E30 Zone

Car is a white 89' 325i Tourer - no mods that I'm aware of. Used to be Breadbin's if anyone knows of it.

When I bought it, he advised me of a problem with the RPM occasionally going up to 2k ish without any throttle input.

Up till now she has behaved herself, but today, it happened to me for the first time & it's a bit odd to say the least.

With the car fully warmed up (after several trips around and about), I parked up and turned the engine off.
Restarted approx 5 minutes later - idle OK.
Pulled away in 1st (OK), changed up to 2nd (OK), changed into 3rd @ 3k RPM and the revs just stayed there for a few seconds then started bouncing around erratically between 2 - 3K.
Dipped the clutch to take the load of the engine & coasted to the side of the road with the RPM still bouncing rapidly in the above rev band.
Turned the engine off.
Tried several attempts at restarting - engine would just crank over with no hint of firing - slight petrol smell.
Eventually started after a wait of about 10 minutes - idle OK, so set off again.
After about 2 - 3 miles, on dual carriageway at about 75 ish, I could feel the car 'surging' under steady state throttle.
Dipped the clutch and the RPM is back to it's erratic bouncing but I noticed that every time the RPM increased, the fuel economy meter would show massively increased consumption (yes, I know it's supposed to do that before the smartasses come out to play, but this time, it was swinging almost as as wildly as the rev counter ).
Carried on and it cleared itself after another couple of miles and it's been OK for the rest of the day.

Could it be, that the ECU is getting a 'spike' signal from somewhere (TPS or MAF possibly?) telling it that the engine needs more fuel?

I'm almost certain I can rule out a mechanical fault because of the rapidity of the RPM swing.

Anyone any ideas?

Iain S

BTW, the MAF meter and the ICV have been swapped but the problem's still there.

Surprised that none of the Zone Guru's haven't commented on this. Oh well

UPDATE - Went out for a trip this morning and noticed a slight misfire under constant throttle (exactly the same as Boomer's problem).
I'm just hoping it's related to the main problem above.

Got back home, changed the dizzy cap & rotor arm - no difference - misfire still apparent.
Checked the resistance of the HT leads - all within 300 ohms of each other.
Checked for a dodgy TPS plug connection - clean & good.
Checked the crank sensor - all clean & OK.
Changed the spark plugs - old Bosch ones had big gaps & looked a bit ropey so put in a set of new NGK ZGR5A.

Will go for a run in the morning and see what happens.

OK, latest update on the RPM.

Changing the plugs cured the slight misfire & she ran very smoothly over the weekend (even managed to balance a £1 coin on the inlet manifold ).

Left for work this morning; got about 3 miles down the road and the RPM bounce suddenly re-appeared (not much fun in traffic).
Car decided to cut out on me just as I pulled on to a roundabout (which didn't please the single cell moron in the f**d who was right up my ass trying to bully his way through )

Engine started again at the second attempt and carried on as if nothing had happened.

What's left to check?

Has nobody got any ideas?

Iain, sounds like a duff ECU mate, possibly the bias resitor is failing/about to shat itself, quite common on the 380 type

if you have the later fuel breather setup with the purge valve that may be worth checking too, under the TB but you know that anyways

HTH

Hi Ant. Many thanks for the response m8.

No I didn't know about the purge valve so I'll check on that shortly.

Just ripped the ECU out to check that it's a 380 (it is) & guess what? Screwdriver marks under the tabs.
Would it be worth me taking the back off and taking a pic to put up on here? Could you tell anything from it?

BTW, how's things?

pop a pic up mate, worth a look either way

things are OK mate, had a few slow trading months but I'm sticking with it, actually have 3 full time job offers but I'm loath to be someones cash cow again, I've seen the light

I heard from Fozz you a lead on some caterpillar turbos

Here you go buddy.



Glad to hear that your going to stick with it.
With your amount of knowledge, it won't be long before word of mouth spreads, then you watch things start to really pick up

And why would you want a turbo from a dirty old digger?

Hey guys!

Sooty I have a spare Bosch 0 201 200 380 ECU with chip you can try if you like? I'm coming passed your way again on Monday if you fancy meetin up again?

Mark.

Sorry for the delay guys.
Recieved a warning on the computer, so I ran an Anti-Virus Checker & Spybot to make sure there were no problems. All OK now

Ant: Had a look under the TB but could'nt see anything like an Anti-Purge Valve. I can only presume mine does'nt have it.
What is there to look out for on the ECU pic? Can you tell if it's been played with?

Mark: Good to hear from you again m8 .
That's a very kind offer and it would be churlish of me to refuse .
Only drawback is, the problem is intermittent, so I would'nt be able to tell straight away. It would mean running it for a week or so and if it does cure it, would you be willing to sell?
If that's OK with you, then a meet on Monday would be great (coffee's on me at the Services?).

Iain S

Hey sooty.. I drove this beast for a bit.. had a lot of fun when it decided it didn't want to accelerate halfway past a semi on a sibgle lane road!! Just be careful dude.. oh.. I don't know what the smell is in there.. but it smells like wet dog! Other than that.. nice car excusing the rsut.

Anyways, was told the blue sensor or ECU was to blame. That and the steering rack was going to be costly.

Hope you have fun with it!

Cheers

Sooty wrote: Mark: Good to hear from you again m8 .
That's a very kind offer and it would be churlish of me to refuse .
Only drawback is, the problem is intermittent, so I would'nt be able to tell straight away. It would mean running it for a week or so and if it does cure it, would you be willing to sell?
If that's OK with you, then a meet on Monday would be great (coffee's on me at the Services?).

Iain S

Ian,

You can borrow it for as long as you need, see if it works if so we'll talk some more!

I'll give you a call before Monday to confirm what time I'll be local to you.

Mark.

p.s. are those skirts on yet?

Hi Oze30. Thanks for the feedback on the car

I don't know what the smell is in there.. but it smells like wet dog!

It did hum a bit when I first got it but it's not so bad now that I've got rid of the Neutradol air freshener. Those damned things smell worse than the odours they're supposed to get rid of!!!!!

Other than that.. nice car excusing the rsut.

Rust is a bit worse than it appears. I had a go at changing the front pass ABS sensor and when I pulled the cable out of the bracket on the inner wing, the bracket pulled out completely . Apparently, the only things holding the front end on are paint & underseal

Anyways, was told the blue sensor or ECU was to blame. That and the steering rack was going to be costly.

I changed the blue sensor and it made no difference so it looks like it's down to the ECU. Luckily, one of the Zone Heroes has come to the rescue (take a bow Fozzy ) so hopefully it will all be sorted soon.
As for the steering rack, I'm not so sure that it's at fault. Had a look underneath and the bushes (control arm, ARB & drag links) all look a bit ropey (well f***ed TBH).

Mark
Many thanks and I'll speak to you soon m8. Don't ask about the skirts
It's a long story but I'm hoping to make a start on them in the next couple of weeks.

Hi Iain

I had the same problem with a 325i a few years ago,
I tracked it down to the round multi-connector to the left of the engine, down below the inlet manifold.
I ended up sliping clutch to get home as car was revving up to 2K then down to 800 RPM. Sounded like a boy racer at traffic lights.
Fixed problem by removing all the ends of connections and re-wiring them with bullet connectors and lots of insulation tape.

Hope this helps

Chris

This thing is really starting to get on my tits.

Managed to borrow a bog standard 173 ECU last week.
Put it in, didn't notice too much of a drop in performance and the car seemed to behave itself.
Problem solved thought I.

Met up with Fozzymonster on Monday as arranged, and borrowed his 308 ECU with one of Ant's chips.
Having had one of these beasts before, I wasn't disappointed when I fitted it and noticed the difference straight away.
Great stuff.....now start to think how much Fozzy will want for it .

Had to run down to Huntingdon after work tonight and guess what?

Bloody problems back again

So the ECU is'nt the problem (unless Fozzy's 308 has gone tits-up as well.....unlikely?) & looking at what else has been changed so far, what's left ?

Fixed problem by removing all the ends of connections and re-wiring them with bullet connectors and lots of insulation tape.

Chris. You didn't own a white tourer did you?

A previous owner has carried out that self same "MOD" on this one.