DirtE30 - 1990 BMW 325i

[.RJ]

Why is this a question?

Just trying to get you to think about what you want out of this car while you're throwing parts at it.

[Senor_Taylor]

Why is this a question?

Just trying to get you to think about what you want out of this car while you're throwing parts at it.

Makes sense. I guess you don't know me well, but I just kind of type what I'm thinking, doesn't mean that's my immediate plan.

I'm keeping my eye out for used spec e30 suspension bits and if I see a great deal and it makes sense, I'll snag, but that's just a few things on the list of cheap, used things to get when I find a deal.

Right now, top of the list is Brake lines, get my rear aligned properly or somehow get some toe in, fix my slight oil leak, and get these seats mounted. I think then I'll be pretty solid to start DE. That's not a complete list of things either. So don't think I'm not planning on something like safety equipment or anything just because I don't mention it. Everything is buy and install as I go. It's a really tight budget on this.

I'm not set on getting it ready by March. I'm more constrained by time and money, and if it's not ready for March DE1 and I don't have decent money saved it, I'll wait.



Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[Senor_Taylor]

Decided to take the E30 home for Christmas so my friends could see it before it's turned into a bastardized, half assed race car. It absolutely eats up highway miles (compared to a miata). The Diff and Subframe clunking around definitely made the stop and go bits miserable, but once the traffic cleared, I was off to the races. My calculations come out to 22-24MPG (Odometer doesn't work). It's quiet and smooth and I can see how nice this car would have been in 1990 with door and sunroof seals that actually fit, a blower motor that didn't sound like a 1950's bicycle with a baseball card on the spokes, and an engine and trans that didn't sound like a game of "Hungry Hungry Hippos". Let my two buddies back home drive it and they seemed impressed, but I don't exactly buy it considering they drive a Z06 and a newish WRX. I'm not sure if it's running exactly 100%, but I'm not sure how to diagnose that, really. A fresh set of vacuum lines could help I'm sure, but I'd really like to see someone that knows E30 to give it a once over and drive it to really see how it runs.

Back when I had the white Miata, I was in town with it for Thanksgiving, and those two guys had a CTS-V and a Bugeye WRX respectively. We were about to go take a photo of all of our cars together, but decided against it since it was late and we figured we'd get another chance. Fast forward a month and those cars were either wrecked or sold. This year was the first time since then that we've all owned cars and had them in town at the same time, so we put on our flat brims and turned up the Limp Bizket on our way to an LU parking deck and took some photos.





Dying to get new bumpers, trim pieces, and a new fender, but those are so unimportant to the goal of #RaceCar that I'll just have to give up my dreams of a nice looking E30. That said, I do think it's time to reassess and move my goal posts a little. March VIR, or any of the early NASA events this year don't seem feasible without me being risky with money, so the car may have a longer and slower path than I initially guess, and I'm okay with that. Stay tuned.

[Jake]

Take your time, racetracks aren't going anywhere. That said, what is stopping you from Hyperdriving or something in March - just the weird rear alignment?

As for power, it seemed fine when I drove it at Summit Point. If there's anything "un-ideal" I would guess it's pretty minor, unless something has changed since then.

[Senor_Taylor]

Finances. Just don't have the money. No need to stretch myself thin.

This whole subframe thing isn't something I want to rush either. Doesn't mean I won't be doing as much autocross as possible. I'm okay with this.

The engine runs fairly rough when you reset the ECU, and I have a feeling a vacuum leak is causing a lean condition that the ECU learns and corrects. Then it runs fine. Just want to make sure I won't grenade my motor at 6,000 RPM on the back straight of VIR. Might do a Hyperdrive with this subframe and see just how bad it affects things. That'll be a fairly large and very expensive thing to diagnose and tackle.

[Jake]

Ahh, okay. I'd smoke-test it then if you think it's a vac leak.

[Senor_Taylor]

Found out that my throttle cable had about 1/4 - 1/2 inch of slack in in it, but the plastic guide had jammed in sideways so it didn't feel like there was slack, but full throttle was actually like 85% throttle. Tightened that up and went for a test drive.

It feels much much faster now, but I immediately got a flashing CEL on Deceleration. Goes away at WOT. Pulled over a school to check everything was plugged in and read the code. It was a code for a coolant temp sensor (Had this before and cleaning the plug for the TPS fixed it). Car wouldn't start, like not even trying to turn over, cranked fine. I unplugged the TPS and plugged it back in hard and she started again. Took it home and parked it.

A few days later, I drove it to go get lunch and it started sputtering when trying to rev match downshift, then the pedal went completely dead. Then, while not even pushing the pedal down, the revs shot up to about 4-5k, I let out the clutch and finished parking. Got in the car after lunch and drove it home and it stalled out going over a speed bump. No amount of cranking could get it to start, so I started pushing it. I pushed it about 10 feet and tried starting it again, which it did, and then the revs shot up to about 5 grand and I couldn't get it to come back down, so I shut it off and we pushed it to my garage.

Spent some time pulling connectors and cleaning them to no avail, and now the car lies dead in the garage. I noticed the coolant temp sensor that's under the intake shares a loom with the TPS connect and they were stretching each other, so I rerouted those to relieve some stress on them, but that didn't work. When the weather gets better and I find some motivation, I'll find some time to peel back the boot on the connector and make sure the pins are still in, but for some reason, I don't think this is the issue.

[SlimKlim]

So the throttle cable is still clipped into place while this is happening? I had a similar issue when I borrowed Jake's E34 once. I snuck up on the throttle pedal in a way it didn't like and that plastic washer thingy popped out of its bracket and got stuck so my only available throttle position was like 80% open.

[Senor_Taylor]

I'll check. The car is complete no start at the moment, so that wouldn't explain the rest of the issues, but I'll check it none of the less. Sounds like the original issue I had and fixed.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[SlimKlim]

Yeah, just throwing it out there, wondering if maybe the no-start and throttle issues are possibly separate.

[ViPER1313]

It sounds like the car is getting way more air than it should at idle. Does the car have an IAC? Maybe try cleaning that. I can’t think of any reason other than a massive vacuum leak / stuck throttle plate / IAC failure that the car would just rev to 5g without you being on the throttle, so I would check all of that first. Make sure the throttle is not sticking open.

Also, for shits and giggles, try starting the car using some or a lot of throttle. While cranking the motor, pump the throttle 0->100% 5 or 6 Times.

[Jake]

So the throttle cable is still clipped into place while this is happening? I had a similar issue when I borrowed Jake's E34 once. I snuck up on the throttle pedal in a way it didn't like and that plastic washer thingy popped out of its bracket and got stuck so my only available throttle position was like 80% open.

I recall you being slightly cross when you brought the car back... sorry about that. 

There is a guy who sells aluminum throttle/cruise cable bushings which is what I used to replace the E34's: https://store.garagistic.com/bmw-aluminu...e-bushings

Your problem sounds different though, I agree. Didn't you already replace the idle control thinger that has the swinging vane? That caused all sorts of similar bullshit on my E30.

[Senor_Taylor]

So, I went out to the garage, unplugged the MAF, plugged it back in, then wiggled the box that has the starting relays, and the car fired right up on the first time. Put gas in it and took it for a drive. It drove objectively better than it ever has. The CEL went out when it warmed up and it pulled strong and hard.

Then I decided to drive it on Sunday. CEL came on solid and the idle would hang wherever you revved it to indefinitely, so shifting was a pain. I got some funny looks at stoplights with my car pegged at 5 grand. I pulled over near Leesburg and checked the fuel line going to the fuel rail to find it soaking wet with gas. I flew home and left it in the garage.

A theory is the fuel leak is also pulling air into the fuel rail and it's somehow injected air and fuel and leading to this "runaway" scenario I'm facing now where it revs really high without opening the throttle. I'm going to replace that line and get a proper clamp on it and see where that gets me. Other than that, I'm fairly tired of working on cars more than driving them.

[Senor_Taylor]

Look at the plastic clip on the throttle cable dummy

I ALREADY DID AND IT'S NOT BROKEN REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Yeah, but I didn't look at the one for the cruise control... That one was twisted around and the throttle was stuck about 10-15% open. I disconnected it and zip tied it out of the way. Bought some injector clamps and cut the fuel hose, slid it up further, and clamped it down. Haven't seen any fuel leak, but it's also not cold so the hose is decently pliable. Finally, I did the stomp test to confirm the CEL code was 1223 which is a coolant temp sensor. I decided to check the sensor on the radiator and realized the clip was broken and the pins weren't pushed in all the way. Pushed them in and the CEL went away immediately. Disconnected the battery and let the car learn itself again. The idle is better but still has a slight miss at idle and hesitates a tad when blipping the throttle. Other than that, it drives better than it ever did. The weather is perfect today so I'm not sure if that was 100% the fix. We'll see when it gets cold. 

The oil leak from the oil cooler is getting worse. I guess when you fix one leak, the others just get worse. Also, it really needs all new vacuum hoses. They are all rock hard and full of cracks.

[davej]

Quick, sell it.

[Senor_Taylor]

I drove it all day today and really enjoyed it. I wonder how long it will be before I'm right back where I was 4 days ago?

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[Jake]

I drove it all day today and really enjoyed it. I wonder how long it will be before I'm right back where I was 4 days ago?

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

Whenever the next dash light comes on.

[Senor_Taylor]

So, the car has been running fine since then except for Friday. On the way to work the CEL came back on intermittently and then when I left work the car was a no start. After about 45 minutes of pulling/cleaning relays, checking sensors, etc, I found that the front temp sensor (What the CEL was for) had a part of the wire that was bare, so I taped that up and cleaned the connections. This may be related to the no start or not, I'm not sure yet. In desperation, I laid on the starter for about 10 seconds and noticed it did start to sputter a little after a bit. The cranking to that point was like cranking a motor out of time. Nice strong crank and literally no sign of an effort to fire. I decided to go for broke and lay on the starter for as long as it took. *CLACK* *CLACK* *CLACK* *CLACK* *CLACK* *CLACK* and the engine revs to life with my foot pegged to the floor. The engine shoots up to 4 grand and scares a girl walking to her car.

The car ran well on the way home then started to sputter and stall 3 stop lights from my house. I limped it home and parked it.

The next day I went outside and the car started right up without missing a beat. I had a suspicion that the fuel gauge was not accurate below a half tank since the last time I had this no start issue, I was below 1/4 tank, so I took it to get gas. The car ran without a problem and pulled fine on the way there. However, I did notice that the fuel line leak I had "fixed" was worse than ever. Like liquid fuel pouring down the outside of the line. I babied it home with my fire extinguisher in the passenger seat and took a wrench to the injector clamp I had installed. I cranked it down tight enough to start rounding the bolt on it and the fuel leak stopped for good. Since then, the car has been a peach.

My theory is that all of the fuel in the rail and line was running out of the car while it was parked, causing me to 1) Not be able to start it 2) Get terrible gas mileage 3) Lose gas quickly and thus run low and suck up junk from the bottom of the tank. How the coolant temp sensor plays into this, I have no idea.

[WRXtranceformed]

It sounds to me like your E30 might be actively trying to kill you

[ScottyB]

that fire extinguisher was a good buy.

i've found with old rubber lines it pays to sometimes rotate the worm-gear hose clamps around if you ever re-tighten them because they have uneven pressure under the worm gear part. they tend to indent their pattern into the rubber and over time some of the less-tight spots start to leak. loosen it, give it a 180-deg rotate and retighten and you'll be able to cinch down the parts that started to loosen.

i was able to stop a power steering leak on my xterra this way - just popped a new hose clamp on and made sure the worm gear part was opposite where it was positioned originally.