Anyone in Hampton Roads know how to make a E30 run?

[raywillet]

Frustrated beyond belief, figured I'd reach out for some help.

Got an E30 with a blown head and some other funky things with the engine, figured I'd get another ebay Eta and throw it in there. After replacing the engine and an untold amount of things, I finally got it to start, but it idles like Chug-Chug-Chug, not smooth like an engine should. Wife is pissed that its not running, I'm tired of throwing parts at it, but I love the style of the E30 and I want to drive it!

Gonna go take another swing at it tomorrow night, got my Bentley and some tips off the board for where to start. If, once again, the car wins and I lose, I'm willing to pay anyone in food/beers/hookers or even cash to come make this thing run. Any takers?

[roguetoaster]

If in the unlikely case you do lose to the gremlins which have possessed your E30 I suggest you offer at minimum pictures of those hypothetical hookers for the amusement of your fellow r3vers.

But to actually get it fixed, and since most people here are lazy and do not like to drive their cars to help others, you should post up in the M20 section with some specifics.

For fun, my guess on the chug-chug would be mixed up plug wires or some other ignition malady. Good luck!

[ROLLingKING]

id drive down to help but your really far. im all the way in accokeek, md

what parts have u already thrown at it?

[irish44j]

chug-chug sounds like you're missing on 1 cylinder.

likely culprit: mixed up coils, or bad fuel injector.

pull the plug wires off one at a time with the car running. The bad cylinder will be the one that, when you pull the plug, it all stays the same. The good cylinders, when you pull the plug, will make the car miss even worse.

once you've determined which cylinder is bad, that makes the diagnosis much easier.

[raywillet]

id drive down to help but your really far. im all the way in accokeek, md

what parts have u already thrown at it?

All gaskets but head gasket
Dizzy/rotor/coil/wires
'New' ECU
Both of those damn sensors on the bellhousing
New injectors

chug-chug sounds like you're missing on 1 cylinder.

likely culprit: mixed up coils, or bad fuel injector.

pull the plug wires off one at a time with the car running. The bad cylinder will be the one that, when you pull the plug, it all stays the same. The good cylinders, when you pull the plug, will make the car miss even worse.

once you've determined which cylinder is bad, that makes the diagnosis much easier.

Would bad compression cause that? Or bad gas? Those thing I'm thinking about. Didn't get a chance to get in the garage today, my son turned 1 today, so it was all about him. Maybe tomorrow I can mess around.

[Kershaw]

1.
check for vacuum leaks.

2.
verify you have spark and verify you have gas at each cylinder.

unplug the spark plug wires one by one. it should change each time. if it doesnt, you have a problem. do this several times to verify.

once you've narrowed it down to 1 cylinder (or 2 or 3), pull the plug out. is it wet? if so, you have gas but no spark. is it dry? no gas.

if you dont have any gas, the fuel injector is probably clogged. you said you bought another engine/car. that means you have 12 injectors. great. start swapping in the other injectors into your problem cylinder until you find one that is not clogged.

you can pull the fuel rail easily. you only have to remove the valve cover. make sure you pull the fuel pump fuse (#11? verify.) and crank for a bit so you do spray fuel everywhere.

[gtdragon980]

videoooo

[irish44j]

Would bad compression cause that? Or bad gas? Those thing I'm thinking about. Didn't get a chance to get in the garage today, my son turned 1 today, so it was all about him. Maybe tomorrow I can mess around.

it could....bad gas would probably give you a no-start rather than misfire. Compression shouldn't cause it unless one cylinder is TOTALLY shot. But compression is easy enough to check.

[German_STIG]

Are you trying to start it with the maf in the boot or outside the boot I know when I did my swap the car did not like starting with the maf not inside the boot to the throttle body. If i was there i would stop buy since you are in my neck of the woods. but im out of town tell the 4.

[owwwch]

wrong firing order

[buguhrich]

I've got a buddy that works at Performance Buick in Chesapeake who owns a couple e30's and could help you out for the right price (usually maker's mark will convince him)