Some sweet cam carnage!

[soates4]

I recently picked up my first e30, and 2nd BMW. (first was an e28) I traded the car for an old mercedes diesel i had, that i was very fond of but grew very tired of how slow it was, and the fact it couldn't get out of its own way. So i took the trade offer. 1988 Vert 325i black, paint is okay, interior near perfect, and engine.. im sure you can guess. What i thought was just a simple misfire turned out to be more, i took off the valve cover and found the source of my issue. cylinder 1 intake cam lobe. oh well, still looking for a cam if anyone has one!

[Exodus_2pt0]

Holy shit.

[MX339]

Your best bet is a brand new camshaft. I know most Spec E30 guys tend to buy a new cam when it comes time to refresh the head. Lobes wear down as they age and you lose lift. A new one isn't too pricey at all; $173 from our good friend Blunt.

Whoops, forgot the link: https://www.blunttech.com/products/2389678

[flyboyx]

oy! i have never seen an m20 cam that looked that bad. it appears to be worn flat. your cheapest option would be to go to a pick a part junk yard. i think they sell cams for about 30 bucks.

you are going to want to change the rocker arm too. possible that could be a defective cam but if you have the resources, it might be a good idea to take the pan off the bottom of the engine and look at your main bearings. don't remove a connecting rod cap unless you know you need to. those bolts are one time use and would need to be replaced.

[Ether-D]

I think that valve must be bent or something has seized. If that was the only one like that, it would have to be that or defective cam. Make sure that valve is mobile. Something's fucky here.

[flyboyx]

possibly the oil passage in the head is clogged for that lobe.

[SkiFree]

"defective cam" Nope, chilled iron is chilled iron it'll wear evenly unless subjected to some outside "defect". Once you burn through that outer layer it just starts to melt away exponentially.

I'm also going to say oiling or lack thereof. (possibly in combination with infrequent oil changes in conjunction with oil not containing zddp).

[soates4]

my cylinder one plug had oil on it, the rest looked like average carbon build up. would there be any correlation between the cam and oil getting into the cylinder, or just worn valve seals or rings?

[Exodus_2pt0]

Oil on the plug was probably because it wasn't firing.

I would slap another head on it and call it a day. 885's haven't become THAT hard to come by have they?

[soates4]

its more of me being a financially independent college student, just trying to find the best deals!

[TobyB]

Holy shit.

Yeah, that's about 4x worse than I've ever seen... or done...

Just one? I bet 3 or 4 more show some signs if it's oiling.

If it's really just one, I might suspect either something got in there,
OR a rocker slider was really wrong- they do sometimes have defects.

If you replace with good used, get the rockers too. If you replace with new,
do the rockers too, or at least get the old ones refaced. And use a break- in oil.

t

[AllydNYC]

Relevant tshirt: http://www.blipshift.com/

[marshallnoise]

I would ditch the head.

[TobyB]

Whole car. I'll come get it, just hang tight.

heh

t

[soates4]

Already rebuilt the head, bought a head off of some kid and was able to salvage the cam an rocker shafts which had low miles both looked great. new valve seals, cleaned valves, and new rocker arms. checked head for warpage, and it checked out!