Dead misfire on at least one cylinder

>dead misfire on at least one cylinder
>cold compression test
>2 are low
>shit
>warm it up
>they're still low
>shit
>put oil in cylinder through spark plug hole
>compression goes up 37%
>SHIT
>blowby gas pouring out dipstick tube
>SSSSHIT

THE RIDE NEVER ENDS, BOYS

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rip friend
I've got like 0 hot oil pressure at idle and low RPMs, so I get to roll in new sets of rod and main bearings when time + money allows. I feel your pain.

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Put in on cl as MINT CONDITION SLIGHT MISFIRING PROBLEM ONLY NEEDS 5$ PART TO FIX NO LOWBALLERS I KNOW WHAT I GOT

Are you that high schooler that bought one for his first car? If you can stick through it, buy a shop manual on ebay, and learn to do your own shit, you'll really learn a lot compared to other fgts your age

Rebuild the engine then

What E30 is it?
If it's anything 4 pot, that thing is a breeze to disassemble to atoms and put back together.
My first proper BMW, an E32 735 had a fucked lifter that destroyed the head, had to take that shit apart and pretty much do a complete upper end overhaul. Right after that the transmission decided to be a bitch and fried the clutches. So I dropped that too and replaced all the seals and clutches in the transmission too.
All this when I was like 19 or so and had pretty much zero idea what the fuck I was doing. Got my hands on the Bentley manual and got to work.

I'm starting fresh at this point. Sucks dude. Thanks for being the type of bro who doesn't just sell it for scrap weight.
JUST NEEDS NEW BATTERY, RAN WHEN PARKED. ALL HIGHWAY MILES. THE SMOKE IS JUST CONDENSATION.
Lmfao no. I'm the guy who just finished megasquirting. I made my own wiring harness off of a blank pigtail. I hope that kid gets it going though.
That's the plan. There's another 2.7L block in a junkyard that I'm going to yank in the morning. Never pulled an engine before, and I have a 2nd floor studio apartment. Should be an interesting Sunday...
It's the stroked baby 6 with the drinking straw intake ports. I have 2 885 head castings ready to swap on though. I don't have any fucking clue what I'm doing either. It's exciting.

At this point, I'm going to rebuild a whole engine inside my tiny studio apartment. Rings, bearings, get it bored, decked, and honed, and put on a good flowing head. I'll probably end up needing custom pistons. Shooting for 11:1 compression. No FI plans. If I do it right, I'll be pushing 200 hp to the wheels in a 2400 pound car. Not blasting any 1/4 mile records, but shit is getting serious at that point.

Ganbatte user-san. Was the "baby 6" the one in the 328e or whatever the hell that "economy" US model was. I don't think we ever got that one in Europe, only regular 320's and 325's.
Even the 325 with its 170hp is hilarious, the thing drives like glued on the twisties and that 170hp does propel the tiny shitbox body to some surprising speeds.

I kinda jumped the gun after the 735, got myself a bunch of 750's thinking I was hot shit. Now I am financially ruined and stuck with a bunch of broken BMWs.

It's the US model 325e. I didn't even know it at the time, but I've been running on 5 cylinders for the last 4000 miles, and it's kept up fine. It's slow as shit but it's fast enough. The early Etas also had higher compression than even the later M20B25s. I think I'm somewhere around 10:1 as it is, since I've had the head skimmed. Factory, I think they're specified to make around 115 hp. Early 5-speed Eta cars are also the lightest thing BMW ever made since the 2002. The interior is also pretty fucked, and I might just strip it out because it looks like cancer, so we might be talking 2300 pounds.

No way am I building an entire motor and putting it back to the understressed factory spec though. This chassis has lived a long life being an unassuming transportative workhorse. It's time for it to go fast. She's earned it. The frame and body are like 95% perfect. My 2014 daily is in worse shape.

>financially ruined and stuck with a bunch of broken BMWs
Take the good parts from all of them, make a mega car, and start a racing team?

Wasn't the E engine also limited to like diesel tier RPMs for MUH ECONOMY. Ye, I'd rip that piece of shit out if it started giving me any attitude and drop an M50 in.

I don't feel like parting a 7 series because I have a gigantic hard on for them, so I try to keep them roadworthy and in one piece to the best of my and my wallets abilities.
Racing 7's is also stupid because they're heavy as shit. The E38 might have a better chance on the track but it's still like 2 tons worth of headaches and electrical problems.
An E30 or E36 with the M70/M73 V12 would be pretty hektik though and I've been playing with the idea of smuggling some turbochargers from work and sticking them on the E38 to make a poor mans M760 BMW.

>M760 BMW
MUH DIQ

One of those V12s with 2 ECUs popped up at a junkyard near me about a year ago. I'm still kicking myself for not ripping that shit out, because I know it just got melted...

And yeah, it's a 4500 rpm redline because it only has single valve springs for "efficiency" and lower parasitic loss. There's only 3 cam bearings too. It's trash for what I want to do with it, but from an engineering standpoint, I kind of respect it too.

An M50 would be peaches but I don't think I'm ready to tackle that yet. Need to get some more time on the MIG before I do anything like that. My next build will probably be some foolish ass FI setup though. But I'm not thinking about that yet.

I'll post tomorrow evening when I have a stinky Eta block in my living room...

Remember to post pics, I'll be waiting.
Pic related was my E30, m50B20 swapped, on the rego. In reality it was an M52TUB28 engine from a junked E38 728i, dual VANOS and all. Stupid inspectors can't tell a regular M50 from the M52. THey're quite similar, almost identical outwards. The M52 oil fill up hole is on the front of the head while on the M50 it's all the way to the back which made access to it and filling up a bitch.

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things that broke on the lex:
ac
drivers side seat - fixed
passenger side seat - fixed
radiator - fixed
passenger exterior door handle
passenger door lock and button
rear brake caliper
throttle position sensor
inlet air control valve
tires - fixed
brake pads

once that stuff is done im gonna buy a sway bar and an lsd, then its off to get a manual trans

also forgot things that broke:
fuel pump ecu - fixed
one of the turn signal indicators
vaccume leak - fixed
starter - fixed
dim non hid headlights - fixed

its been seafoamed new oil bfi mod and new dual tip exhaust

Didn't you just get this car recently?

>tfw want a cool V8 swapped old BMW project car
>tfw can barely do basic maintenance (it took me 2 hours to do my brake pads today)
Why does it have to be so hard, lads?

Time to start learning. Get yourself a 530 E34 for example and it's sink or swim.

I actually already have an E46 323i that I planned to start learning wrenching on, but the problems I keep getting aren't simple, but these intermittent ones that could be caused by 20 different things, so usually I have no idea what to do. And this is on a relatively well maintained stock car, I imagine it's 100 times worse on an old project car with an engine swap.

Welcome to the world of BMW ownership, enjoy your stay.
My only advice is to start scourging online forums for specific problems you have, making a list of possible symptoms and going through them one by one.

My E38 for example didn't want to enter sleep mode when I locked the doors, drained a brand new and charged battery in a night. The issue was in the rear left quarter glass. Apparently the thing has a sensor of some sort that senses when the window is broken or some shit to fire off the alarm, the cable going to the glass was cut and this triggered the electronics system, causing the car to stay awake through the night.

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Nah that's a different dude. I got this way back in December 2016 after a near-fatal motorcycle crash.
That's where it starts man. I remember when I was so proud of myself for switching out a fuel pressure regulator, because the old one was pissing gas into the intake.

And then the first time I changed an alternator belt, it took me 2 hours. Now it takes me 15 minutes.

Diagnostics are pretty critical. You gotta know how to figure stuff out. 1/3 times it's electrical, in my limited experience.

>glass sensor
Ugh. Batteries are expensive too. I think my next step is going to be tearing down the interior and rewiring every single fucking thing. I'll run the lights with an arduino if I have to.

I think my issue is pretty cut and dry though. Low compression on two cylinders that jumps up when I put oil in the cylinder, and excessive blowby gas coming out the dipstick tube. Rings are rekt, m8.

Someone on the forums said that my change in compression could be attributed to the volume of oil that I added to the cylinder, but holy shit it jumped up fucking 65 psi. And when I had the head off a year ago, that piston was a little wiggly. May have been half a millimeter, but that's enough.

cunt.

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[muffled sobbing]

It's been recommended I sell it a few times, but the more work I put into it, the more I see the results of freshening the truck up from its relatively neglected state, and it just makes me even more determined to hold onto it. It doesn't hurt either it's the first vehicle I've owned and it was given to me for free by my family 2,000 miles away. I'm not the type that got given nice shit growing up, so I'm determined to make and keep this old bastard as nice as I can. Granted, the thing kills at the pump, but it's worth it.

>it's the first vehicle I've owned and it was given to me for free by my family 2,000 miles away
Sentimentality is impossible to price. Sometimes it makes no damn sense, but it doesn't really have to. My first car was a Focus, and I sold it when the CV joints blew because I didn't know shit about cars at the time. I miss that little thing to this day, and that was 5 or 6 years ago now.

>the thing kills at the pump
Probably doesn't hurt as much as a car payment and an $1,800 repair bill on your robotic transmission.

10.6mpg on average, but you're right. Even with the few thousand I need to put into it to get it where I ultimately want it without going and doing anything insane, it'll still come out cheaper than a new car. And part of that few thousand is a new engine which should hopefully get me much better gas mileage. I may even be able to squeeze 20mpg out of it if I drive it carefully.

>Are you that high schooler that bought one for his first car?
No that's me jej. Say hi to Laurelai

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Swap in an S50!

my dude

Post '88 I see. That thing's reeeally clean. Be proud of it. What have you done on it so far?

A sketchy S50 is $4000. A junkyard M20 that I'm going to rebuild anyway is $150.

Unless you have an S50 laying around.. I am already running a standalone so it wouldn't be very hard at all to run anything I want...

Hmmmmm....

>v8
>low compression on rear 2 cylinders
>haven't done a wet and dry test
>no smoke
>no oil loss
>can't have too much blowby as theres no air pressure when you take off the oil cap and the dipstick doesn't pop out.
Wat do? Should I be looking at the valves?

You might still be getting blowby even if your dipstick doesn't poop. Try blocking off your PCV hose and then see if you see mist/steam coming out of the tube or the fill cap.

If you don't, then do a leakdown test. This requires a compressed air source. You should be able to hear where the air is escaping. Listen at the fill cap and dickstip tube (this would be rings), throttle plate (intake valves), and exhaust pipe (exhaust valves).

If you hear your valves leaking, pull the heads and have them resurfaced, get the seats lapped, and probably get some new valves and springs.

If you hear your rings leaking, kill yourself.

Yessir, quite clean. Looked for E30s and 944s months, glad to have gone with the former. She's a '90 325iS with a mouthwatering cardinal interior and maintained by the same mechanic since 20k.

The caveats are that 1) I overpaid by about a grand, and 2) my parents are taking the reins on this project more than I'd like. They wouldn't let me attempt the t-belt for example. Kinda upset at first but I didn't put up too much of a fight considering their fears I'd likely fuck up my first job and that they helped me pay for her in the first place.

Bought a toolset, jackset and Bentley manual last week so as soon as I get her back ≈wednesday I'll address the suspension stuff and whatever else is ez.

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Since you seem to know a helluva lot more than me, what on this list can be done with relative ease and no prior experience? Job #2 is currently being done not by me.

Thankful as fuck my parents made me get a P(post)PI, I was being a retard "hurr I'll do it myself."

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>dat interior
Do you realize how much just those seats are worth? Jesus. I don't see any dash cracks either, which is a minor act of god.

I would not attempt a timing belt myself without first knowing my way around that engine bay pretty well. I got mine done by someone else when I got the car because I didn't want to screw it up. In principle it's really easy, but the penalty for failure is sending all your valves into your crankcase. Work your way up, you'll be glad you did. You can't rush this stuff. Take your time!

You can do the brakes and shocks pretty easily in your driveway. It makes sense to do both of those things at the same time, since you're going to have the car up on stands anyway. Doing just the inserts will require you to compress the springs to get the inserts out of the housing, which is fairly dangerous. You can remove the shocks and take them to a shop that has a spring compressor though, and they likely will just do you a favor if you bring them a 6 pack of chocolate milk. Also, this is a good chance to upgrade to Bilstein shocks. OEMs are great, but if you're paying for OEM parts anyway, Bilsteins are cheaper and perform a lot better.

You can do the brake light switch really easily. This is a big safety item too. Getting rear ended sucks kinda bad.

There's nothing on #9 that's too crazy except for the brake bleed. Spark plugs take 10 minutes once you know how to do it. If you don't have a Bentley or a Haynes manual yet, buy one and use it. They are an invaluable wealth of information about working on these cars. Also BUY A TORQUE WRENCH. YOU NEED A TORQUE WRENCH.

ECS Tuning actually also sells a really nice ignition system refresh kit that comes with plugs, wires, and a distributor cap and rotor. These are all wear items, and when they go bad they can really make your car run like shit. Replacing them is also pretty easy, and it's a great chance to get your hands dirty.

Also replace your odometer gears *before* they break. They will break. Garagistic sells a set for like $20.

Have a notebook too. Take notes on what goes where. Take pictures of stuff that you think you might accidentally mix up. Have a spot in your notebook for torque settings, mileage intervals when stuff got replaced, and whatnot.

Also if you're pulling your plugs, go ahead and spend $30 on a compression tester. Just for peace of mind.

Oh, oh also, silicone hose kits are so worth it.

Unfortunately the owner had his front seats redone with faux leather, rears are original though and in wonderful shape. There are some dash cracks but not as awful as some of the others out there.

Thanks for the info mate, this one's going into the folder
Owner fixed them within a few thousand when they broke in the early/mid 100s, not sure whether he used a more durable kind so I'll make sure to keep an eye on it

This thread has given me motivation to continue working on my shitbox, thanks lads

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negro the tbelt is ezpz, you can't mess it up if you're sober and attentive.
Source: Had an M20 E34 as first project car and it was literally the first repair I'd ever done (aside from tires/oil change)

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>buy 30 year old flogged to shit skyline
>everything still working perfectly
shouldnt have bought german

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buy another one.
Thats why you got the car, to have a dime a dozen cheap as fuck rwd right

sell it for parts
its a disposable cheap piece of shit farm equipment stop pretending like its a legendary classic worth keeping.

Market price has gone way up for these little dudes. At least in the US. They're getting harder to come by.

>legendary classic
Who said anything about that? I'm just bored.

I'm 75% sure the last owner fucked with the wiring and pinned an injector open on one of the bad cylinders. This washed the cylinder walls with fuel all the time and the rings got rekt. Everything else on the car works fine. Needs a new shifter linkage, but oh well.

oh yeah im forgetting usa is cucked with cars.

Well find a new engine and strip it of any unneccesary weight.
Its a true touge monster

Fuck the cucktruck tho.

I'm gearing up to go to the junkyard at the moment to pull one. Perfect weather.

I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing. I hope you can fit an M20 inside of a Jetta. We'll see how this goes.

I explained this but they wouldn't buy it. Eventually got tired of not being able to start my car out of fear of it snapping, and I could either keep arguing to do it myself or get it done immediately (for an exorbitant price might I add)

>E34 525 with 700k on the clock and hooned daily
>Got to 800k with only a malfunctioning crank position sensor
>Meanwhile my Toyota Corolla never held together for more than a day

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I think I've heard somewhere that E34s are the most reliable BMWs out there, seeing stuff like this makes me believe it

thats cause toyotas are shit heaps. ive got no clue where the "toyodas r indestructible" meme came from

80s BMW had a very different design philosophy. German reliability wasn't a meme then

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Don't forget to check the valve adjustment.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH

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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

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>[chest beating intensifies]

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This a "shit gone wrong thread"? I just lost my rear lights & instrument lights going home. Wet snow & salt doesnt mix with trailer connections

difference is it makes around 85 hp so not surprising
do you have brain damage?

hi fast