Fuel Hoses

[Laher]

Hi,

My engine has been making a racket and cutting off whilst being driven occasionally. It's also been running 'very' rich.

Finally took it down to my friends garage to have it inspected.

There are two metal fuel lines that run across the passenger side from the tank towards the front of the car.

At the front of the car, the two metal lines join into rubber fuel hoses.

There are two hoses there, one is attached to the fuel rail (i think), and the other is just dangling there !

We assume it is the fuel return hose. I've tried searching this a lot of places but can someone please post a picture as to where that hose goes?

Pictures for both hoses would be perfect so we can identify what the problem is.

Car runs fine, just cuts off occasionally whilst driving and idle.

[Laher]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5tkpsyrk0u7bk ... .51.55.jpg

Picture of the underside.

Crap photo and doesn't do this car justice.

No rust whatsoever !!

[Grrrmachine]

The two metal pipes end at the bulkhead. From there, they convert to rubber hoses. One goes up the bulkhead to the fuel rail. The other snakes under the intake manifold and pops up near the front of the engine, connecting to the Fuel Pressure Regulator (the black round lump at the end of the fuel rail).

What car?

[Grrrmachine]

And no rust, but definitely a leaky gear shifter seal on the gearbox

[Laher]

Thanks for the reply!

The car is a poormans 325i (320i) MOREDOOR. But it is nowhere near a turd. Engine bay is really filthy though. Don't understand how chassis is so mint, but the engine bay is filthy as heck!

I had a thread on here in the new members section with pics of the Royal blue metallic moredoor with indigo blue leathers.

I take crap pictures, so my car looks abused. (Well it is being abused, I never wash it ).

When I start making it "like" new again, I'll start a diary with lots of images for you to enjoy (Y)

Can someone please kindly paste some images for where the fuel hoses go ? My mechanic doesn't have a clue, but that's because he was born in the 90s.

Thank you

[Grrrmachine]

If your mechanic can't find the "black round lump on the end of the fuel rail", then he's not a mechanic.

[Laher]

He is a mechanic Just not familiar with E30s. We tried using a snap on solus as well to diagnose the car but it wouldn't pick it up !

Just narrowed the overfuelling/cutting out to the fuel hose. 99% Sure what it is.

I should have took some images of the dangling hose.

For a 25 year old car, the rubber is still like new ! Chuffed with it, shame its not a tech 1 sport

I will speak to him tomorrow.

Edit :: Wonder where my "im a newbie here" thread has disappeared :O

[Brianmoooore]

There should be three metal 'fuel' lines under the car. One does end in an open rubber pipe, which should be pushed inside the reinforcement structure for the RH suspension turret.
Fuel return hose connects to the fuel pressure regulator, which I hope your 'mechanic' can recognise.

[Laher]

Thanks for the reply, so its not the open rubber pipe. My hopes for an easy fix that involves no parts being bought, as I have other plans for the car later, (no fragging), have come to an end. And yes it was originally inside the reinforcement structure.

Back to the drawing board with this one. After reading tonnes of threads on idle issues etc, Im gonna invest in a load of brake fluid cleaner, blue plugs and odd shaped rubber pipes to fist the car with heh.

Back to the drawing board with this one.

[Grrrmachine]

Don't invest a PENNY until you've done some testing. Swapping things blindly is more likely to cause problems than fix them.

If you must spend some cash, buy a multimetre, a bulb and some bits of wire. That's usually all you need to work out what's wrong with an E30.

[Laher]

I was kidding about the fisting yo ! I'm tight as a ducks ass, so won't be purchasing anything just yet. No point, as I plan to get rid of the m20.

I know the diagnostics doesn't tell you much, but if only it would work . We have the correct adaptor going to a snap on solus pro, but it wouldn't really "log" itself in. It did bleep once or twice after many retries. Also tried setting the connection settings to motronic 1.3.

Did read it does not work on some cars, and nobody really knows why. Im assuming it may not work, as it is a very early 1989, but 88s were same shape too ? Maybe the snap on isn't compatible. Not sure why my friend is so bothered about it as it won't really tell you much more than some break cleaner would. At this stage now I'm more inclined to a vacuum leak/MAF or still a fuel leak somewhere.

If this check fails, I will get the multimetre out . Temperature gauge works perfectly!

Tried the, as the yanks say, "stomp test", nothing on dashboard either. It's a January 1989 320i SE Royal blue metallic with indigo blue leathers (back seats have hard been used!)factory fitted OBC, f+r electric windows, electric sunroof, factory delete catalysor (so pretty sure no lambda sensor). Just missing aircon for them odd days of summer, oh and sport front seats and obviously tech 2 kit

Edit :: It does say check a heck of a lot when starting the car. But stomp test did not work.

[Brianmoooore]

But stomp test did not work.

Largely because you don't have a MIL light on your car to flash. The wire (plain grey) ends at the engine loom plug, and goes no further.
A mechanic, worthy of that title, doesn't need a Solus to work on an M20! This is a VERY simple engine.

[Laher]

Just googled what a MIL light is. Thanks again, for being patient with a noob. I don't think I have one true. My dash only says inspection (all the time) with every light green apart from one and CHECK flashing a lot when starting car and whilst driving on and off

[Grrrmachine]

If your car is a six-cylinder then it should have the Check Panel above the windscreen. The flashing Check light is to remind you that one of the check panel lights is lit (which is always brake lights when the car is started).

Really, ditch your mechanic. If he's trying to plug a laptop into an M20 then he's really out of his depth.

You need to go back to the basics; pull a spark plug and check the colour, use some carb cleaner to check for vacuum leaks, and use a multimeter to check the resistance of the blue temp sensor at the ECU plug. You probably also need an oil change and the valve clearances set to reduce the usual M20 chatter.

[Laher]

I had the oil changed, brake fluid, gearbox fluid, power steering fluid and the filters !

Used high quality millers oil, redline etc.

Need to set the valve clearances definitely, because I don't think that's been done since 1995 or even earlier !

If I spent enough time on it (trial and error), I could probably sort this myself.

But working 50++ hours a week is hard work

And it's my daily driver at the moment !

My friend has diagnosed a crack fuel hose. (I think its the one going into the FPR).

So again maybe a quick, easy fix.

I don't think it is an electrical fault.

Will keep you guys updated.

If he can't sort it, I'm gonna have to take it down to a "specialist"

Up north in west yorkshire a specialist usually means a cowboy

Thanks guys again.

[Brianmoooore]

I don't think it is an electrical fault.

Fiver says it is!

The 'inspection' light should be accompanied by an illuminated clock symbol to the left side of it as well. If the clock symbol isn't lit, then the small filament bulb is blown (not unusual in badly maintained cars where the light is left on), or the SI system is faulty.
Look up 'resetting service lights' in the wiki, and try to reset the light. If it won't reset properly, the usual problem is that the memory retaining batteries on the circuit board in the instrument cluster have failed. If dud batteries are suspected, they should be replaced ASAP, before they leak and write off the electronics for the whole instrument cluster.

[Laher]

Thanks Brian for your efforts, mucios gracias. The clock light was deffo illuminated as it is engrained in my memory.

I think we have narrowed it down to the video :

https://www.dropbox.com/s/e8s6qappeyvk0 ... WA0000.mp4

I know I keep saying I think it's this 99% and that 99% But this should be it ?

The car is still @ my friends place and I work 10 miles away, so we've been diagnosing via video.

Mind the bradistani talk . We're some of the "786ers" that some of you keep banging on bout hah.

Cheers again

[Laher]

Btw I have read most of the wiki about 3 times, I try to research much as possible, before asking questions. The reason Im saying this is because I bet you guys get sick of answering the same questions. I will try the reset also. Pretty sure I already read up on it, you have to short the circuit, to basically reboot it

[BenHar]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/e8s6qappeyvk0 ... WA0000.mp4

That is not a fuel hose.

It is the brake servo vacuum hose.

I really don't think your "mechanic" knows much about cars.

Ben

[Laher]

Sorry I didn't mention the video was after the cracked fuel hose (which is slightly cracked and going to replace). So he knows what it is.

He is a qualified MOT tester / mechanic, a green one, but there you go

[Brianmoooore]

The connector on the throttle body that the servo hose connects to is NOT supposed to come out. Needs to be refitted and fixed with something such as Araldite.

If you are sure "the engine is running very rich", the first thing you should do is measure the resistance of the 'blue' temperature sensor at the appropriate pins on the engine ECU plug with the engine stone cold, and then again, after reconnecting the ECU and running the engine up to working temperature.