318is I bought two days ago, need advice please

[Diabhalta]

Hi all, I will introduce myself and my car (bought it 2 days ago) in the near future in the New members section, but I need to ask some fellow E30 enthusiasts few questions about couple of problems I have with my car. I am busy working 12hr shifts now and need to take the car to a mechanic on friday so I just want to get the idea what is wrong with the car, because I don't know E30s at all (the major factor at the moment is lack of time and the bad weather... can't see myself doing anything in lashing rain really). I am kind of a DIY person and I try to do most things on my cars myself. It's my hobby basically (I am waiting for the manual I bought on ebay today, which will arrive at the end of the week, maybe even next week, and that's too late). My daily driver has been stolen one month ago so E30 is my new daily and I also have a Reliant Scimitar GTE SE6a - don't know why, that's the way it is ;) ).

The car has few problems. Front wheel bearings needs to be replaced, small crack in the exhaust, half of the dashboard lights isn't working.

Now the more serious problems that need to be sorted asap:

When starting the car the engine is turning quite slowly but it always starts. Battery has good voltage (12.50 something), I will have a look again just to make sure. Also the lights are not very bright so I supsect the alternator isn't charging the battery properly?

The windscreen wipers are in the upper position and the motor is loud. When I try to switch them to default position they tend to go up again so I give up and just drive the car with the wipers up. Again, the weather is bad and I have no time anyway so I can't really fiddle with it all day. There might be something in the manual I suppose.

There is a crack in the fuel filler pipe. Didn't see it when I was buying the car (had no idea this could be a problem) and found out at the petrol station when a puddle of petrol suddenly appeared under the car. There is half tank of petrol in the car at the moment so I won't be filling it anytime soon that's for sure. The filler neck is loose and moving around. I can smell petrol sometimes when do some sudden moves with the car so this is definitely priority number one. I read on E30 Wiki here that the whole tank has to be replaced? I am located in Ireland and there are few lads that are breaking some cars so I might be lucky to get that pipe, or even the whole tank if necessary. I will try fix this temporarily with some duct tape maybe?

And the last thing, the car hesitates to go to higher revs. After it gets to certain revs (like 2500rpm) it then pulls smoothly but then again hesitates and it's "coughing" like. I suspect problem with ignition timing? I had the same problem with my Scimitar.

Thanks for any advice, we are all petrolheads and love our cars. I think it's a nice hobby I would say, we are like children that still play with their toy cars... they are now 1:1 and require more than just playing with them, that is the only difference

Cheers, Aaron.

[motormanmick]

Welcome Aaron,
wheels bearings easy to replace, crack in exhaust weld or replace, weld if looking at a new system in the near future, dash lights will be blown globes/globes with poor connection in sockets, steering wheel comes off, two screws and your there, can be done without removing steering wheel but don't, you can break/scratch things.

Batteries can have near correct voltage with no load, it is likely on it's way out, it will most likely be stuffed and not have the capacity it once did and is dropping it's bundle under load, get a capacity test done, that tells all.

windscreen wiper? could have been fiddled with and reassembled wrong so it parks in the wrong position, if it's really noisy, reco/new motor.

I looked up the wiki on fuel filler pipe, you are correct, but crawl under and look for your self, cause it could just be the rubber pipe, while your under there, check diff for oil leaks, check trailing arm bushes ect.

No familiar with the IS engine, but the ecu will receive signal input for load ie (your right foot on the loud peddle) via throttle position switch/afm, ecu may not be getting correct signal input, that may be a good place to start.

bmw e30 318i/is/ic electrical troubleshooting manual link below

http://www.armchair.mb.ca/~dave/BMW/e30/e30_91.pdf

bmw e30 Bentley repair manual, link below for general maintenance and repair

www.retrobmw.co.uk/downloads/e30bentley.rar

cheers.

[KW355]

Quote;

There is a crack in the fuel filler pipe. Didn't see it when I was buying the car (had no idea this could be a problem) and found out at the petrol station when a puddle of petrol suddenly appeared under the car. There is half tank of petrol in the car at the moment so I won't be filling it anytime soon that's for sure. The filler neck is loose and moving around. I can smell petrol sometimes when do some sudden moves with the car so this is definitely priority number one. I read on E30 Wiki here that the whole tank has to be replaced? I am located in Ireland and there are few lads that are breaking some cars so I might be lucky to get that pipe, or even the whole tank if necessary. I will try fix this temporarily with some duct tape maybe?

The tank filling system consists of the metal filler neck pipe where you put the fuel in, a rubber pipe to connect the filler pipe and the tank and of course, the tank as well as various hoses etc.
Duct tape won't work because the petrol will melt the glue.
You need to inspect and identify which part the problem is with, you mention 'fuel filler pipe', is this the one on the tank itself ?
The filler neck pipes are available on ebay or there are a few BMW breakers on here who will post one out to you.
The rubber hose is available from breakers, ebay or BMW main dealers.
I brought my replacement pattern petrol tank new off ATP on ebay, it was about £180, again, the breakers on here usually have good genuine second hand fuel tanks.

[Motorhole]

iirc the M42 engine uses coil-on-plug ignition, triggered by the ECU so ignition timing is unlikely to be the problem. As mentioned, check the throttle position sensor and also the mass-air flow meter. Ensure all the air/vacuum hoses are in good condition without cracks or splits.

A good service including new air filter, oil/filter, fluids and plugs wouldn't go amiss. These E30s often benefit from a good cleaning of the idle control valve too.

Edit: oh yeah, and check the coils themselves!

[Diabhalta]

Thanks for all the answers lads, I really appreciate it.

Wheel bearings - Easy to replace means that I can just push them out with my hands? I found wheel bearings on ebay for 80 euro including postage, my local motor factors have them with a complete hub (about 60 euro each). Maybe it will be better to get the bearings with hubs? I replaced wheel bearings on my Volvo 360 about 10 years ago and it was quite simple, it just popped out and I replaced them with new ones.

Battery - checked the battery this morning before going to work (car sitting for 12hrs in the driveway) and the voltage was 12,34. Went to town after work, parked the car and later when I tried to start the car it sounded really bad, like it won't even start (just slow turning and I had to add gas to make it run). I was prepared for the worst really. I will try to get somebody with the same or similar battery and see what happens.

Petrol tank filler neck - I just read it after myself this morning (I was really tired yesterday) and I didn't mention the most important thing at all: I can see a hole when I look into the filler neck. That whole thing is rusty so there is for sure some rust pieces in the tank as well. If the filler neck is connected to the tank with rubber hose I can maybe just get the filler neck, flush the tank and that's it?

ECU - I just realized as well in the morning that there is no such thing as bad ignition timing when the ECU is controlling it and adjusting it ... I know a mechanic that has an E30 and has a computer diagnostics so maybe he will be able to help me out with this.

The engine bay looks fresh, everything seems to be ok and new-ish. Not neglected.

They (the girl who had the car before me) changed the oil and filters before selling it to me. I don't believe it was her, but somebody did it anyway

Idle control valve - will keep that in mind.

Last thing: head gasket. How do I check if it's good or bad? I had a quick look and coolant seems to be ok without any signs of oil in the coolant. I had only a bit of time on sunday to start the car and there was a lot of white smoke coming out of the exhaust. (but then the engine was cold and also the temperature was low too so I presume it was normal).

Next to thr radiator there is this tall tank and a line which says COLD. Does that mean that it's the lowest recommended level for coolant when cold?

---

I am off tomorrow and the weather should be fine so I will jack up the car and have a proper look at everything. I really can't wait for the manual to arrive.

[motormanmick]

go the hubs, bearings don't just push out, puller required, your mechanic can fit them for you easy, he has the right gear, from memory the nut is 270nm - bloody tight

you may need a new battery, but I think your engine running problems may all be related, you ask about water level? does the level change? you mention steam in exhaust and rough running and starting, I would be leaning towards a blown head gasket
Pull the spark plugs - three normal (dirty brown color) one clean - clean one is being steam cleaned by water in the combustion process, get the mechanic to do a compression test and also pressure test the cooling system, that should let you know what's happening. I hope you are up for a head gasket, not a cracked head, but all fixable.

[KW355]

Quote;

Petrol tank filler neck - I just read it after myself this morning (I was really tired yesterday) and I didn't mention the most important thing at all: I can see a hole when I look into the filler neck. That whole thing is rusty so there is for sure some rust pieces in the tank as well. If the filler neck is connected to the tank with rubber hose I can maybe just get the filler neck, flush the tank and that's it?

If you only have a hole in the filler neck it is quite easy to replace just the filler neck.
Carefully check the condition of the rubber hose as well, it may be worth replacing it and the jubilee clips whilst it is apart.
Have a look on the real oem website;

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showpar ... Id=16_0043

To do the job properly you should as you suggest clean the tank out, this would involve a lot more work though.

[Diabhalta]

Very busy day today ... plan was to take the car to one mechanic on friday, instead I took the car to different one (he has E30 as well) and I was lucky he wasn't busy... Did some thorough check, later washed, waxed and polished the car...

[Diabhalta]

I will post more pictures tomorrow. It's not that bad underneath, I thought it will be worse.

[motormanmick]

That's a nice looking IS Aaron.

[TPS]

That's a nice looking IS Aaron.

+1

[Diabhalta]

Lads, where exactly is the engine number located?

I was busy today again, had to go and buy these wheels:



I have 14" bottletops for the car which I bought the day after I bought the car (for a really good price-only 140 euros), but these are better because the colour (gunmetal grey) kind of matches the car colour. Shame the centre caps are a bit brighter than the rest. Silver wheels on a black car are not the best combination.

Also, what kind of tyres do I need for the 15" wheels? Will I get standard width 185 and 45x15? Those tyres on the wheels are ok-ish. Two are some sort of offroad type, another kind of similar thread but not the same so won't pass the NCT (MOT). Also they are old (couldn't find date on the offroad ones but the other two are manufactured in 2002-they seem to be fresh but in fact are very old).

[Diabhalta]

I know that tyres on those BBS rims are 205/50x15. By looking at the wheels from above I can see that they are way wider that the actual rim. I see now on E30 Wiki that standard size for BBS 15 inch was 205/55R15. Why not 185?

[motormanmick]

All will look wider on the rims unless you go for the stretched look, not good in my opinion.

Tires, thing to keep in mind is rolling circumference, it affects speedo reading which is taken off the diff, so wheel changes affect road speed, but your diff doesn't know that.

Ok, bmw make sporty cars and would a 185/60/15 fit that image and remember you have an IS. Sporty tires have a lower aspect ration and are wider, aspect ratio being the middle number in the 185/60/15, it means the tire height is 60% of the 185 width.

The thing you want to minimize is side wall movement in cornering, the higher the aspect ratio the greater the side wall movement.

The 205/55/15 and the 205/50/15 are a good compromise on sporty/comfort, go for either, price may be a consideration on final choice.

[Diabhalta]

205 tyres are around 100 euro each when 185 are between 50-60 euro. That's a big difference. Anyway, I think 205 are defo better for good grip. There is no way back now, I'm driving the car on BBSs . Before buying them today I ordered tyres for the bottletops so I presume I will have them fitted and sell the whole set (rims are freshly painted so this will be a big plus with those brand new tyres). Probably before the start of the new season around April.

I know it affects the speed. Difference between 185/65x14 and 205/55x15 is 2mph (120mph on Bottletops is actually 122mph on BBSs). Strange that those BBS rims are bmw optional rims. So how they dealt with the difference? The speedo will go slower as well so at the end you do 1220 miles but in fact you did 1200 miles. It's getting late, correct me if I'm wrong.

[Diabhalta]

I couldn't google the engine number location for e30, it's always showing me different models. Where is it?

[BHadley]

Have a look at this..... I asked the same question recently

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... highlight=

[Diabhalta]

thanks, will have a look later

car looks better with those BBS rims.

[Diabhalta]

The tank was almost empty and after I got like 15 liters of petrol (can't put in too much because of the hole in the filler neck) the needle on the dashboard showed me half a tank. That doesn't make sense at all.

[BHadley]

Could have larger tank fitted (like 63 litres capacity) with smaller fuel gauge un changed (55 litres capacity)

brass nut at back of dash cluster could be loose and reading wrong.

[Brianmoooore]

Could have larger tank fitted (like 63 litres capacity) with smaller fuel gauge un changed (55 litres capacity)

This combination needs the tank to be nearly full before the gauge will read half. 55 litre tank with 63 litre gauge gives half full reading with a few litres in the tank, and never drops much below half when the tank is empty.
Chances are that you are misinterpreting the gauge - most new E30 owners do. The beginning of the painted red sector is not 'nearly out', it's when the needle reaches the lower end of the red that you are down to about five litres, and the low fuel light comes on.

[Diabhalta]

yeah that would make sense, because I filled the tank when bought the car and drove it for about 250km on motorway (half a tank of petrol). Then I drove the car here and there and the needle went down. Today when I put those 15 litres I did 220 miles (350km) but as you say there must have been more in the tank. I rather put some petrol in so I won't get stuck somewhere.

This is nice:

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/141403528334?_tr ... EBIDX%3AIT

Would be really handy to get one like this because the one that is in the car looks rough. Will post pictures soon (finally).

Engine is misfiring and judging from the electical tape around one of the ends of ignition leads (first cyl) this might be the cause. Old ign. leads. I will get new leads and see what happens. They look really old.

Ordered new fuel filler neck and a windscreen wiper motor yesterday... Can't wait to have all the major problems sorted.

[Diabhalta]

I bought a new battery in Halfords today so the engine is turning faster when starting but it takes a while to start. Usually after the third try it starts. Really strange, before it started straight away first time.

Went to motor factors and wanted to buy ignition leads. They don't have them. This isn't surprising me because it's Ireland after all. So I wanted to go home and the car broke down. I'm sitting in it right now. The engine won't go into higher revs and really struggles. Stays idling but that's it. Any ideas? I'm waiting for the engine to cool down so I will hopefully be able to drive it home.

[Diabhalta]

I bought a new battery in Halfords today so the engine is turning faster when starting but it takes a while to start. Usually after the third try it starts. Really strange, before it started straight away first time.

Went to motor factors and wanted to buy ignition leads. They don't have them. This isn't surprising me because it's Ireland after all. So I wanted to go home and the car broke down. I'm sitting in it right now. The engine won't go into higher revs and really struggles. Stays idling but that's it. Any ideas? I'm waiting for the engine to cool down so I will hopefully be able to drive it home.

[Diabhalta]

I made it home. Browsing ebay for ignition leads. Are 318i and 318is ignition leads same? Can't seem to find leads for an is.

[Brianmoooore]

i and iS use different leads. Four instead of five is one difference.
Old = good when it comes to E30 ignition leads. The originals are likely to be as good as the day they were made - problems normally only arise when some well meaning mechanic or DIYer has replace the originals with after market tat at some time. Even the originals can be damaged of course if someone has consistently removed them from the plugs by tugging the leads. In this event, the recommended (cost effective) course of action is to buy second hand original leads.
Your current problem, if I'm understanding what you say correctly, sounds like it may be a problem with the engine coolant temperature sensor or circuit.
Remove a spark plug and tell us what colour the tip is, or better still, post a pic.
Make sure the well that the plug sits in is clean before removing it.

[bosers]

It's best to fit genuine leads if possible, I bought some after market ones and they were shoite. Probably worth getting new plugs while you're at it. Did you check as mentioned above? Cheers Joe

[Brianmoooore]

Did you check as mentioned above?

In the two minutes since I posted? Unlikely.

[Diabhalta]

There is an electrical tape at the end of one of the leads which could indicate that they are not good. It seems like it's an electrical problem, I am losing cylinder(s) and power. In low revs it is struggling, then it catches on and goes into higher revs no problem and again in higher revs feels like a lost cylinder. It is more than likely that the ign. leads are just old and not delivering spark.

this is the only set of cheap ign. leads for a 318is.

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/BMW-3-E30-318-is ... SwN81WEOGK

spark plugs look like this:

[Brianmoooore]

Well, those plugs blow the coolant temperature sensor theory out of the water! Far from running rich, it appears to be on the weak side if anything.
If your leads are in any way suspect, then they need to be changed, if only to eliminate them from enquiries. Is there any writing on the ones you have?
I'd still go for good OE second hand from one of our traders than after market of unknown quality.

[Brianmoooore]

1. I would connect a fuel pressure gauge in such a way that it is visible when driving

Cheap gauges are available on ebay for around £10. You will need a length of high pressure 8mm fuel hose to go with it

4. get your injectors serviced.

See 'injectortune' in our traders' section.

5. check the performance of the O2 sensor via scanning.

If you have a lambda sensor fitted! Most UK E30s don't, but I'm not aware of the situation in Eire. There should be a round four pin socket clipped to the underside of the battery tray. Cars without a lambda sensor should have just a blanking cap fitted to this socket, while ones with a lambda sensor will have a plug fitted into it, with a lead running down beneath the car.

Replacing the ignition leads may help with the misfiring, but may not be the complete answer. A weak mixture is more difficult to ignite than one of the correct strength, so poor leads may cause the misfire, although the same leads might apparently work fine with a correct mixture.

[Diabhalta]

I don't know if they need to be changed, but they sure are very old. It says "BBT Germany Silicone Copper Cable" on them. No numbers.

Fuel flow - I think the fuel filter could be full of sh-t because of the rusty fuel filler neck. Rust goes to the tank, then into the filter.

I think the best would be to take the car to a mechanic and take it for a test drive while the computer is plugged in into the ECU.

Everyone is saying it is most likely electrical problem. I don't know. I never had a car like this before, all the work I have done on cars was on my Scimitar and a 1994 Micra (previously Skoda Estelle and Volvo 360 that I used to own in mid 2000s for few years). Cars that had no injectors, no 02 sensors (except Micra, but that was a simple and reliable car).

[Diabhalta]

If someone near me would have exact same set of leads it would be great to put them into my car and see what happens. That would be great.

[motormanmick]

Thanks for all the answers lads, I really appreciate it.

Wheel bearings - Easy to replace means that I can just push them out with my hands? I found wheel bearings on ebay for 80 euro including postage, my local motor factors have them with a complete hub (about 60 euro each). Maybe it will be better to get the bearings with hubs? I replaced wheel bearings on my Volvo 360 about 10 years ago and it was quite simple, it just popped out and I replaced them with new ones.

Battery - checked the battery this morning before going to work (car sitting for 12hrs in the driveway) and the voltage was 12,34. Went to town after work, parked the car and later when I tried to start the car it sounded really bad, like it won't even start (just slow turning and I had to add gas to make it run). I was prepared for the worst really. I will try to get somebody with the same or similar battery and see what happens.

Petrol tank filler neck - I just read it after myself this morning (I was really tired yesterday) and I didn't mention the most important thing at all: I can see a hole when I look into the filler neck. That whole thing is rusty so there is for sure some rust pieces in the tank as well. If the filler neck is connected to the tank with rubber hose I can maybe just get the filler neck, flush the tank and that's it?

ECU - I just realized as well in the morning that there is no such thing as bad ignition timing when the ECU is controlling it and adjusting it ... I know a mechanic that has an E30 and has a computer diagnostics so maybe he will be able to help me out with this.

The engine bay looks fresh, everything seems to be ok and new-ish. Not neglected.

They (the girl who had the car before me) changed the oil and filters before selling it to me. I don't believe it was her, but somebody did it anyway

Idle control valve - will keep that in mind.

Last thing: head gasket. How do I check if it's good or bad? I had a quick look and coolant seems to be ok without any signs of oil in the coolant. I had only a bit of time on sunday to start the car and there was a lot of white smoke coming out of the exhaust. (but then the engine was cold and also the temperature was low too so I presume it was normal).

Next to thr radiator there is this tall tank and a line which says COLD. Does that mean that it's the lowest recommended level for coolant when cold?

---

I am off tomorrow and the weather should be fine so I will jack up the car and have a proper look at everything. I really can't wait for the manual to arrive.

You have mention previously that the car is sometimes hard to start, runs rough, sometimes struggles to rev freely, white smoke out of exhaust.

Last post you mention that the car starting running really rough, would only idle and you had to wait for it to cool down and then you eventually made it home.

I had a similar issue when I owned an e34 535, I had a blown head gasket, when I removed it, it had blown between one of the water feed holes to the cylinder head and to one of the bores.

when the engine was cold it would run fine, slightly rough idle and would rev fine, when the pressure in the cooling system built up, it then fed water into the cylinder chamber and would run rough, would use a little water from the cooling system.

in the end it blew a bigger hole thru the gasket and I nearly fried the motor, I think you are at the earlier stage.

So, are you topping up your water? Does the car run better when cold and as it warms up start to run worse and does it run hot or push up near the red on the temp gauge?

I can be wrong, but cheep insurance is a compression test and compare cylinder pressures, one will be down as it blows into the cooling system, you can also pressure test the cooling system, the pressure will drop slowly, then pull the spark plugs and turn her over, one will blow mist out the hole. One plug will be clean as it is getting steam cleaned by have water in the combustion chamber.