B3 3.2 Touring its suddenly getting old

[powelly]

Live data shows retarded at idle.

[DanThe]

Retarded at idle, advanced mid range, retarded again at high revs

[HairyScreech]

ahh wrong way around, but yes that would make sense.

[Simon13]

it starts up and runs lovely from cold. It only starts running rough once warm. It idles a little rough and low ie 400-500RPM and is a little hesistant when revving in neutral and is a little down on power. When you give it some shit it usually picks up and goes like the clappers. It runs worse on part throttle when warm from low RPM. It stutters like a misfire as the diag says. You get the odd pop from the exhaust to when revving in N

its single Vanos

How long to "bed in" its done nearly 20 miles now.

Could it be the old fuel in there? i've put some fresh fuel in 9 litres. The range says zero but the fuel light isn't coming on. - that could just be a bulb.

Steve you'll have to come over and plug it in again in a few days

[powelly]

I'll come over again next week and plug it back in try and run the cable in through the drivers window and check some live data, I have a few ideas, we will get to the bottom of this. Get some more fuel bert.

[DanThe]

Did you fit new spark plugs? Sounds like my E34 when its ready for new plugs, LPG eats them after about 12 months

[Simon13]

its got 6 new plugs they're NGK's The alpina sticker gives a bosch no on the cam cover

[DanThe]

I dont know why they put that sticker on, they are the same as all the other M50/M52 plug type

[bss325i]

Maybe just to make sure it get the right plugs in case some animal is let loose on it and some champion plugs and fram filter is chucked in at a kwik fit or some shit?

I doubt that's the real reason though.

[powelly]

Nothing says you love a car quite like a Halfords oil filter!!!

[bss325i]

HOF 47?

[e301988325i]

. You get the odd pop from the exhaust to when revving in N

My renault did this when the lambda failed, but failed in such a way that neither diagnostics or normal tests revealed the issue. I'd be interested in the live data of the lambda.

[rrs]

Simon if you get those headlights apart and clean between the lenses and the covers it made a huge difference to the light output on mine, plus if you pop in some silca gel bags when your reassembling it deals with the condensation too. Happy Christmas

[Simon13]

Its now showing O2 sensor on 4-6 pots on the diagnostics. I'll try another and see where that takes us

Vanos appears to be working correctly when driving. So we could be nearly there on this i hope

[Jhonno]

OEM type is cheap from Motor Parts Direct if you have a local branch.. £44 each iirc.

[DanThe]

What is it saying about the lambda?

[Simon13]

coming up as a fault code now on the diagnostics. I'm no expert but it gives a different graph on the live data to the other sensor. Would explain the rough running/idle at a guess

[DanThe]

Worth swapping them round to confirm its faulty

[Simon13]

i swapped a secondhand one in earlier. Seemed to work and then it ran on 3 pots?! But this was 1,2,3 So i switched it off, started it again and it was straight back onto 6 pots. Gave it some jip up the road usual hesistant and then caught on for a while. Pull over idles spot on for 5 secs then the revs drop and it gets all rough again.

Am i better off just buying 6 coils, a cam sensor and 2x O2 and hoping for the best nothing else can go wrong then!!

Revving the engine up earlier with the diagnostics on the vanos confirmed retard on idle advance when its revved up a bit

[E30BeemerLad]

The symptoms you describe of the car hesitating and the power coming in intermittently is how my M52 behaved when first put in the touring, a replacement cam sensor restored warp drive.

When the engine was in the E36 the gearbox fault light came on the dash (it was an auto) and it was running in limp mode. We thought the box was foiked, but on reading up about this later, the cam sensor putting the car in limp mode would give the same effect.

I'd go cam sensor unless you want to be relieved of over £500 at the dealers for that list above.

[E30BeemerLad]

You have got the lambdas plugged in right?

plug nearest the front of the engine does cylinders 4-6 and rear plug does 1-3

[Simon13]

You have got the lambdas plugged in right?

plug nearest the front of the engine does cylinders 4-6 and rear plug does 1-3

Ah they'll be the wrong way round then. Which could mean i've swapped out the wrong bloody one! As the diagnostics thinks its sensor 4-6 playing up which infact is plugged into the front manifold. ha ha

Maybe its worth checking the codes on the gearbox aswell then.

I have swapped the cam sensor but again for a second hand one that i don't know about although no fault code is present, but they can be iffy without throwing a code?!

[E30BeemerLad]

If you've got these the wrong way around, they do run like crap

[Simon13]

You'da the man. just swapped them "warp drive" has been restored. Its seems perfect.

Zone power! made my day that has, its a weapon

[E30BeemerLad]

Chuffed for you mate, made my day too after scratching my canister for hours still trying to get the wife's Golf to run properly after I've molested it with an engine swap, modern stuff with sensors all over are a ball ache

[cornershop]

Quite weird reading this thread as I had placed a deposit on that car back in May time or there thereabouts - it was on its way back from the MOT station apparently when the h/g went. I was pretty gutted in all honesty, but dodged a bullet - Craig refunded my deposit, so no complaints about him whatsoever.

I'd picked up some B3 paraphernalia whilst waiting on the car to come back, will forward it on to you (Si) if you want it - PM me the address you want it posted to.

Glad you got it sorted - it absolutely flew on the test drive, the switchtronic gear changes were so quick and always kept you in the power band. Noticed the temp was over half way and the idle was lumpy, however I was going to get it leak down tested prior to handing the money over!

All the best with it, not many of them around I hear (5?)

Cheers

[powelly]

Happy days, there were no gearbox fault codes the other day, can check again at the weekend though, best clear any others again too.
Just need some gas in that a/c.

[B7]

So simple! Always amazes me how we rack our brains for weeks and it's so simple.

My car was the same with that damn rotor arm disc, A V8 P38 RR wouldn't run on 8 after I did the head gaskets which turned out to be the left hand coil pack plug had been swapped for the ICV plug and vice versa, and this one with the lamda plugs.

No doubt the C2 lump will be the same Si.

[old_skool]

Si, just read this front to back. What a car and what a thread. Loving your work

[HairyScreech]

Makes sense, after all if the front is rich and they are reversed then it will lean the rear as its the rear sensor picking up the rich condition.
That will result in the rear being lean and the front sensor that's installed in the back saying the front is running lean, which in turn increases fueling to the front 3 cylinder, hey presto a feed back loop that will see one end go fully lean and the other end go full rich.

They really should have made the plugs different so they cant be plugged in reversed.

[DanThe]

If you take note of the cable routing and length its easy to see which way round they should go

[oguz327]

Nice one Simon, look forward to a go in this soon

[winx]

Extralente!
Please bring this to Guildford

[Simon13]

I had an insurance quote just under 900 fully comp, parked on the drive 4 years NCB (touch wood) with the wife on there and a fault claim on me from 2010. Didn't think that was to bad myself. Insurance on them as dailys isn't that cheap but 'i'll get some other quotes.

I've got to wait 4 weeks now till my insurance runs out and i can start the new policy on this. As its on the bronzit at the moment!

[Jhonno]

Graham Sykes were good for my 328i Touring Si..