E30 Zone

Help my 320i is driving me to despair she's got 170k on the clock, is regulalrly serviced driven daily and i love her but the fuel consumption im getting is driving me nuts (between 55-60 miles to 1/4 of a tank)
I've renwed to whole exhaust to std spec along with a proven low milage afm co was at 1.4% the carbon monoxide was high at the time (about 1250ppm) the only things i've noticed worthy of mention is that if you pull the dipstick out the revs dance around and the same happens when you loosen off the oil filler cap. There is no water in the oil and vice versa has anyone got any ideas for things i can do at home to check that my give an indication as to where the promlem lies?

lessmith wrote:Help my 320i is driving me to despair she's got 170k on the clock, is regulalrly serviced driven daily and i love her but the fuel consumption im getting is driving me nuts (between 55-60 miles to 1/4 of a tank)
I've renwed to whole exhaust to std spec along with a proven low milage afm co was at 1.4% the carbon monoxide was high at the time (about 1250ppm) the only things i've noticed worthy of mention is that if you pull the dipstick out the revs dance around and the same happens when you loosen off the oil filler cap. There is no water in the oil and vice versa has anyone got any ideas for things i can do at home to check that my give an indication as to where the promlem lies?

Sounds like Crank Case Compression, try a Compression test first before spending money on a 170k engine.
Do you get oil in the air box?

The lumpy running with the oil cap/dipstick removed is normal because the un-metered air is passing through the crank system, so ignore that.

After i'd eliminated everything else on mine the best gain i got was to have the injectors ultrasonicly cleaned because the spray pattern was non existant. So now it actualy burns all the fuel thats pumped in and all the unburnt fuel that was being blown out is no longer rotting my exhaust.
Check everything else first though, like giving the inside of the throttle body a clean and the idle valve. Make sure you don't have any air leaks and then maybe get the injectors done but shop around as some places want to charge £22 an injector.

Even if you cure the problem it still won't work wonders because its a 320, just about the least economical engine they made.

in brians absence im going to sugest you try the blue coolant temp sensor. when these are on there way out thay can plac havoc with your idle and fuel consumption.

thanks guys looks like i've got an excuse to get out of doing the garden 2mrw will post once done 2 let ya know >Steve

60 miles out of a tenner sounds bout right to me on a 320i............. i should know if got one of the uneconomical pieces of poo.

60 miles on a tenner isn't bad going it's well over 20mpg

martainaston,matt how much did you get some injectors cleaned for?

Bosch "specialist" near Putney bridge did a set of 6 for £90 i think, can't remember now.
He told me one was shagged and didn't have the correct spray so he sounded like he'd actualy checked them which was good news. I got hold of another set and told him to clean 1 to go with the first 5 but he wasn't there and the guy who was lost it so they got all apologetic when i mentioned i wanted £75 off him and they cleaned the remaining 5 for free.
They'll be going on the M40 when it starts getting a bit too thirsty.