Hi all,
I recently let my friend drive my e30 when his car was in the repair shop. He called me tonight to tell me the E30 was not doing so well. Here's the (long) story...
He was driving home from work today and was running low on gas. He was just above the empty line when he noticed the engine was running rough. It idled poor, bad throttle response, and had vibrations. He got it to the gas station and filled it up with 91 octane, but the condition did not improve. Because the car was within a few miles of his house he drove it home.
He called me and I drove over to his house after dinner. Prior to starting the car, I inspected the engine bay for any "easy to find" problems. I didn't find any vacuum leaks, oil leaks, missing/loose components, etc. etc. I then started the car and observed the engine noises. Not only was it idling rough (sounded like a misfire?), but the car made a significant more amount of noise when the clutch was out (and in neutral). I believe this could be the throw-out bearing, but I'm wondering how the condition worsened so in 1 week. Finally, I noticed that the oil light was on in the car. This wasn't too uncommon as it seemed every 3-4 weeks, I would add <1 qt.
At this point I was pretty worried so I pulled all of the spark plugs out to inspect. All of them look satisfactory and remain consistent across all 6 cylinders. I then performed compression test which yielded 160psi across the board.
After messing around with all of the connectors on the intake manifold, the spark plug wires and ignition coil, I started it up again. It seems the misfiring issue was reduced/eliminated, but it just didn't feel the same. I decided to take the car for a short drive around the neighborhood. There is definitely more drive train noise then i remember. Also, the car doesn't idle as consistent as it did.
Sorry for the long rant, but I'm wondering if these issues could be related and what I should try next.
The car iis an '89 325i vert that has just over 240,000.
For reference, I have replaced the following less than 2,000 miles ago.
-Oil
-Spark Plugs
-Air Filter
Please help!
Evan
I recently let my friend drive my e30 when his car was in the repair shop. He called me tonight to tell me the E30 was not doing so well. Here's the (long) story...
He was driving home from work today and was running low on gas. He was just above the empty line when he noticed the engine was running rough. It idled poor, bad throttle response, and had vibrations. He got it to the gas station and filled it up with 91 octane, but the condition did not improve. Because the car was within a few miles of his house he drove it home.
He called me and I drove over to his house after dinner. Prior to starting the car, I inspected the engine bay for any "easy to find" problems. I didn't find any vacuum leaks, oil leaks, missing/loose components, etc. etc. I then started the car and observed the engine noises. Not only was it idling rough (sounded like a misfire?), but the car made a significant more amount of noise when the clutch was out (and in neutral). I believe this could be the throw-out bearing, but I'm wondering how the condition worsened so in 1 week. Finally, I noticed that the oil light was on in the car. This wasn't too uncommon as it seemed every 3-4 weeks, I would add <1 qt.
At this point I was pretty worried so I pulled all of the spark plugs out to inspect. All of them look satisfactory and remain consistent across all 6 cylinders. I then performed compression test which yielded 160psi across the board.
After messing around with all of the connectors on the intake manifold, the spark plug wires and ignition coil, I started it up again. It seems the misfiring issue was reduced/eliminated, but it just didn't feel the same. I decided to take the car for a short drive around the neighborhood. There is definitely more drive train noise then i remember. Also, the car doesn't idle as consistent as it did.
Sorry for the long rant, but I'm wondering if these issues could be related and what I should try next.
The car iis an '89 325i vert that has just over 240,000.
For reference, I have replaced the following less than 2,000 miles ago.
-Oil
-Spark Plugs
-Air Filter
Please help!
Evan
I know that doesn't help with the drivetrain noises... :(
Comment