pssst, hey you! can you help me out?

[homE30grown]

my car is acting like shit and im tired of bumming rides around town. so it'd be cool if you guys can help me out. i'll try to be as descriptive as possible, the car is a 84 318i..

9 months ago, afm went out. i replaced it with another from a salvage yard and everything was perfect since.

now recently, i got the same symptoms from the first time it went out. but before i became certain that it was the afm, i removed the end from the intake box to see if the flange would open when i started it. while doing so, my friend (whose house the car was at) said that it wasnt opening. he would push the flange open, which then, the car would idle fine.

later that day, we attempted to get it into his driveway. when i tried to start it, a couple of the times the engine sounded like it was partially running or running on three cylinders etc. not before long, the afm was dead and so was the battery. the next day, i hit up the salvage yard and got the best looking afm i could find and charged my battery.

now it starts up, but only if i give it a good amount of gas. but now, it sounds like a cammed v8 or something i could only picture coming from something badass, not my sad little four banger! and in all truth, i did not run it like that no more than 10 seconds.

i ended up towing it back home since i was smart enough to not drive it like that also. i havent started it since, but i'd like to really soon. so if somebody can school me on this one, it'd be much appreciated.

thanks,
matt

[BigD]

Sounds like a dead or dying ICV. How does it behave off idle?

[RobertK]

i'll try to be as descriptive as possible, the car is a 84 318i.

^ Found the problem..

Seriously, try cleaning the ICV first with some carb cleaner and move it around some to see if that helps it.

[homE30grown]

well i bought some cleaner and cleaned the ICV. a good amount of buildup came out. i put it back on and the same shit happens.. enigne wont stay on unless i give it gas. also, a good amount of white smoke came from the exhaust as i kept it running. just a few minutes ago, i replaced the distributor cap and rotor to see if that would help, but it does the same thing. this sucks.

[BigD]

White smoke???? Does it smell sweet?

[homE30grown]

White smoke???? Does it smell sweet?

ya and a little skunkish.

[BigD]

ya and a little skunkish.

Your headgasket could be done, or worse. Get a compression test.

[porsche gt1]

yeah, white smoke = not good. Check your engine oil to see if it is a milky chocolate brown mix. If so you have a blown head gasket. I wouldn't turn it over if this is the case. I would just rip open the head and fix her.