E30 Zone

Adjusting tappets on my M20 325i
Taken off rocker cover, and took plugs out, then I went to set TDC, but had to take off the distributor and some of the water hoses, and take the radiator out, and air box off, just to get to the bolt on the front of the crank. my only problem is, it does not your conventional distibutor, so it's difficult to tell if I have the #1 piston on the firing stroke when my marks are lined up on the fly wheel and timing plate. can any one help?

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The easy way to do your tappets on a 325 is the rule of 7...

When you get the valves on number 1 "rocking" (exhaust still closing and inlet opening) then you set number 6. Then when 5 is rocking you set 2 and so on.


There is a timing mark on the front pully/timing cover and you can usually reach up from underneath to get a 22mm socket/spanner on the crank bolt and once it's on you can normally reach it from above, don't worry about the fan, it's on a viscus coupling so it wont brake if somthings reaching through it a bit with the engine off.

Welcome to the Zone

Must do this on my M20 too actually if I'm going to let it stay in the car for a while before it gets a proper engine

all done now, so much quieter now, but noticed some new problems. need to replace the water pump, and flush the coolant system. Just hope that ny oil leak stops, now that I have put the new valve cover gasket in. Also need to change the sender unit in the coolant bottle, because i,ve done everything else, but the coolant guage still does not work.

Coolant temperature gauge?

That would be the brown sensor on the thermostat housing but the most common cause's of the gauge failing are the C191 plug, the wiring multiplug below the inlet manifold.

It's a known water trap and the pins nside it corrode for fun, on mine the wires also turned black so soldering is vertually impossible... It's now a mass of crimp connectors wrapped in tape but it's working.

Then theres a pair of small brass nuts on the back of the dash cluster, one for the fuel gauge and one for the temperature gauge, these are known to work loose or even fall off.

The sensor in the coolant tank is just a low-level warning light on the check panel.