My First BMW - 1986 325es

[Conki]

No prob. The gauge I speak of is on the bottom of the Tachometer.
As for the penny, remove the hose at the inlet side of the ICV and insert it there and reclamp. I ran like that for a couple days till somebody clued me into the relay and fuse.
I would check the fuse first though.

Oh that... it is working fine and does not oscillate.
I'll check the fuses again, however I've done so about 2 weeks ago.

[Quadrajet]

When I initially checked fuses I just used a voltmeter and got a "false power". Later when I pulled the fuse I saw it was actually blown. Of course it was really late and frosty cold when I did the first test.

[Conki]

OMG.
When I bought the car I didn't have a manual yet, so I didn't know which fuses were for what circuit, but I checked them 1 by 1 anyway. There were 3 of them missing, but I thought they were not needed because of the model I have.
Every single fuse was good, and she ran just fine, so I didn't even worry about it since.
But then she started idling weird, and I couldn't figure out why.
Now because you mentioned it I checked my fuses again, but this time I had the Bentley Manual, and I realized I didn't have #9!
For now I put #7 in there instead, and I'm gonna buy some fuses later.
What I think that most likely have happened is that the PO didn't have another
fuse when #9 went out and he just jumped it, and then the wire fell out while I was driving...
As much as I hate him for this right now, I'm relieved that this wasn't a $200+ fix.

Thanks to everyone that have helped, given me ideas and took time to respond to my questions!

Now here are some pictures, standing in the parking lot idling fine:)

[Quadrajet]

I know that feeling of relief. Hope you enjoy your ride.
Besides that problem with mine, I had an early ECU that was junk, but didn't know it till after the idling problem was fixed.

[Conki]

OK now I got on the cat issue, and started a new thread about the question, this way hopefully more people can see it, and the answers will be displayed for everyone to see.

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?p=1472602

[Peterkaczynski]

nice find

[Conki]

OK so I just passed smog this Friday, all I needed was a stock air filter and a CA legal cat.

Before:


After:


I went to Pick-N-Pull during the Labor day weekend, it was 50% off of everything, that's where I got the air filter box from. Also, I picked up a front drivers side window to replace my current chipped one, I got some trim pieces I were missing, and now I finally have wiper arms so I can see something when it's raining. I replaced the deformed window trim, and painted one side black today, along with the mirrors:




And the treasure I'm happiest about is this piece of crackfree plastic, which I got from Pick-N-Pull for $30:)

[Vethen]

Nice looking car. Every collage kid's dream.

[Conki]

Nice looking car. Every collage kid's dream.

It was my dream car when I was a kid. The only thing that changed is that I got older.

Is it every college kid's dream? It sure mine is, but my brothers just call it a POS. I don't really care about their opinion while they all drive '90s auto Mustangs:) (almost 4L V6 and 150HP? makes me smile every time I think about it:) )

[Conki]

This past week's happenings:
The car was getting harder to start up, until it stopped starting up completely. I was afraid to check out the problem, because I didn't want to find anything expensive broken. I however forced myself to troubleshoot the problem, and I found the fuel pump relay to be broken, so I just switched it with the O2 Sensor heater's relay for now.
Two days later I was grocery shopping, and when I got back to my car, I successfully bent the key and cracked it half way through. I could bend it back, so I went to a locksmith right away, where they made me a copy after 3 failed tries:) Now I have a working key, yeah.
The next day I got new rear brake pads and performed my first brake pad replacement.
I noticed that the rear pad wear sensor is missing.

Yeah, this is my life right now, extremely busy and interesting.

[Conki]

2 days after I got the new key I bent that one as well, so I just ordered an original one from BMW which works perfectly.

Today I did something that I like a lot:)

Before:


After:


Crappy pictures, but what you should see is Euro smilies, Euro grill, and chrome kidneys!
Now I just have to find Euro bumpers and an M-tech 1 kit.
The high beams have to be adjusted, but the studs are really rusted and won't move. I think I'll just replace them with long bolts and try to make that work. Also the wiring is not hooked up yet.