I've mended something!

"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228) 08/02/2013 at 11:26 • Filed to: None

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Ever since Silverstone the BMW's been hesitating up and down the rev-range that developed into a full-on misfire.

I replaced the plugs (which were pretty crappy) and cleaned the oil off a couple of them that was left over from the leaky valve-cover gasket. I also replaced the intake boot which was ghetto fixed with leaky electrical tape. That helped, but it didn't fix it completely. There was a band of good running between 2k and 4k, but even that had some iffy moments.

I took it to the brilliantly helpful guys at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a BMW specialist just down the road from me, to use their OBD tool. While I was ogling the gorgeous manual 3.0i E3, M1 and 3.0 CSL that were in the showroom, they found that it was a no 6 cylinder misfire, and that it wasn't plugs or coils (they swapped them over and it stayed as a no. 6 misfire).

So, I trekked down to the scrapyard to find an injector (the next logical step), and set about changing it. However, before I had got more than a few steps into the Haynes guide, I noticed something.

There's an electrical rail that the injectors plug into, sitting above the fuel rail. On most cars, there are two nuts that hold this in place. On mine, there was only one. The upshot of this is that the rail was loose, and the no. 6 cylinder had come unclipped, only just touching the electrical connectors. As the engine vibrations changed at different rpms, it must have been making and breaking connection.

Plugged it back in, found a nut to hold the rail down. Job's a good-un. Drives like a dream.

PowderHound > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 08/02/2013 at 11:29

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Truly one of the best feelings ever

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 08/02/2013 at 11:30

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That car seems like the steal of the decade.

desertdog5051 > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 08/02/2013 at 11:30

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Yay!!

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney 08/02/2013 at 11:44

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It's turning out to be rather good value.

There's still a couple of issues. The handbrake's almost completely ineffective, and the gearbox takes two goes to get into 4th.

I'm hoping a gearbox oil change will help with the latter, but you have to remove part of the exhaust to get at the handbrake cables so I'm not sure when I can be bothered to do that.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 08/02/2013 at 11:51

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Handbrake issues? Welcome to life in the Milano. Its handbrake doesn't even work on a flat surface. Tried parking on in an incline in the garage at work once, and it just rolled straight back like the brake wasn't engaged at all. I should probably look into that.

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 08/02/2013 at 18:22

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I love my E36 also

davesmystery > PowderHound 08/04/2013 at 00:24

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In my mind, it's what makes it all worthwhile. When I work on my car I regularly sweat/bleed/use every swear word/etc. but when it's all back together and I'm hooning around like a champ, it's definitely one of the best feelings ever.