Just bought a 318is...Problems! :(

[marcp1987]

Oh, thank you anisotropy for the manual link, that will defo help some, do you know if there is a bentley manual for the E30, just to cover the body and suspension and so on?

[TheDutch]

Fuel pressure regulator may be worth considering, but it sounds like a sensor problem i.e. AFM / TPS. Whereabouts are you based?

[Oversteer]

Oh, thank you anisotropy for the manual link, that will defo help some, do you know if there is a bentley manual for the E30, just to cover the body and suspension and so on?

Here you go:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/BMW-Service-Man ... 786&sr=8-1

Got it las month, from amazon.com. Seems very nice, although it doesnt cover the M40/M42 engines.

[march109]

for the m42 you need to purchase the E36 bentley manual or haynes.

The 318is or m42 was a bit late for the normal e30 publications.

[marcp1987]

Im from Peterborough.

Last night I checked the TPS, it started at 1.17 somethings..... then crept smoothly upto 4.6 somethings.

I am an electrical god

AFM then? Simalar aged 5 series and early e36's, will the AFM be simalar? Cant drive my car as it is much longer, afraid of bore washing and stuff soon, it really is that bad!

[anisotropy]

I think its unique to the IS I'm afraid. You can test the afm its in that manual. Look for the fuel pressure regulator on the end of the fuel rail -it should have a little vacuum hose going to the throttle body -is that okay?
Only other things I can think of are a wiring fault between the temp sensor and the ecu. Or a leaky injector leaking into a cylinder.

[Gibson]

Ps... are 6cylinder rev counters different to a 4 cylinder? Changed the clocks at weekend for some with a working speedo, but now the rev counter underreads bigtime.

Yes. Yes they are. it will under read by 33.333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333 percent. recurring.

and you had better hope the idle problem goes away because i have this on my car and three months of swapping stuff hasnt cured it! its drives me up the pissing wall.

[Templ8e30]

Regarding the revcounter and clocks, they are the same unit but there is a white coding plug located on the bottom of the clocks that needs to be swapped for the original.

Cheers,

Iain T

[Gibson]

Regarding the revcounter and clocks, they are the same unit but there is a white coding plug located on the bottom of the clocks that needs to be swapped for the original.

Cheers,

Iain T

Erm Yea.... or that....

[Gortour]

Er, did no-one read my post further up this page?

are 6cylinder rev counters different to a 4 cylinder? Changed the clocks at weekend for some with a working speedo, but now the rev counter underreads bigtime.

Rev counters are the same, but there's a 'chip' in the bottom of the clocks that tells the clocks whether they're running on 4 or 6 pots. Change this for your original one from the iS clocks, should read correctly.

[Gibson]

Yep sorry mate i dont know how i missed it first time round.

[marcp1987]

Well the clutch blew up yesterday, so im changing that right now.

Deep joy this car brings me.

Worst thing is I sold my mint 1900 mk2 Golf GTI last week, starting to regret this move.

[choppa7]

try the idle control valve too can cause severe shite running problems

[Dr Firefly]

Where are you based Marc? Maybe someone can help out. If you're within range of the M25, highly recommend going to Ant - he cured problems with my 320i that had been driving me up the wall for years. Problem is that these old cars have had loads of people who don't know what they're doing have a go.

He replaced my AFM, ECU, TPS with good 2nd-hand items and got it all running perfectly for £125. And also gave me a hell of a lot more power too. Really can't complain.

[Stan0870]

hello mate, if you say the car is down on power, have you had a compression check done on the cylinders?, obviously with so much going on you sound as though your at your wits end, but its better to start at the begging than pouring money at various areas. if you can make sure the lump is ok its worth spending the cash..

[patrick85]

I work in a Mitsubishi Dealership and I once had a Lancer that wouldn't run properly. Everyone at work had a go, no luck, a so-called expert from Mitsubishi headquarters had no idea. I was at my wits end and one of the old mechanics gave me one of the best bits of advice ever. Check everything mechanical first before you start ripping the electrics apart. 15 minutes later I fixed the problem. Tight tappets. I know different car, just an example.

But like I said earlier in the thread I think you should try the airflow meter.

[marcp1987]

I have changed the AFM now, was a bit of luck regarding finding that, a mate old one off his old 318is in his garage!

Thats helped a little bit, I also made sure all the breather pipes and pipes going to the idle control were ok today, and I cleaned the idle control out, thats helped it a bit more too, but its still running really rich!!

Im not sure if I checked the TPS properly. It showed resistance at all times, and moved smoothly, but apparently it shouldnt show resistance at WOT and idle?

Thanks

[Templ8e30]

The 318iS throttle sensor is different to all other e30's. You should get a smooth gradual increase/decrease in resistance throughout the full travel of the throttle.

All other e30s use a switch type TPS.

Cheers,

Iain T

[anisotropy]

I never heard that about the resistance -it should show between 1k and 4k, resistance increasing as it opens I think. I know at idle and WOT throttle the ecu has maps it uses rather than info from the throttle potentiometer.
I wonder if a wiring fault between the temperature sensor and the ecu could simulate higher resistance and get a bad reading? Have you looked at the fuel pressure regulator -sometimes you get daft aftermarket ones stuck in.