New guy, just picked up my first E30!

[blunttech]

Mine was ruff idling and it was the cam position sensor

uhhhhhhhh

[Ether-D]

^We all thought it, we just let it go this time…

[Andy.B]

Welcome to e30 ownership. Do your self a huge favor and buy three things now that will save you a bunch of money in the long run:
A Bentley manual, a decent volt meter, and a fuel pressure gauge.

If you start throwing parts at the car, you're going to spend a fortune that could be saved for better things. Make sure you know it's bad before you replace it, and dinner be afraid to buy used parts to save money.

For the check lights that at on, check for corrosion on the plugs at the sensors, check for appropriate voltage/ground, and then remove and clean the sensors themselves. It is rare for the sensors like the oil level sensor to fail, but a northern car will get grungy and corroded, causing problems.

For the window motor: pull the motor out, remove the cover, and clean and lube it. The support bearings gum up over time, but can usually be freed up.

For the idle problems, take your Bentley, volt meter, and fuel pressure gauge, and start going through all the fuel system checks. The 325e is a more complex system than later cars, with two separate computers, and multiple sensors. If everything tests out OK, then you likely have an intake leak. You can pay to get it diagnosed, or you can save your money, and just buy handful of gaskets and seals and reseal the entire intake to rule out any leaks, which can be done in an afternoon.

Do yourself a favor, and unless you have proof the timing belt was done recently, do the timing belt and water pump asap. It's a relatively easy job, and is critical maintenance on the m20.

[Derfernerf]

Thanks Andy! Looks like I need to get my hands on a Bentley manual! I have a multimeter and fuel pressure gauge. I'm about to start my last year of college for automotive tech, so I'd like to think I'm pretty mechanically inclined, however everything I've learned has been OBDII which makes things easy. Like I said, everything I've done has been pretty simple. Filling fluids, light is still on. That's about as far as I've gotten

I haven't had much time to look at the car all week as my wonderful pug decided to bring fleas into the house, but this evening and all day tomorrow I'll be getting into it.

Its nice to be pointed in the right direction, will be picking up a Bentley manual ASAP

[Derfernerf]

Alright so I finally got her on the road. I'm having what seems like a misfire due to bad spark. It's doing the same thing my Mazda did when the plug wires were bad. Random loss of power/power gain, So I'm thinking I'll do plugs and wires and see what that gets me. I'm also having an idle issue, when I start it in the morning it idles around 1200 (outside temp is roughly 40*) and then by the time I get to work the idle in gear seems to be high (about 800-900) and I have to press the brakes harder than normal to keep the car still (could be because the brakes are shot though, kit from ESC coming soon). But when I get to work, and the engine is warmed up, when I shift into park, idle shoots up to about 2000. So I'm kinda thrown off on that. Any suggestions as where to start?