Strange idle issue - very loud - please help!

[Bimmerfanatik]

Ok, So one of the board guys (FifeDog236) asked for my help and garage space for his new iX timing belt, water pump, acc belts, and tstat.

We ran into a few semi -normal issues, but solved them - radiator drain plug broke, got that out no problem, needed a flat 32mm wrench for the fan clutch, mine was "misplaced", had the wrong water pump and fan clutch (came with the car.)

So we button it all up, and it went rough, but we got there. Lots of busted knuckles, and pretty much every single bolt was put on using air tools, so it took a lot of work breaking them all free.

We start the car, and the idle sounds terrible - very loud, almost like valves, but not quite. Of course, there's the thought that we messed the timing up - but we checked it 3 or even 4 times - everything was PERFECTLY lined up! The car revved fine, and sounded fairly smooth. But at idle, it sounds truly awful.

The ONLY source of the problem I can come up with is that during all the work, the old brittle pulse sensor on plug #6 wire broke right the heck off. We attemted to tape it back on for now (he has IE wires coming) but it didn't seem to help - perhaps a little when held tightly.

My question is, would the car idle terribly if that wire wasn't on there? And if not, would the car rev fine and idle like crap if the timing was off? Also, it never got up to temp - we wanted to check on here before letting it go too far.

PLEASE help - the car is stuck at my garage waiting for some light to be shed! Thank you!

[Bimmerfanatik]

Solved! It was the sensor wire. Just a note for anyone else searching and finding this - replace it, you'll feel a lot better knowing the timing is fine!

[PiercedE30]

Do you have a picture of the sensor wire?
I just replace my timing belt/head and I have checked the valve clearences and it is loud as hell. Same things that you have said.

[Bimmerfanatik]

Do you have a picture of the sensor wire?
I just replace my timing belt/head and I have checked the valve clearences and it is loud as hell. Same things that you have said.

Let me see if I can find one, but it's real easy to describe. The spark plug wire that is closest to the front of your car, the #6 plug wire, has a wire attached to it. It goes to the other side of the engine and is plugged into a connector. That's the pulse sensor wire. See if it's properly attached to the #6 wire.

[PiercedE30]

I thought it was supposed to be attached to the #1 sensor wire......... :?

[Bimmerfanatik]

I thought it was supposed to be attached to the #1 sensor wire......... :?

Nope - cylinder closest to firewall is #1, closest to front of car is 6 :)

[PiercedE30]

WTF!
Damn, now I may know what is going on........damn tricky-ness stuff.....
Ok, I will hook up the sensor to correct wire, and put the plug wires in the correct place......damn, got too excited about getting my car FINALLY running .....thanks for the info man....probably one of the most usefull things so far.
by myself!

[Bimmerfanatik]

WTF!
Damn, now I may know what is going on........damn tricky-ness stuff.....
Ok, I will hook up the sensor to correct wire, and put the plug wires in the correct place......damn, got too excited about getting my car FINALLY running .....thanks for the info man....probably one of the most usefull things so far.
by myself!

Just to clarify, the cylinder order, looking at the engine from the passenger side, is 1 2 3 4 5 6.

Hope I've helped... :) Let us know how it all works out!

[PiercedE30]

Most deffinitely will do.
Here are some quick snaps of my engine bay from earlier this evening.


Car is dirty as hell though.

[Bimmerfanatik]

Most deffinitely will do.
Here are some quick snaps of my engine bay from earlier this evening.


Car is dirty as hell though.

ROCK ON BURGUNDROT! :) My euro and my parts cars are burgundrot :)

What'd you use to paint the roundels? Looks clean to me man.

[PiercedE30]

Actually, its a really shitty calypsorot.....its bad, it's been resprayed at some point because there is clear coat flaking behind the rear passenger door.
But yea, I just used the Dupli-Color Engine Enamel.
I used the semi-gloss black, universal white, and ............ Ford Blue......it matched the roundels pretty well. I used some aluminum color paint I had laying around for the airbox. It made the engine bay look sooo much cleaner with it all painted and not gunky looking. I can't see how I liked it unpainted. I will take better pictures tommorrow afternoon when I get a chance to do the work.

[Bimmerfanatik]

Actually, its a really shitty calypsorot.....its bad, it's been resprayed at some point because there is clear coat flaking behind the rear passenger door.
But yea, I just used the Dupli-Color Engine Enamel.
I used the semi-gloss black, universal white, and ............ Ford Blue......it matched the roundels pretty well. I used some aluminum color paint I had laying around for the airbox. It made the engine bay look sooo much cleaner with it all painted and not gunky looking. I can't see how I liked it unpainted. I will take better pictures tommorrow afternoon when I get a chance to do the work.

You arent kidding about being a really shitty calypsorot ;) That needs a good buffing to say the least.

Nice work on the engine bay - post some more pics tomorrow.

[PiercedE30]

Hopefully sometime around February I will be getting a new paint job, inclunding inside the engine bay, hardcore style spray. Maybe Diamondshwarz or Lachsilber, or, still a possibility, Cinnabar(?).
I will deffinitely be posting pictures everywhere tommorrow.

[Bimmerfanatik]

Hopefully sometime around February I will be getting a new paint job, inclunding inside the engine bay, hardcore style spray. Maybe Diamondshwarz or Lachsilber, or, still a possibility, Cinnabar(?).
I will deffinitely be posting pictures everywhere tommorrow.

Or respray in calypso, possibly the hottest E30 color ever. :)

Then again, paint jobs are a waste of money because they don't help you drive any better on your local autox days. So you should probably just buy some bushings instead.

;)

[AdamF 88iS]

You got your cylender order backwards. #1 is at the front of the car. You are correct that the sensor ring goes on #6 though.