Messages

1

Engine management / Re: Crankase pushing out too much oil.

« on: March 01, 2015, 10:28:15 AM »

I was considering a catch can for mine to keep the intake a little cleaner. I saw an article where someone cleverly used an inline air compressor filter.

I'm not sure why these motors are so oily, but mine leaks a lot too...both internally and externally. I'd figure it's mostly ring blow-by during cold starts, as the motor doesn't burn much oil. Deleting the "mess under the intake" helped a bit but I noted significantly less intake mess after switching to a thinker oil. I'm using synthetic 15w50 currently. My used oil analysis picked up high levels of wear metals with the 5w20 I had been using previously. The thicker oil cleared that up promptly but it wasn't all good. My fuel mileage took a significant hit - I lost 2mpg with the thicker oil.

Any pics on the hose delete? I am definitely interested. I am running 0w-40 for winter, though I am about to switch back to the BMW 5w-30. Kind of sucks seeing as my motor only has 10k on it, but I've tested everything and it reads good compression. I've pretty much declared that it has to be the nature of the motor.

2

Engine management / Crankase pushing out too much oil.

« on: February 26, 2015, 01:23:55 PM »

You all might have seen my previous posts about my issues that include quite a bit of oil burning. I am seeing a lot of oil in the intake boot/throttle body, and my ICV seems to be getting gummed up very quickly. Since the car does not actually have a pcv valve, just a vent hose; what do you think could be causing so much oil to be vented through? I recently compression and block tested my car, and both tests came back fine.

3

For Sale / Re: WTB: Alpine White 318is or 318i Slicktop would be Cherry

« on: January 24, 2015, 12:13:15 PM »

Hey man I have a sterling silver metallic slicktop for sale. Here is my craigslist ad: http://smd.craigslist.org/cto/4861539257.html.
Please read the whole ad because there are some important bits.

4

For Sale / [FS] My 1991 318is

« on: January 24, 2015, 12:10:16 PM »

Hey guys, I'm just going to post my craigslist ad here. $4,750 OBO.

http://smd.craigslist.org/cto/4861539257.html

5

Engine management / Re: Could this be causing some of my problems?

« on: January 10, 2015, 04:43:39 PM »

Thanks. I recently replaced my ICV so maybe I lost the plug when I was fiddling with the intake boot. Do you think that it is sucking in unmetered air and could cause any issues?

6

Engine management / Could this be causing some of my problems?

« on: January 09, 2015, 03:55:07 PM »

So I was investigating my ongoing engine management problem(s) and found that this hose fitting is disconnected. It is located underneath the intake boot where it connects to the plenum. I found that there is oil mist coming from it, so I'd assume that it has to do with the PCV. Anyone know what it does, and if it could be causing any issues?

7

Engine + Driveline / Re: Mysterious Oil Consumption ???

« on: December 17, 2014, 07:48:24 PM »

Well OP, you're not the only one with this problem. I bought a super clean 318is with a rebuilt motor from a trusted source and cannot figure out why I am consuming so much oil. No leaks, nothing comes out of the tail pipe, etc. can't figure it out. Motor was properly broken in and everything.

Edit: Maybe it could be blow-by? Dear god I hope not. I have a long crank at times even with a pretty new starter in the car, and my oil does look a little blacker than it should. 

8

Engine + Driveline / Re: [Kind of Solved] Out of Ideas on Why My Car Won't Run Right

« on: December 17, 2014, 07:43:52 PM »

Kef's link is definitely it. The single wire they're talking about is an additional connection required for some Euro cars. It was unplugged when the car left the factory but it looks like it should be connected. It's just two matched connectors sitting in the wiring loom on the firewall. It's an easy mistake to plug it in if you've made any changes. When the wire is connected it disables the O2 signal input and replaces it with the CO potentiometer from the AFM. It's for non-catalyst cars only. As you can imagine, no US cars will have a correctly adjusted CO pot...I'm not even sure US cars had the proper AFM with that adjuster...so our cars will run very poorly.

@OP: find & eliminate vac leaks first, consider doing the hose delete mod, then check or just replace the O2 sensor, then test your fuel pressure. Did you do a stomp test yet? Not the greatest diagnostic ever, but they can be helpful. I'm betting you'll get a 1221 or 1222; caused by a vac leak in the ICV hose or that rat's nest of intake & heater hoses.

If it's not any of those common problems, feel free to mess with the AFM. I'm no expert, but every time I've played with an AFM it's made the car worse. I'm not saying it's impossible, but these cars don't lean out or richen up based on the AFM/venturi door position like older Bosch CIS/K-Jet/L-Jet systems. Once the car is warmed up and running in closed-loop, Motronic will use the O2 sensor to compensate for any changes to the AFM. Our 1.7 is also an adaptive system and can change fueling parameters on the fly. If the AFM door spring is too loose, those changes will be unpredictable.

Thanks for the response. I'm going to go do a stomp test and check again for vacuum leaks.

Edit: Stomp test didn't work, maybe I have a bad TPS? I'm pretty sure I don't have a 153 ECU seeing as my car is a '91.

Edit 2: So now my issue seems to be isolated to crappy throttle response. When I jab the throttle it hesitates for a split second, and the car doesn't seem to have the same amount of getup and go. It does get better after 2 or 3 pulls. At this point I don't know what to replace. It could be AFM, o2 sensor, TPS, or the FPR. I have already checked for vac leaks and couldn't find any. I also have some random long crank times. Other than that it hot starts perfectly and doesn't idle horribly.

9

Engine + Driveline / [Kind of Solved] Out of Ideas on Why My Car Won't Run Right

« on: December 14, 2014, 08:35:00 PM »

Hey guys, first post which is unfortunately not a positive one. When I bought my '91 318is a few months ago, the buyer explicitly stated that it doesn't run right on startup due to a bad ICV, which is believable, and the AFM needed retuning. When I bought the car it ran great, but on startup for roughly 30 seconds it would idle kind of choppy, and then it would clear up.

Well fast forward a little while later, I was driving home and the car would miss when accelerated or held it at a constant RPM. Due to my ignorance and lack of knowledge on what the ICV does, I ordered a replacement which did not fix the problem. I then took it upon myself to recalibrate the AFM, which kind of helped. But soon after it would start running very poorly again. Surging, missing, check engine light flashing. If I leaned out the car it would idle down and choke, but if I made it rich it would idle very high, and was not getting enough air. Eventually, after tweaking the AFM countless times, and adjusting the idle screw a tad bit, I had it running to where I could daily the car. As a side note, the car has a new starter but has always had a long crank time.

This is where I am at now: The check engine light stays on, though as soon as I hit redline it flashes and car misses. I don't know if it's a misfire, but power cuts out for a split second. When the car is cold, it idles very high for a few minutes, probably around 1.5k rpm, and eventually settles between 900-1,100 rpm. When the car is hot, or is at least slightly warm, it does not like to hot start. It runs choppy like it used to when I first bought the car, except worse and sometimes it will stall out. If I hit the throttle while it is running like that it seems like it's not getting enough air, as the throttle response is basically nill and it revs in a very reluctant and choppy manner. It usually straightens itself out in 30-45 seconds Also, the car seems to not know which readings to go with. I'll do a third gear pull and it'll move like an arthritic dog, and then try another one and it'll scoot right on like crazy puppy.

The stuff that I have checked/replaced: idle control valve, toyed with the AFM (it is now adjusted slightly more rich than it was when I got the car). Checked the coil packs for any signs of being loose, and the plugs did seem to have too much fuel on them, so the car was probably way too rich. I did a very thorough check for vacuum leaks and did not find any.

My possible explanations: Either the AFM is really out of wack or just plain busted. My other guess is that the 02 sensor could've been ruined from the car running so rich. I've also mused over the possibility that the motronics could be damaged, but I don't like to think about that because it scares me. I've read through a few threads of people having similar issues, but nothing nearly as complicated as mine, and after throwing a 150 dollar ICV into the car, I would prefer to figure out what the issue is before I just start replacing parts and hoping that they fix the problem. If you all would like, I can upload a video showing all of the different problems that I explained.

Anyone got any ideas or advice? I'm kind of stuck because I don't know a whole lot about troubleshooting cars; I am confined to doing the basic maintenance, and following online tutorials and write-ups for projects. Diagnosing and troubleshooting is something I have not quite mastered yet.

Edit: I'm going to try unplugging that mystery wire that was noted in one of the sticky's. I'll report back with results.

Double edit: THE MYSTERY WIRE WORKED! Only issue is I still don't have very good throttle response, even after I played with the AFM.