Picked up a $600 automatic 89 325i for a 24 Hours of Lemons car.
The car takes a good 10 seconds of cranking before very slowly sputtering to life when cold. Once running, it runs with a pretty decent idle, doesn't lope or sound like it's missing too bad, it will idle all day without really any hiccups. But if you try to give it throttle, it will usually stall, or try very hard to. If you very, very slowly get into the throttle, it will usually sputter its way up to 2k or so and rev pretty good at that point, but under any load (while driving), it will cut out and miss pretty bad, to the point where it's not really drivable.
This doesn't go away until about 30+ minutes of running. Then, it runs like it's got a freshly rebuilt engine. Pulls very hard, idles great, no hesitation, no smoke. So it appears to be a full engine temp symptom, not just a coolant temp symptom. With coolant up to temp, say 10 minutes of running, the issue is still there, until the entire engine is actually hot, after 30+ minutes of running.
Things new on the car before we bought it: FPR, fuel filter, plugs, cap, rotor, wires. The head was also 'rebuilt' 1 year ago. Apparently the rockers and cam were replaced, and the PO said the cam had significant scoring on it when he removed it, hence the replacement. I take anything he said with a grain of salt, as although he was familiar with e30's, he was not an expert by any means. He claims he smoke tested it and found no leaks.
Things I've checked so far:
TPS - Idle switch works (cont. between 2 & 18 with throttle closed, no cont. with throttle open), WOT switch does not (not continuity at WOT).
CPS - 560 ohms
ICV - 20 ohms between each coil, 40 ohms between both coils, moves freely)
Temp sensor (DME) - Only checked this after ~15 minutes of running, temp was probably 160ish degrees, got 400 ohms, which is about right.
I'm thinking a few things:
1. Valves adjusted way too tight. But, it idles pretty good, even when cold, so I'm hesitant with this theory.
2. Compression issue. Again, with the good cold idle, this doesn't sound like the issue.
3. AFM
4. Vacuum leak
5. Injector issue(s)
Any other ideas, or suggestions of what to start with? We only get so many chances to work on it, as once we play with it for 30 minutes or so, it's up to temp and will run great until cold again. Just trying to get this sorted with minimal time/labor.
Thanks!
The car takes a good 10 seconds of cranking before very slowly sputtering to life when cold. Once running, it runs with a pretty decent idle, doesn't lope or sound like it's missing too bad, it will idle all day without really any hiccups. But if you try to give it throttle, it will usually stall, or try very hard to. If you very, very slowly get into the throttle, it will usually sputter its way up to 2k or so and rev pretty good at that point, but under any load (while driving), it will cut out and miss pretty bad, to the point where it's not really drivable.
This doesn't go away until about 30+ minutes of running. Then, it runs like it's got a freshly rebuilt engine. Pulls very hard, idles great, no hesitation, no smoke. So it appears to be a full engine temp symptom, not just a coolant temp symptom. With coolant up to temp, say 10 minutes of running, the issue is still there, until the entire engine is actually hot, after 30+ minutes of running.
Things new on the car before we bought it: FPR, fuel filter, plugs, cap, rotor, wires. The head was also 'rebuilt' 1 year ago. Apparently the rockers and cam were replaced, and the PO said the cam had significant scoring on it when he removed it, hence the replacement. I take anything he said with a grain of salt, as although he was familiar with e30's, he was not an expert by any means. He claims he smoke tested it and found no leaks.
Things I've checked so far:
TPS - Idle switch works (cont. between 2 & 18 with throttle closed, no cont. with throttle open), WOT switch does not (not continuity at WOT).
CPS - 560 ohms
ICV - 20 ohms between each coil, 40 ohms between both coils, moves freely)
Temp sensor (DME) - Only checked this after ~15 minutes of running, temp was probably 160ish degrees, got 400 ohms, which is about right.
I'm thinking a few things:
1. Valves adjusted way too tight. But, it idles pretty good, even when cold, so I'm hesitant with this theory.
2. Compression issue. Again, with the good cold idle, this doesn't sound like the issue.
3. AFM
4. Vacuum leak
5. Injector issue(s)
Any other ideas, or suggestions of what to start with? We only get so many chances to work on it, as once we play with it for 30 minutes or so, it's up to temp and will run great until cold again. Just trying to get this sorted with minimal time/labor.
Thanks!
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