Experience with an E30 touring
Discussion
What's peoples experiences with a 6 pot E30?
I got one recently, paid £950 for a 325i touring manual, fairly clean, not rusty.
it drove fine to start with but I've had problems with a multiplug filling with water and corroding all the contacts. Had to strip it out completely and fit new connectors, quite difficult, but it really was that shot, half the wires pinged out when i undid it. Also the distributor cap looked like it had been on the car since new, and it was quite fiddly to change.
Done everything else service wise; oil, plugs, filters, valve clearances, cleaned throttle body and ICV, changed the blue temp sender, checked for air leaks; spent a day on it it really needed doing, thankfully I'm handy with spanners, if I wasn't a garage would have done me for a few hundred quid for that lot.
Still has a flat spot off idle, what could that be? i've even fitted another ICV but it's exactly the same, occasionally it will stall when you press the accelerator and won't restart for ages, very embarrasing at junctions. Drives fine inbetween, idles fine also.
I hope it'll be a stonking motor car when it's all sorted, it's got good pickup!
Anyone else run one for a while? what problems did you have?
I got one recently, paid £950 for a 325i touring manual, fairly clean, not rusty.
it drove fine to start with but I've had problems with a multiplug filling with water and corroding all the contacts. Had to strip it out completely and fit new connectors, quite difficult, but it really was that shot, half the wires pinged out when i undid it. Also the distributor cap looked like it had been on the car since new, and it was quite fiddly to change.
Done everything else service wise; oil, plugs, filters, valve clearances, cleaned throttle body and ICV, changed the blue temp sender, checked for air leaks; spent a day on it it really needed doing, thankfully I'm handy with spanners, if I wasn't a garage would have done me for a few hundred quid for that lot.
Still has a flat spot off idle, what could that be? i've even fitted another ICV but it's exactly the same, occasionally it will stall when you press the accelerator and won't restart for ages, very embarrasing at junctions. Drives fine inbetween, idles fine also.
I hope it'll be a stonking motor car when it's all sorted, it's got good pickup!
Anyone else run one for a while? what problems did you have?
I have had my 1992 325i touring for five years. Its had some upgrades but full details in the blog
http://www.pistonheads.com/members/showServiceHist...
http://www.pistonheads.com/members/showServiceHist...
Pork_n_Beem said:
also idle speed is set using a small screw on the TB.
No it isn't. The trottle stop is set using that screw. The idle speed is controlled by the ECU via the ICV when it recieves a signal from the throttle switch to indicate that the throttle is shut. This is where the screw is used, to make sure the switch makes contact at the correct point. If you use the screw to increase the idle speed it'll idle using the fuel map for normal running, not for idle.agent006 said:
Pork_n_Beem said:
also idle speed is set using a small screw on the TB.
No it isn't. The trottle stop is set using that screw. The idle speed is controlled by the ECU via the ICV when it recieves a signal from the throttle switch to indicate that the throttle is shut. This is where the screw is used, to make sure the switch makes contact at the correct point. If you use the screw to increase the idle speed it'll idle using the fuel map for normal running, not for idle.I owned an E30 325i touring a few years back.
Frankly, it was the worst car I've ever owned with a catalogue of work required including:
- replacement gearbox (old one became very noisy)
- new wishbones (common I'm told)
- engine control issues
More importantly, it started eating oil and I'm not sure that the engine had a lot of life left in it.
Having said that, it was actually more imvolving to drive than my E46 sport, made a lovely sound, was 300kg lighter than my E46 and was more than adequately spacious.
If you can find a good un', they're a great car. Buy a dog like mine, and you're in for some big bills.
Frankly, it was the worst car I've ever owned with a catalogue of work required including:
- replacement gearbox (old one became very noisy)
- new wishbones (common I'm told)
- engine control issues
More importantly, it started eating oil and I'm not sure that the engine had a lot of life left in it.
Having said that, it was actually more imvolving to drive than my E46 sport, made a lovely sound, was 300kg lighter than my E46 and was more than adequately spacious.
If you can find a good un', they're a great car. Buy a dog like mine, and you're in for some big bills.
georgezippy said:
What's peoples experiences with a 6 pot E30?
No problems, but I've only done 20k in 5 years

georgezippy said:
Done everything else service wise; oil, plugs, filters, valve clearances, cleaned throttle body and ICV, changed the blue temp sender, checked for air leaks; spent a day on it it really needed doing, thankfully I'm handy with spanners, if I wasn't a garage would have done me for a few hundred quid for that lot.
Anyone else run one for a while? what problems did you have?
Flush the system and change the coolant; you should do this on schedule otherwise the M20 tends to have head-gasket problems.Anyone else run one for a while? what problems did you have?
If the car is a 'keeper', then when you change the cambelt (and flush the system at the same time) change the cambelt roller/tensioner.
Buy these parts and even the coolant from BMW - sure it costs a few pounds more, but so what? We really are talking a few pounds.
Join www.e30zone.net - very helpful and knowledgeable.
For the cambelt change, look at this; it might help; I have no association with this website
http://www.angelfire.com/blues2/bimmer/
Edited by Orangecurry on Tuesday 26th February 09:48
Gassing Station | BMW General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff



