item #5 in the Intake Manifold diagram from RealOEM. Am I wrong?
Well, as it turns out, that face on the Connection Flange is blanked out on my manifold. I can see some features in the casting that would allow for the mounting holes to be reamed out and tapped but there's no hole for the nozzle/barrel of the Cold Start Valve to plunge into or the o-ring to seat in, just a flat circle about the size of a quarter.
Sooo, I'm perplexed. Does anyone know what this might mean? Is this blanked out Connection Flange typical of any other M20 variation? Is there a way to tell at a glance if this is in fact the 2.3 euro engine? Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the diagram and the Cold Start Valve is buried elsewhere? Any tips on pursuing this further?
Comment