Fooooooookin TURD!

[318isPMK]

Lucky me

story of ownership thus far....

bought car cleaned car drove car a little replaced engine.... cleaned car bought trim cleaned car, cleaned car, bought wiper blades drove car now car is sick again..... does this sound familliar or have I really rotten luck?

[kolee]

little more detail might help to be honest.

[Duke137]

That is E30 ownership mate, what's up with it?

[johnl320]

Sounds like my old alfa

[318isPMK]

turned it on inspection light was on straight away it was idling at 1000 revs before now its dipping right to about 700 rpm and labouring a little. Drives fine.

Noticed it was a tad smokey during first 10 mins of any journey over the last week... but its been white-ish in colour so thought nothing of it.

[matt86]

What's happened now can't be as bad as the engine failing surely, what's the symptoms, don't tell me the gearbox/clutch has gone or something, as said before, some sort of pointer would be handy , I feel for you mate, hopefully isn't anything too major.

Cheers matt

[kolee]

My tax has just come up for renewal, so almost bang on 6 months since i first got my car.

I have spent around a grand in that time on little bits that go wrong and consumable parts. Brake lines, pads, disks, oil, filters, broken heater, various damaged trim, etc, etc.

In the last 2 weeks:

Passenger side dipped beam no longer working.
Check panel that flashes like a Christmas tree with a mind of its own.
OBC no longer lights up.
Interior lights stopped working.
Drivers window makes a very loud clunk when opening.

Not to mention the extra patch of rust i find every time i wash it!

Its an uphill struggle, but i love fixing it!

Edit: Baffles seem to have gone in my back box too!

[matt86]

Fair play, as you say all part of the fun, good cars, just need a helping hand to keep plodding along, bear in mind they are 20-30 years old, how many fiats, fords, peugeots, etc this age do you think are still going, my guess is very few, be patient it will pay off, can imagine its very frustrating though and never good to have to keep shedding money out especially all at once in such a short period. Good luck mate

[Dezzy]

This is fast becoming the most expensive to run 318IS known to man

Sorry to here your still having trouble. I don't think the service light has any significance though. My understanding is it comes on after a set period of time?

[318isPMK]

cheers dudes

[asmith88]

inspection light? thats just a service light, give it a service and reset the light

[318isPMK]

it was serviced about 10 days ago lol

[Grrrmachine]

If your idle has gone a bit wobbly, it wouldn't surprise me if you've got a little air leak somewhere. Bear in mind that you've had most of the engine bay disconnected recently; it only takes a poorly-tightened jubilee clip or loose hose to cause niggly problems, so you should expect little teething troubles after such a big operation.

Keeping an E30 in perfect condition is like nailing jelly to a wall.

[kolee]

it was serviced about 10 days ago lol

But did they reset the service light? its only a case of linking a couple of pins together- if it wasnt done at a BMW garage i doubt they will have bothered.

[318isPMK]

thanks guys Im feeling better now its going to the doctors tomorrow night. Boyd did say it was likely a simple fix. cheers grrrrmachine

[G-Bear]

it was serviced about 10 days ago lol

But did they reset the service light? its only a case of linking a couple of pins together- if it wasnt done at a BMW garage i doubt they will have bothered.

Take back to wear it was serviced, they'll more than likely have the reset device. That'll rid the inspection light.

Like already mentioned, it's worth going through all the hoses around the inlet manifold checking for any loose connections (leaks) and the big one running from the Airbox to the throttle body.

Hopefully should be a quick fix.

[318isPMK]

YEAH NOT SURE ABOUT THE AIR LEAK AS I WAS SHOWN ABOUT TAKING OFF THE RUBBER HOSE FROM THE TOP FRONT OF THE ENGINE AND LISTENING TO THE BREATHING CHANGE AND SPLUTTER AND WHEN I DID IT IT DID SPLUTTER SO WHO KNOWS IM NOT QUALIFIED FOR DIAGNOSIS I'LL LEAVE THAT TO BOYD

p.s sory for caps

[Rtaylor2208]

At the rate this cars costing you money I think your going to have to down grade your wedding to the registry office and reception in burger king.

[318isPMK]

I have already cut a grand off the honeymoon budget since buying it.... went from Jamaica now looking at Europe this time next year it'l be Blackpool or Skegness

[Tom_Maverick]

aaah it'll be ok.. the idling is probably an air leak.. and the white smoke is more than likely steam.. pretty standard for an old E30... you really should get your hands dirty more often! it saves a fortune in garage costs and once you've done something or found out about a problem once, it's easy next time!

[318isPMK]

nice pic!

I have had a look cant see any loose pipes.

I'll have a look with Boyd

[ross_jsy]

You seem to be the unluckiest e30 owner out there!

Think it's time to leave the missus, she will leave you anyway once the e30 obsession takes over, and spend the wedding money on fixing your cylinder deficiency

[318isPMK]

lol

[318isPMK]

its minted too, once I get it sorted I'll get new pics up. hopefully its a simple fix

[magpie]

i'll fix it

[BEERBOY123]

Keeping an E30 in perfect condition is like nailing jelly to a wall.

What about nailing jelly to the ceiling? That's even harder.

[318isPMK]

Woo hoo cheap fix all's well

[Rtaylor2208]

So what was wrong? P.S. If you were seriously interested in 14" BBS Boyd had a few of them and so does Snachez or Topblag I think.

[Topblag]

I'm very happy to say that I only have one set of 14s, bottletops. I only keep them in case the wife insists on driving one of the E30s......

[318isPMK]

Auch I'll wait till im a bit more flush and get a set of 15's ith winter tyres maybe and use them for a swap