Lee Parkes' E30 Alpina B10.

[leeparkes]

In the meantime ive put this thread up just in case.

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... 62#2238662

[Cypriotgeeza]

good luck with this lee! you know I know what your going through with an engine not running right!

You thought about going through the wiring on the bulkhead one by one and checking for anything wierd?

[leeparkes]

I will check for problems once ive got the old loom out as i dont have time at the minute to investigate.
Ive got a new loom coming from Staley so fingers crossed

[zaust]

Have you checked what the injectors are doing yet. i.e. squirting fuel out and not dribbling.

[leeparkes]

Yes, i ended up sort of twisting the rail up and 'visually' they sprayed fine.

[leeparkes]

Well the new loom is on (cheers Matt) but the problem is still there. I really dont know where to look now as everything has been swapped/tested, the only thing that may be suspect is the CPS but @ £90 a rip from BMW its a bit much. Mine is in spec when cold but after an hour of driving it reads higher.




On a more positive note. I spy with my little eye something begining with S













Its a 3.64 LSD

It came at the right time and if im honest the ratio i wanted, plus i want to go 16" rims too so ill have a larger rolling radius to give it a bit more legs.

Ive painted the diff black but was unsure what colour to do the backplate so i took a gamble and went with....




Gold!










What you think?


It also came with two litres of this stuff, Anyone heard of it?

[staley_turbo]

Glad you got the loom, Im putting a 3.15 in mine and have just ordered the castrol saf-xj stuff. Its a bit pricey but ill only be putting it in once (hopefully)

[Speedtouch]

Penrite are a quality brand, so it should be good stuff.

[leeparkes]

I went for the Castrol B373 last time, i was a bit dubious about using an oil id never heard of.

[bss325i]

SAF-XJ is very good.

Did you ever try another coil?

What fuel pump have you got?

The missfire/running problem, when did it occur? When you swapped the engine for the Alpina one of has it happened at a later point with the Alpina engine?

[leeparkes]

Did you ever try another coil?

What fuel pump have you got?

The missfire/running problem, when did it occur? When you swapped the engine for the Alpina one of has it happened at a later point with the Alpina engine?

Ive tried 3 coils on it now all tested before hand with a meter, one was from a 'known running engine. Fuel pump is standard, car was a 325i.

When the engine first went in it didnt really feel 100%. slight missfire, fluffy idle and didnt feel like a 260hp engine.
I then set about tracing the fault, after testing/swapping all management parts i decided to swap the dizzy cap for a good used one id found in my stash. The car suddenly 'woke up' and ran perfect and as it should.

I decided that now id found the fault i spunked out on a new dizzy cap and rotor (both Bremi items) but the fault returned. So i swapped the other dizzy and rotor back over and the fault was still there. I put the new Dizzy back on and started looking at the leads etc to see if id disturbed something or one of leads had a short/break etc.
Since then ive gone back to testing/swapping everything again

The list so far....

New dizzy & rotor
Leads tested with multimeter and all in spec, inc the pulse sensor on lead 6
Injectors, reconditioned (injectortune)
AFM tested
Blue temp sensor tested
Valves set at 0.30mm (religiously with the engine stone cold)
TPS tested and set perfect
TB butterfly set perfect
Zero air leaks (tested with a butane burner aswell as carb cleaner)
ICV cleaned/tested
Ive tried 3 sets of plugs, Bosch w8lpr, NGK zgr5a and now back on new NGK bpr6es.
3 different coils
New paper air filter
New fuel filter.
New engine earth strap
Loom swapped over for another
The CPS has been gapped to the toothed wheel 1mm, resistance when cold is 540ohm, after an hours driving its just over 600, say around 610ohm.
A compression test was done a few months ago and was all around 11.5-12 bar
Whenever the battery has been disconnected ive let it idle for 10 mins then take for a good drive.

The engine feels like its missfiring and when reved from idle it hesitates first but if its at say 2k and i blip the trottle there's no hesitation, it runs rich and the exhaust note doesnt sound right either.
Sounds daft but it feels/sounds out of time.

Dont know where to turn next

[Speedtouch]

When the engine first went in it didnt really feel 100%. slight missfire, fluffy idle and didnt feel like a 260hp engine.
I then set about tracing the fault, after testing/swapping all management parts i decided to swap the dizzy cap for a good used one id found in my stash. The car suddenly 'woke up' and ran perfect and as it should.

I decided that now id found the fault i spunked out on a new dizzy cap and rotor (both Bremi items) but the fault returned.

Moral of story: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[leeparkes]

Thats what the wife said Maurice

Right, another compression test has been done, figures maybe slightly out as the tester is quite old but it was also tested on one cylinder on the compact and figure was similar (200ish).
Anyway here's the results.

Cyl 1- 195psi
Cyl 2- 190psi
Cyl 3- 190psi
Cyl 4- 195psi
Cyl 5- 185psi
Cyl 6- 190psi

Cylinder 5 was slightly down but nothing to flap about.

I did the test with the engine up to temp and what i noticed when i pulled the plugs out that plugs 1,2 and 3 were slightly wet around the bottom of the threads, not soaked but traces of fuel around the edge. the rest looked normal.

[bss325i]

Have you checked and adjusted the CO at all?

Have you tried another AFM on it? If so did you check and adjust the CO when you changed it?

As you still have the standard 325i fuel pump, maybe it cant cope with the B11 engine and was just ok for the standard M30?

[leeparkes]

I havent checked the CO but it went through the MOT in May when it was running iffy and passed.
AFM was from Andyboy, it was only 12 months old when i got it. Ive also tested it with a battery and multimeter and inspected/cleaned the carbon track.

Im swaying towards an ignition problem more than fuel tbh.

[bss325i]

Im swaying towards an ignition problem more than fuel tbh.

What makes you say this?

[leeparkes]

Im basing it on when it 'woke up when i originally swapped the first dizzy over.

[bss325i]

Im basing it on when it 'woke up when i originally swapped the first dizzy over.

How long did it run properly for? It may have just been a coincidence.

[leeparkes]

Couple of weeks, probably about 100 mile.

[leeparkes]

Right, Had a couple hours to spare earlier so went out for a tinker.
First off checked all the valve clearances (again) and checked to see if the cam was timed up.

Afaik with the bottom pulley on the timing mark the cam pulley lines up here. (red arrows)



Looks spot on




Now, i got my DIY plug testing equipment back out.



Zip tied tight to the plate.



Bolted up and earthed.




I did this a couple of weeks ago but these videos were taken tonight.
Notice the break in the spark!
Again you need the sound on to hear it cranking.

[youtube][/youtube]

You can see it better in this vid.

[youtube][/youtube]


This is with a HT lead directly off the coil onto one of the plugs. The break is even easier to see with this one.

[youtube][/youtube]

What would cause that?

Help!

[johnl320]

maybe crank sensor, ecu or harness dme relay opening and closing? engine loom, king lead, coil, coil wiring could be loads of things but at least you can rule out thins like afm, tps etc.

[leeparkes]

Where do i start though?

Im leaving the car as it is now with the coil connected to a spark plug so i can trace the problem from there.

Ive tried 3 coils and swapped the engine loom, tried half a dozen DME relays etc.
How do i trace it back from the coil? Would running a multimeter or bulb on the + terminals on the coil while its cranking? will that tell me anything? or am i miles off...

Fookin hate electrics

[Speedtouch]

A worn ignition switch may be causing a faltering power supply to the ECU; it may be worth directly connecting its power supply inputs to battery +12V to rule that out.

Have you checked the injectors impedance? It may be worth hoiking them out and testing the spray pattern - it wouldn't be the first time on here that 'reconditioned' injectors have proven faulty.

Another thought; when you replaced the rotor arm and dizzy cap, did you ensure that the little carbon cover (part 14 on this RealOEM page) that sits under the rotor arm to shield/direct the spark was in place?

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=12&fg=05

[DanThe]

Next thing I would try is a different ecu with your plug plate rigged up as it is, just to see if that pattern changes at all.

Regarding the ignition switch theory a test light rigged up to the coil live while your doing the test, if the light light dims you know its a power supply problem

[leeparkes]

I dont believe this

I havent touched the car since last nights vids, gone to it tonight to swap the ECU etc but first before i touched anything i spun the engine over to check again and there were no 'breaks' in the spark! WTF!

I need it to behave like it was last night so when i swap the ECU's i can see if its fixed.

[leeparkes]

Looking at the last video the 'break' seems to be in rhythm could this be more CPS related?

[Rav335uk]

Didn;t you change the CPS last time??

[leeparkes]

No it hasnt been swapped, its reading in spec and no breaks in the wire so i presume its in good order. What else can go wrong with one?

[Rav335uk]

Look for signs of damage on the face.

[Cypriotgeeza]

that first vid sounds like a german machine gun!

[leeparkes]

I checked for damage Rav but its as clean as a whistle.

When checking the resistance on the CPS between pins 1 & 2, What is pin 3 for?

[Rav335uk]

How do I know if I have a bad crank position sensor?

You will know that you have a bad crank position sensor by how your engine idles, how your pistons fire, or how you accelerate. It will usually be more noticeable as you raise the RPM's. With a bad or faulty sensor, you engine may misfire causing motor vibration or backfires. You may also experience hesitation while accelerating or shaking during engine idle. In the worst case scenario, you won't be able to start your car.



Sound like yours Lee??

[leeparkes]

Where did you get that from? It is very similar to how mine is running with the missfire, hesitation etc..

What does make me smile is i did a 14.2 second quarter mile with it running like this!

And for my next post....

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... 78#2250478

[Rav335uk]

Have you checked for a break in the wire too?

[johnl320]

They aint cheap, 86 quid