Emergency!! - Help me, please!!

[Omi]

Right, the Scumball is now 4 days away and the 318iS of joy refuses to play ball...



Events as follows.

Started and ran fine, changed suspension and brakes... Changed timing chain... Ran fine.

Jet-washed engine... Ran on 3 cylinders.

Dried out plugs, leads, everything... Ran on 3 cylinders only under load.

Advised to check injectors... Removed throttle body, inlet manifold and injectors. Cleaned these up and reassembled.

Strated up, died. Started up ran fine until I revved it, then died on return to idle.

Now consistently dies on idle.

Stripped intake side again, renewed gaskets, made sure all coolant and breather pipes intact. - Throttle warmer already circumvented as per advice from TimS, resident expert!

Still dies on idle... UNPLUG AIR FLOW METER, runs fine.

Swapped AFM. Still dies. Swapped ECU, still dies.

Unplug/replug ICV, sharp hissing as it takes in air, implying this is working OK?

Totally stumped. - Any ideas? Really need urgent help, as I've got to get the car to the Nurburgring on Thursday. :'(

[eko]

Coil pack?

[m-dtech]

sounds like an air leak

you disconnected the throttle body....... are all hoses connected properly ?

[Martinaston]

Ever heard of doing one thing at a time ?

"car ran fine JET WASHED it.......changed ecu"

Unplug the blue temperature plug and the one below that for the injectors and dry them out. You may want to check the AFM plug as well, don't just look down the end of it pull the boot off the back and make sure.

Jet washed engine........ thats asking for trouble.

[E30Mark]

Ever heard of doing one thing at a time ?

"car ran fine JET WASHED it.......changed ecu"

Unplug the blue temperature plug and the one below that for the injectors and dry them out. You may want to check the AFM plug as well, don't just look down the end of it pull the boot off the back and make sure.

Jet washed engine........ thats asking for trouble.

I jet wash all my engines, never have trouble with them unless there is something wrong... ie it shows up any bad insulation on HT leads etc.

Have you looked at the multiway plug beneath the inlet manifolds? supplies power etc up to the injectors...

Also have you taken off the spark plug cover and looked down at the plugs? if these recces are full of water then your leads may be tracking.

Best of luck!

[Martinaston]

The back of your alternators waterproof ?
how about the T junctions on the loom ?

steam clean......maybe
jet wash...........

[E30Mark]

The back of your alternators waterproof ?
how about the T junctions on the loom ?

steam clean......maybe
jet wash...........

Obviously i don't jet wash the alternator... T junctions in the loom??? The car is designed to run in wet weather, if it runs bad when damp then there is a fault somewhere. By washing the engine you find the faults!

My sister bought a 1 owner, never been used in the rain, always garaged etc VW Golf, it ran like sh!t when she dragged it up to Yorkshire and left it out in the rain, snow etc. A complete overhaul of the ignition system was required, but because it never got wet no one knew there was a problem... hence why know i hose my engines to find the faults before they leave me stranded somewhere!

[Martinaston]

Yes, run in wet weather. Not under water

[Morat]

I've never heard of any good coming from jet washing an engine. Still its done now - get the WD40 out and start spraying!

[gcorky]

I've never heard of any good coming from jet washing an engine. Still its done now - get the WD40 out and start spraying!

no problem with jetting an engine if you know wot not to wet!!!!!a clean engine is a happy engine,also aids finding oil leaks

[stuartgallafant]

crankshaft position sensor? its located on the block, next to the front pulley. the lead runs up the side of the block (intake side) and plugs into a block under the inlet manifold...

just an idea....

[Brianmoooore]

Contrary to popular belief, clean water is not a very good conductor of electricity at all. It will only affect high impedance circuits. and most circuits under the bonnet of a BMW are low impedance.
BMW, unlike the manufacturers of lesser makes, confines most of the high impedance stuff to the cabin, or, in the case of some BMW models, encloses it in a waterproof box.
Other manufacturers stick the high impedance stuff directly where the crap comes through the grill from the outside, or where the water run off is from the scuttle, etc.
Point of this post is: I'm not at all convinced that your problem is anything to do with the jet washing, apart from drowning the (high impedance) ignition.

[Omi]

I don thik Iv ot ny moisture pobemsnow. After JetWash

Start again, wireless bloody thing.

Moisture problems are resolved, after the jet wash it was running fine, just on 3 cylinders.... Now running on all 4 after clearing out the spark plug tunnel etc.

I got it to run very lumpy today, but after a while there came a strong hissing from the vicinity of the ICV. - Is the vacuum hose under the 2nd stage of the inlet manifold very important? It's split to hell.

Any problems must be as a result of removing the Inlet mani. and not moisture penetration.

Any further ideas folks?

[Brianmoooore]

Any vacuun hose that is split will cause an engine to run lean as the engine is getting much more air than the air meter tells the ECU that it is.