alot of engine help... please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[benurminge]

i now have my e30 touring 318i m40 on the road earlier then i planned.

i am loving driving it but realising alot of things that i didnt when it was just idling on my drive.

1. it is over revs on idle, adjusting the trottle cable doesnt help, its on the lowest it can be if that makes sense without it being unslack. if i let it idle on my drive untill it finally warms up to half way on the temp gauge (takes about 15-20mins) the revs do go down to about 1,000rpm.
but whilst driving along (number 2 problem linking in) the temp gauge only goes just above blue (cold) and the idling never goes down past 2000rpm revs.

2. it doesnt get hot whilst in constant moving traffic, only ever just above blue. the fan comes on straight away as soon as you start the engine? so thermostat?

3. this is the worst one for me! i put in £40 worth of fuel and reset my trip... i only got 90 mile out of it :/
please dont tell me this isnt normal for my m40 engine!! my mpg gauge reads about 30-50 obviously varrying and i am certainly not ragging it, changing at 2000rpm and havnt gone past 60mph yet... as i am paranoid the cambelt will snap which is way over due.
could this problem be the result of a engine which is not getting warm and over revs constantly on idle? or should it still but no where near that bad on fuel?
could it be a fault pertol gauge? etc etc...

also there is a elect connector loose in the engine bay which i cant find its home? it comes off the loom which goes to the air box, it hasnt got alot of lenght on the cable coming off the loom to go far at all. its inbetween the airbox and engine. il take a photo of this later when i get home.

please help! i need this running alot better very soon otherwise i wont be able to afford it on the road.

[Grrrmachine]

1) Idle problems can be all sorts of things. Have a good read of the Wiki page:

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... ake#Idling

although I would strongly suspect the Throttle Position Switch at this point.

2) Your car has a viscous fan that is directly connected to the engine; it will spin at startup no matter what the thermostat reads. However, if your needle never gets out of the blue, this is most likely a thermostat issue and needs replacing:

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... vercooling

3) Running rich can be a number of things, but considering your previous problems the engine temp sensor is probably overfuelling the car because of your thermostat issue - it's like driving around with the choke out all the time. Fix your overcooling and you should see your mpg improve.

4) Your loose electrical connector is 99% likely to be this thing:

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... n_Canister

[Brianmoooore]

Fitting a new thermostat should solve most of your problems!

[benurminge]

thanks alot! il have a good old read and see what i can do. what and where is the throttle position switch and how can this be changed?

[Brianmoooore]

Don't touch anything before you've replaced the 'stat.

[benurminge]

Okay il buy and replace the thermostate tonight and see where that gets me. also ontop of the air box next to a round elect connector which you twist to connect in place there is a hole which has some sort of adjustment screw? does this contorol the amount of air into the engine?

[benurminge]

right gone out and had a quick look on the engine.
on the top of the air box i am wondering what this screw does?


this is the plug i was on about which seems to not have a home, as you can see the lenght determinds where it can go and it only reaches the air box or brake coolant resevoir.



photo bucket keeps messing up, i had some more photos and questions. il try again later. cheers.

[Cloggy Saint]

Pretty sure your spare plug is just that, spare. It's only used on cat equipped cars and would fit underneath the throttle body.

[benurminge]

an other photo of the elect plug. so this is deffo that carbon thing ?



this is also some blanked pipe? any ideas?



also is this borwn resevior something to do with that carbon canister? if not what does this do?

i have also located where the termostate is, so i drain the coolant, then does that simply unbolt and put the new one in? or more complex? cheers for the help guys, i will no how everything works one day! haha.

[steve_k]

IIRC that screw is the idle adjustment screw, DO NOT mess with it p, if you do you'll fuck up your emissions.

[benurminge]

the brown resevior i mentioned is in the second photo of the unsed plug near the brake resevior. just to make that clear.

[benurminge]

IIRC that screw is the idle adjustment screw, DO NOT mess with it p, if you do you'll **** up your emissions.

okay cheers, il leave that well alone then.

[Cloggy Saint]

The brown reservoir is your power steering fluid.

[benurminge]

okay that makes sense aswell. cheers. so where is this carbon canister thing? could it not be fitted and if it is should i worry about it?

[steve_k]

okay that makes sense aswell. cheers. so where is this carbon canister thing? could it not be fitted and if it is should i worry about it?

If it never had it from new then don't worry about it

[benurminge]

okay. thermostat change tonight and fingers crossed then!!!!
cheers guys

[steve_k]

No worries keep us posted,

[capnmchl]

Can't wait to see how this turns out

[gooner1]

Can't wait to see how this turns out

We all have/had to start somewhere cap, least the OP is
having a go

[benurminge]

yeah we all started somewhere mate, so you can take your pop corn and go elsewhere.

im a marine electrican not a mechanic but atleast i give it a go. im sure most 19year olds who arnt a mechanic are just as clueless.

shall i give you my 57ft yacht and ask you to wire it?
im sure you would have some questions.

cheers for eveyone that helped.

[Gert_8]

yeah we all started somewhere mate, so you can take your pop corn and go elsewhere.

im a marine electrican not a mechanic but atleast i give it a go. im sure most 19year olds who arnt a mechanic are just as clueless.

shall i give you my 57ft yacht and ask you to wire it?
im sure you would have some questions.

cheers for eveyone that helped.

Marine Electrician - You know Rav?

[benurminge]

il take that as a private joke haha

[Gert_8]

[Brianmoooore]

While you have the 'stat cover/outlet pipe off, make sure that the bleed vent screw is in working order, and the vent hole isn't blocked.

[benurminge]

While you have the 'stat cover/outlet pipe off, make sure that the bleed vent screw is in working order, and the vent hole isn't blocked.

well that answered my first question. that half undone bolt is a bleed screw. no I don't think it was blocked.

good news guys, new thermostat worked a treat. infact by doing this one job I took off the top cambelt cover and realised the cambelt is in good condition (although I will still get it done soon) so now im not paranoid, the engine gets up to temp a treat and much quicker solving an other problem, no more noisy tappets!!!

and finally I adjusted my idle speed, I realised there was an other adjustment screw (before I was only adjusting the cable) which I wound out abit, along with the engine actually getting up to temp and it idles perfectly now.

this is a much better picture



I also cleaned off all the carbon on the dizzy and rotar arm.

it now runs so much quieter, and smoother!

idling on the drive it will just reach that mark on the photo. and when driving along it comes to mid way. that's about right isn't it?

so solved a lot of issues changing one thing! im very happy.

thanks to everyone that helped.

[Gert_8]

Let us know if you think the MPG has improved too. Well done

[Morat]

I'd say that your viscous fan might be getting weak. 3/4 is as high as I'd ever like to see an E30 get on the gauge, and it might go higher if you pull up quickly after a hard run. You really don't want to get these cars into the red, they have a habit of cracking their cylinder heads if abused.
Then again it might just need another bleed

[benurminge]

yeah I bloody hope the mpg improves! haha

yeah okay il give it an other bleed, should I bleed it after it been running or whilst?

[Brianmoooore]

As Morat says, it shouldn't really quite reach that high on the gauge. If it does, only when idling or moving slowly, then comes down when moving faster, a new viscous fan coupling is in order. The only exception to this is if you restart the engine a couple minutes after stopping it after a run, when residual heat from the cylinder head will have raised the temperature of the coolant around the sensor. The gauge should come back down again to normal in seconds once the engine is running.
Don't ever be tempted to (or let some garage spanner monkey) adjust the pot. in the side of the air meter or the idle screw on the throttle body. These are both pre set at the factory, and never need moving. If the car can be 'improved' by moving them, that just indicates there is a fault elsewhere which needs sorting. Of course, you can't be certain that no one has been there before, unfortunately.

[benurminge]

okay cheers guys,
more good news and some bad.
rebleeded and some more trapped air came out, retopped up with coolant and she idles mid way and if cruising it goes down slightly but still at a good running temp.
my revs are still high everytime I start the car including restarted it after its been for a run and is nice and hot.
if I manually adjust the bolt on the throttle body and physically push the throttle linkage back towards the bolt it goes down and idles lovely. even after reving it and taking it around the block it will go back down and idle at 750rpm.
start it up again and the throttle linkage will move back to it original position sitting just off the adjustment screw and idle at 1,600rpm regardless of the engine temp.

new throttle body in order? one on ebay for £20?
got to be that right?

cheers

[Grrrmachine]

all this messing around with screws and cables may have upset your TPS alignment. It needs to "click" as soon as the throttle arm moves off the stop; that click is the TPS switching. If you've played around with the stop screw then the TPS won't be set properly, and the ECU will have no idea that the car is supposed to be idling.

[benurminge]

i certainly cant hear any click but thats probably to do with my noisy tappets haha.
how do i set my tps!?
so you certainly don't think i need a new throttle body?

cheers

[Grrrmachine]

I have no idea what you do or don't need until the car is set up properly.

[Cloggy Saint]

You don't need the engine running to hear the tps click. Move the throttle body arm manually and as soon as the flap opens there should be a click from the switch. If not then loosen the 2 screws holding the switch in place and then rotate the switch to the correct position. There's no formula for this, it's just trial and error.

[Brianmoooore]

You don't need the engine running to hear the tps click. Move the throttle body arm manually and as soon as the flap opens there should be a click from the switch. If not then loosen the 2 screws holding the switch in place and then rotate the switch to the correct position. There's no formula for this, it's just trial and error.

This is correct, BUT the TPS cannot be set up until the throttle stop screw is reset to its factory setting.
In the hope that no muppet has been at the TPS adjustment, I would be inclined to set the throttle stop to the TPS, and see what idle speed that gives.