Recommened Fuel Pressure for 1989 320i

Post Wed May 04, 2005 9:57 am

Having a few problems with fuelling
in other terms the car is drinking the stuff
100miles to half a tank
suspecting fuel pressure regulator
as car is gutless
also changing both temp sensors
Any help will be greatly appriated
Regards
Fowler

Post Wed May 04, 2005 10:05 am

Clean the spark plugs and change the air filter ?

Post Wed May 04, 2005 10:24 am

new plugs and air filter in and new dizzy and rotor

Post Wed May 04, 2005 10:35 am

All facelift 320i have a 2.5 bar (36 psi) fuel pressure regulator.

My 320i was a drinker and I changed the blue temperature sender, this cured it and my average mpg shot up from 18mpg to 27mpg.

Cheers,

Iain T

Post Wed May 04, 2005 10:39 am

its a funny one because its a cab i have an early shell with later lump if you get my drift its becoming a pain in the arse for parts because of the swap over year because it was built 10.1988 with all the later parts
so when i go int BMW they try and tell me it an early model really Pissing me off
Bloody stealers

Post Wed May 04, 2005 11:02 am

Templ8e30 wrote:All facelift 320i have a 2.5 bar (36 psi) fuel pressure regulator.

My 320i was a drinker and I changed the blue temperature sender, this cured it and my average mpg shot up from 18mpg to 27mpg.

Cheers,

Iain T

hey, mines about the same as that! hate to be a total retard, but could you explain where and how to change this sensor please

its a funny one because its a cab i have an early shell with later lump if you get my drift its becoming a pain in the arse for parts because of the swap over year because it was built 10.1988 with all the later parts
so when i go int BMW they try and tell me it an early model really Pissing me off
Bloody stealers

same here itsa a real pain in the arse eh

many thanx

elliot

Post Wed May 04, 2005 11:40 am

elliot where are you based mate
could help you if yo want

Post Wed May 04, 2005 12:21 pm

The blue sensor is on top of the thermostat housing right next to the injector rail.

To change it you'll need to unclip the plug by squeezing the metal clip on the side and then pull it off.

Then you might need to remove the injector wiring rail, this just pulls off.

Next get a cranked ring spanner, can't remember if it's 19mm or 17mm, and loosen the sensor.

Have the new one to hand as the coolant will p!ss out of the hole when you remove the old one.

Don't overtighten the new sensor as the casting is only ally and you don't want a stripped thread.

Plug the injector rail and sensor plug back in securely, they should snap into place.

The sensor can be bought from GSF or ECP for about Ãƒ”šÃ‚£12 IIRC

Jobs a good un

Cheers,

Iain T

Post Wed May 04, 2005 12:26 pm

cheers for that mate
neede a refresher
on that are the ones from gsf + ecp just as good the stealers ?

regards Ben
General skivvy

Post Wed May 04, 2005 9:12 pm

excellent! temp your a star, really appreciate that. gonna be on my to-do list for the weekend

@ fowler, thanks for the offer, im in banbury (nr oxford) a tad too far away from ya i reckon , ta all the same

regards

Post Wed May 04, 2005 11:37 pm

The GSF and ECP ones are just as good yes, think they are made by the same company.

Cheers,

Iain T

Post Thu May 05, 2005 7:01 am

probably a dumb question, but what does the blue sensor have to do with fuel
economy? I also have a 320i and it eats fuel (218miles per tank). All sparkies and etc have been done (dunno about the sensor). I was also told that the cat. converter can cause the problem too. I was going to check out replacing mine. what do you think? The sensor thing is cheaper to do so might do that first. Cheers!

Post Thu May 05, 2005 11:44 am

its a variable resistor - sometimes give wrong resistances

Post Thu May 05, 2005 12:02 pm

The sensor controls the 'choke' circuit of the ecu, when the engine is cold it will enrich the mixture giving the cold running effect of a choke and as it warms up the resistance changes to give gradually less choke until the temperature is up to normal.

If the sensor goes down with high resistance the engine will be permanently on choke and will guzzle fuel, or if it goes down with low resistance it never gives enrichment and will cause poor cold start and running problems.

Think i've got that the right way round

Most e30's in the uk don't have a cat by the way.

Cheers,

Iain T

Post Thu May 05, 2005 12:12 pm

Templ8e30 wrote:All facelift 320i have a 2.5 bar (36 psi) fuel pressure regulator.

Iain T

are you sure thats right Ian, i was told that the 320i ran on a pressure of 40psi

Post Thu May 05, 2005 1:17 pm

100 %, the fuel pressure regulator runs at 2.5 bar which is 36 psi.

The 325i runs at 3 bar which is 44 Psi

Cheers,

Iain T

Post Thu May 05, 2005 1:20 pm

would fitting a 325 fpr to a 320 make any noticeable difference?

i'm gonna do my coolant and oil and timing belt this weekend snd thought the fpr could be done at the same time

Post Sun May 08, 2005 12:21 am

Hey guys, just to keep this thread alive I have another q? I have had a problem when I'm giving the car a workout (thrashing) where there is what I thought was smoke coming out the rear (not all the time). Got a mate to follow me one day and he said it looked more like unburnt fuel. Could this be related to this sensor not working as well. Could kill two birds with one stone if I'm lucky! Let me know what you think.

Cheers!