it's just not working

Post Sat Apr 22, 2006 7:38 pm

Guys please tell me what you think, all your oppiniions wold be helpful.

I changed the timing belt, and since the car is not working...
all markers on crank and cam allaigned, at first i thought i turned the ignition wrong but then i made it ok alsow...
Now when i make the car starts nice, but when i press gas it drowns, then i turn the ignition cap and it starts to run ok but when i turn it off like than and than try to fire it up it doesnt start...

it's really confusing.....

one frined of mine chenced it alsow and he said that everything with the timing and ignition is ok, i belive him he rebuild engine of alpina b6 by him self and opened couple of e30 engines....

Best regards Kiril (sorry for the mistakes in english)

Post Sun Apr 23, 2006 11:09 am

What do you mean by "turn ignition cap"?
Do you mean the distributor cap? and what engine do you have?

Post Sun Apr 23, 2006 11:57 am

Yes i was thinkink of the distribution cap but i didn't know the name in english

i have 320i from 1983.

Post Sun Apr 23, 2006 12:10 pm

Is there a timing mark on the idler shaft ?

Post Sun Apr 23, 2006 1:41 pm

no there is no mark on the idler shaft, i adjust it by taking of the cap and placing it to fire on the first cylinder, cause the cam is adjusted to fire on the first cyl... so i think that is ok, and than i try to finetune the distribution cap by turning it little to the left or tight, and than i get this bad results,

Post Sun Apr 23, 2006 2:19 pm

What method did you use to line up the crank and the camshaft properly
when you took the old belt off, and put the new one on?

Can you guarantee that the cam/crank alignment is correct?

Post Sun Apr 23, 2006 2:51 pm

Is this a version of the engine with an old style conventional distributor mounted down on the block? With advance/retard springs?.
If so. could be a problem somewhere here setting the timing so that the rotor isn't pointing at the appropriate pole in the cap when the spark occurs.
IIRC there was a possibility of using the wrong distributor cap on ancient M10 engines, which caused just this problem. Don't know if this is applicable to the M20 or not.

Post Sun Apr 23, 2006 5:48 pm

well this is how it goes, this is old type of distributor car, so i tryed everything i can and it wasn't working, than i put back the old timing belt , and tryed couple times and now the car is working, when i compare the belts they are exactly the same with 127z, same wide on the box i bought the new belt lemforder it sais for: bmw e21 320 , 323i , e30 320i 325i from 1982 -1990...

Post Sun Apr 23, 2006 8:30 pm

Never worked on one as old as this, but you must have a timing mark on the oil pump drive pulley, as well as the cam and crank pulleys.
You must have timed this one wrong with the new belt.

Post Sun Apr 23, 2006 9:39 pm

It's a bit too fine to set the timing by hand, you may need a timing gun and then mark the crank TDC position with tippex to be sure you get it spot on.

Post Mon Apr 24, 2006 12:06 am

Martinaston wrote:It's a bit too fine to set the timing by hand, you may need a timing gun and then mark the crank TDC position with tippex to be sure you get it spot on.

Been a few years since I've seen that done!!