280i no start and other issues.
Discussion
I've just been handed a 1985 280i US import and been tasked with finishing it off and getting it on the road. It was imported last year and the owner started a full body off restoration but has had to stop work on it and has given it to me to finish off. Loads of work has been done, including cutting out rusted chassis sections and welding new metal in so now we are down to the finer points.
First one is it won't start. Initially the ignition timing was way off but having now got the HT leads in the correct holes on the distributor, it's as close as I can get it without having it running and using a timing light. However, it is the getting it running that is causing the problem. It's got the Bosch K-Jetronic mechanical injection which I am reasonably familiar with (even though it's many years since I worked on anything fitted with it). First check was to confirm the ignition timing and it fires up on a squirt of brake cleaner down the intake. Fuel is fresh as it was put in when the car was put back together after the chassis work. Checked for fuel pressure at the filter which there wasn't. Checked that the fuel pump was getting power while cranking, and my meter showed 10.5V which, considering the battery was also turning the starter and it corresponded with the dash battery gauge, figured that was right. To give it a helping hand I hot wired the fuel pump and got fuel at the filter and the injection head. Tried starting it with the pump hot wired and still nothing. Now I'm a bit stumped. Anyone got any ideas of what I try now?
There's the cream coloured box that supplies power when it sees pulses from the distributor and as I am getting power at the pump when cranking that would seem to suggest that is doing its job. On a similarly equipped BMW and Porsches that I've worked on in the past, they had a timer relay to power the pump when the ignition was first switched on to prime the fuel system. Doesn't this have something similar?
As a US spec car I understand it should have an ECU of sorts from http://tvr.me.uk/index.htm?sv&http%3A//tvr.me.... but all it has is a dangling ECU type plug (oddly enough marked VW/Audi?) but looking at the diagram that suggests it just fine tunes the mixture using the signals from a lambda sensor which I haven't found so don't know if it has one or not.
The other problem it has that will prevent it getting an MoT and being registered, is that the front spoiler is missing. Ordinarily, other than making it look a bit strange (and probably causing it to take off at speed) it wouldn't be a problem, but on a US spec car the front sidelights and indicators are on the front spoiler so it doesn't have any. Any clues where I might be able to find a spoiler? Has anyone converted a US spec car to UK so has the old US spoiler cluttering up their garage they'd be willing to part with?
Hopefully someone here will be able to point me in the right direction......
First one is it won't start. Initially the ignition timing was way off but having now got the HT leads in the correct holes on the distributor, it's as close as I can get it without having it running and using a timing light. However, it is the getting it running that is causing the problem. It's got the Bosch K-Jetronic mechanical injection which I am reasonably familiar with (even though it's many years since I worked on anything fitted with it). First check was to confirm the ignition timing and it fires up on a squirt of brake cleaner down the intake. Fuel is fresh as it was put in when the car was put back together after the chassis work. Checked for fuel pressure at the filter which there wasn't. Checked that the fuel pump was getting power while cranking, and my meter showed 10.5V which, considering the battery was also turning the starter and it corresponded with the dash battery gauge, figured that was right. To give it a helping hand I hot wired the fuel pump and got fuel at the filter and the injection head. Tried starting it with the pump hot wired and still nothing. Now I'm a bit stumped. Anyone got any ideas of what I try now?
There's the cream coloured box that supplies power when it sees pulses from the distributor and as I am getting power at the pump when cranking that would seem to suggest that is doing its job. On a similarly equipped BMW and Porsches that I've worked on in the past, they had a timer relay to power the pump when the ignition was first switched on to prime the fuel system. Doesn't this have something similar?
As a US spec car I understand it should have an ECU of sorts from http://tvr.me.uk/index.htm?sv&http%3A//tvr.me.... but all it has is a dangling ECU type plug (oddly enough marked VW/Audi?) but looking at the diagram that suggests it just fine tunes the mixture using the signals from a lambda sensor which I haven't found so don't know if it has one or not.
The other problem it has that will prevent it getting an MoT and being registered, is that the front spoiler is missing. Ordinarily, other than making it look a bit strange (and probably causing it to take off at speed) it wouldn't be a problem, but on a US spec car the front sidelights and indicators are on the front spoiler so it doesn't have any. Any clues where I might be able to find a spoiler? Has anyone converted a US spec car to UK so has the old US spoiler cluttering up their garage they'd be willing to part with?
Hopefully someone here will be able to point me in the right direction......
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