1983 e30 320i issues

[james158]

Hi

I am having a couple of issues with my 320i. The first issue is the car is struggling to rev past 4K whilst in gear under load. It just runs out of puff. Put it into neutral and it will rev freely no issue what so ever. The car has done 173k but has impeccable service history. Some days it runs better than others.

The other issue is stalling. When I bought the car it didn't come up to temperature so I fitted a new thermostat and new temp sensors. However after doing so the car runs at around 11 o clock on the temp gauge. If you push on a bit or are in town it will run at 12 o clock. However as soon as this happens the car stalls at idle. As soon as the temp drops back down again it runs fine.

Hope this makes sense and any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers

[Speedtouch]

Being a 1983 320i, yours should have the earlier L-Jetronic management system. Check the notorious air-slide valve, which are prone to seizing:

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/index.php/Jetronic

Also, check your ignition timing is correct - you may need to slacken the distributor base clamp and rotate it until the engine just doesn't pink under load when accelerating in high gear or going up a hill; that will be the optimum ignition timing setting.

Has the cambelt been changed recently?

I once had a 1984 L-Jet 320i which went extremely well, until I asked a branch of Halfords to change the cambelt, then it gave symptoms similar to yours; I suspect they fitted it one tooth out.

[james158]

Hi

Thanks for getting back to me. The air slide valve seems very plausible. I will get it booked in to be looked at and hopefully get it sorted.

Cheers