Author Topic: DesktopDave (Read 68624 times)

DesktopDave · « **Reply #30 on:** June 26, 2011, 03:43:50 PM »

Gah. Broke the plastic coolant hose. Silly me, should have ordered one. I'll go with "the glass is half full & replace a few other items while I'm in there.

First off...I'm installing some 4-hole injectors...177 155 554 IIRC. They're the older fat metal cased ones, not the new svelte style.

Secondly, I finally pulled the remains of my power steering system. Pump, reservoir, lines.

Finally, I'll be trying out a little silicone rubber hose for my hose delete project. Good thing too, those old hoses were really rotten. The ICV hoses were so loose that it just fell off while I was removing the pipe assembly from the car. I'm shocked that the FPR wasn't leaking - that hose is crumbling into dust!

Onto the lower intake. Mine's caked with the typical oily mess. Just like everyone else's, likely the vac leaks. WD40 and a kid-sized toothbrush set that straight. I'm tempted to try out a catch can. I've seen a few on e30's, anyone have an opinion?

DesktopDave · « **Reply #31 on:** July 02, 2011, 02:46:27 PM »

She's back on the road! After a week of sitting there, I finally got the parts and put her all back together. I'm thinking the new(er) injectors make a difference, and the idle is 95% better. No wonder, those hoses were a nasty cracked leaky mess.

I also upgraded to a set of silicone hose from EBay. What color, you ask? Well, red, of course! I'll post more about that later. Seems OK thus far.

Only problem so far...I swapped the oil pressure and coolant temp plugs, of course. The oil pressure light had me worried for a bit. Swapping those plugs will wrap this little upgrade up. I'm pretty proud of that little car, she's such a trooper. After driving my minivan for a week, I forgot about how much fun she is...I felt like Aryton Senna on a slow day.

DesktopDave · « **Reply #32 on:** July 03, 2011, 12:02:44 PM »

Those new injectors are noisy, that's for sure. I can hear them clattering as soon as I open the hood.

Here's the new setup, sorry that it's so dirty. Took me a while to get it right.

I had a bit of difficulty with the ICV - the largest hose in the set was too short so I moved the ICV elbow closer to the TB. I also reversed the ICV mount & bent it slightly. That was the only way I could get the hose even close to straight. The silicone bends easily but the ICV/intake elbow is too short for the large hose to bend cleanly. I'm thinking a 90deg ICV might solve the problem, but I'll save that project for another day. From the other side:

Here's the sorry remnants, almost 21 years of wear & tear had taken their toll:

Finally, here's the kit & some other misc parts, at least what I had left over after the install

:

DesktopDave · « **Reply #33 on:** July 10, 2011, 11:18:19 AM »

I'm optimistic about mileage; seems to have improved. I know using the fuel gauge is silly, but I easily made over 100 miles on the first quarter tank, mostly highway driving. That's ~10% better than usual. We do have summer fuel here, so it'll be a while & many tank-fulls before the spreadsheet tells me if I'm correct. Though patching all those vac leaks definitely improved idle quality and part-throttle smoothness. It's a subtle but noticeable difference. She used to buck on cold starts (even at 80degF!), that problem was substantially reduced.

BTW, WD40 is very nice for cleaning silicone hose. I had to use a lot, but it magically did the trick.

Car's still overheating slightly; can't figure out why the aux fan isn't turning on at all. The expansion tank seals are leaking pressure and I needed to add a quart of coolant this week. Nothing critical, but it's annoying that I have to keep an eye on it. I'll be looking at that again today & post anything I figure out.

DesktopDave · « **Reply #34 on:** July 10, 2011, 01:42:42 PM »

Well, I got the aux fan to run on high. I re-seated the fuse, and it started right up. Low won't work when jumping the fanstat. Fan tests out both low and high, of course. Anyone else have a problem with fuses that are a bit too loose?

I pulled the fuse box cover and all looks good to me. I even tested the diode in the 'box, it's pretty much in spec.

DesktopDave · « **Reply #35 on:** July 10, 2011, 02:21:45 PM »

Well, that's sorted. I had previously noted that fuse 3 (aux fan low speed) was 30 amps instead of the original 15. Swapped that out & it worked right off the bat. Now I can proceed with that r134 conversion I've been contemplating!

The 30a fuse looks good, and I'd already tested it for continuity. On a hunch I tested it for resistance. It ranged from 1 to ~20 ohms depending on how I flexed the fuse. That resistance ended up causing a voltage drop down to ~10vdc at the fan power connector (behind the driver's headlight). Must have been just enough to keep the motor from starting.

Yet I'm puzzled. Since I'm more or less just a grease monkey with a somewhat healthy fear of electrical things (they've caused me pain with little or no provocation!), does this jive with what anyone else has seen? This also seems too simple. It can't be that easy, can it? You can bet I'll be keeping an eye on it.

DesktopDave · « **Reply #36 on:** July 16, 2011, 09:06:32 PM »

Since I have a healthy fear of electrical systems, I've decided to start experimenting on batteries.

I bought a nice little battery charger for my bikes...and I've decided to try out resurrection. Based on some tips from the hard core off-grid solar people, I've dragged home some old AGM (absorbed glass mat) 12volts from my job. They're dead dead dead UPS batteries ranging from 7-12Ah, sometimes also known as SLA (sealed lead acid) batteries. Baseline on both is a little over 2VDC. Not too promising.

Guess what I found out? They're not so sealed. I popped off a cover plate with a little screwdriver & removed six little rubber caps covering the cells. I was encouraged as the caps were all holding a slight vacuum; that means the cells are likely starved for water.

With my special battery refill tool (grocery store child's medicine syringe) I filled them up with distilled water. It's surprisingly hard to do, actually. The cells are small and tend to trap air.

There's a trick to recharging AGM batteries. You need to connect a good 12VDC battery in parallel to "trick" the smart charger into powering up. Or (carefully) use a dumb charger until the battery gets above 12VDC.

First results are promising...the battery just tested out at 4.91VDC after an hour of charging. I'm being careful not to overheat them, they get warm as they charge. Not sure how well my "flood the cell" method will be, but what's the harm in attacking a battery headed for recycling?

DesktopDave · « **Reply #37 on:** July 16, 2011, 10:14:09 PM »

Two hours...after a temporary high over 6VDC, the battery started warming up and fell down to 4.09VDC. That's only two cells working, and they're gassing off quite a bit. I'll unplug it all overnight to let the battery 'rest' and test again tomorrow.

Too early to tell, but somewhat promising nonetheless. Two cells woke up, maybe the water will hydrate them overnight. Who can say? I have another battery just sitting with some extra water in it too. No charging at all, just to see how much is absorbed overnight. I'll drain that one before I start charging to see where it goes.

Started on the 2nd experiment...a 0.2VDC motorcycle AGM...with about 10mL water added per cell. On the charger for an hour to see what she'll do.

***edit*** Up to 1.74VDC in 20 minutes! That's two cells back at least. Hard to tell which cells are charging though...the level of electrolyte is too low to see.

DesktopDave · « **Reply #38 on:** July 16, 2011, 11:06:53 PM »

That AGM is now at 2.5VDC, holding steady after an hour's charging. It's a far cry from the 12.5+ I need, but it's a start.

DesktopDave · « **Reply #39 on:** August 01, 2011, 09:31:24 PM »

Well, seems like "de-sulfation" is synonymous with "killing batteries." Granted, they were dead already, but most had a sharp decline after a bit of water. I've been letting them rest for a while before another experiment, but I'm not optimistic.

I recalled that tomorrow is her 21st birthday. She came off the line August 2, 1990. Sure it's silly, but I'm thinking she's earned some updates...maybe a chin spoiler and R&R of some cracked window trims, that'd be a nice addition as well. You know, to celebrate "being legal." Of course, she's been drinking alcohol for quite some time...

DesktopDave · « **Reply #40 on:** August 04, 2011, 09:55:39 PM »

GAH - fuel leak!?!? On new hose!?!? WTF?

Good thing I had a spare...but why'd the new OEM hose crack off the fuel filter?!? I'd replaced it a month or two ago. It almost looked almost like something abraded it, but I can't be sure. I'll have to keep a close eye on that.

I'll bet I lost a gallon or so; but happily there was no need for worry (nor a fire extinguisher). Just a headache from the gasoline fumes.

DesktopDave · « **Reply #41 on:** August 31, 2011, 08:58:54 PM »

TunerPro RT is freaking awesome! $40 for that software is IMHO absolutely underpriced. The definition files seem pretty accurate as well, and community support seems more than adequate but it's too early for me to be sure. Whoever did that work deserves a huge thank-you from us here, as there isn't only one but TWO definition files for the 175 DME.

Seriously...with a $35 Willem PROM reader, an old WBO2 and $10 of 512K EEPROMs, I feel like tweaking...updates will follow!

BTW, anyone have an idea of where to get a coil driver transistor? My spare DME has one that's roasted. I'd guess it's a darlington NPN...it's in a big keyed TO-?? package but all it says is Bosch and 30004. If anyone has a junk DME from the early to mid-90s, can I send some $$ for postage?

DesktopDave · « **Reply #42 on:** August 31, 2011, 09:45:25 PM »

I found a little more info. Seems like a BU931 in a TO247 package is the ticket, at least according to this thread...

Happily, Digikey carries the BU 931 in a TO247 and it can be ordered in small amounts. At $3.09 each I can afford a few for my experiments.

DesktopDave · « **Reply #43 on:** November 13, 2011, 12:07:19 PM »

Used oil testing results are back from Blackstone. As my situation (motor mileage, temperature, particulates, fuel, style of driving, maintenance schedule, etc.) isn't the same as anyone else's, please take my results with a grain of salt. I don't drive the car very much, and I take it easy on her. She's leaking a fair amount of oil from the filter housing (potentially pulling in some contaminants), and I missed a filter change. That likely has something to do with these results. Time will tell when trends start to emerge.

All the wear metals are over-represented...even at 280K+ miles it's a bit higher than I'm comfortable with.

The bad news:
Oil viscosity low (how much lower can 5w20 go?!?)
iron (block), lead & copper (bearings), moly & chromium (rings), alu (pistons) were all well above average for a typical high-mileage motor.

Good news:
I didn't run a "TBN" on the oil (amount of anti-wear additive left), but the high zinc content leads me to believe I can run a thicker oil longer. I only had about 10K miles on this oil.

Conclusion:
I'll be using a thicker base oil. Preliminary findings seem to show that 5w20 is too thin for my M42. I'll be using synthetic 20w50 next. A slight penalty in fuel mileage isn't much to pay for another 100K miles.

Nelson_40 · « **Reply #44 on:** November 13, 2011, 02:54:10 PM »

I do hope your high particulate counts were simply from missing a filter change. Just out of curiosity what brand of filter do you tend to use?

20w-50 synthetics are what I run in my more neglected 318 with good results in FL. However, I tried that in its properly maintained twin and found that it felt just a bit off vs the 0w/5w/10w-40 I usually run. I also see about a 1.25MPG difference between the two cars with the better MPG in car running "lighter" oil, but of course this could be down to any number of issues. Further, when I took the worse car back to MD last winter it seemed to have no issues with the 20w-50 I had in it at that time.

If you are doing a change soon I might suggest Pep Boys sale on Castrol Syntec/Edge, $23 after rebate for 5qts, (I bought 10qts to start early on the next change) as it is one of the few brands that run 20w-50 synthetic.

Thanks for the info, looking forward to correlated data.