'85 BMW 325e - tell me a bit more about it.......

[Ramblin Fever]

Ok, I got 30mpg in the course of the last 5 days, with primarily shifting between 2-2500 rpm's with 75% city driving/25%highway - has already saved me $17 this week alone with not having to drive my 19-22mpg truck.

Won't be able to drive it every week like this though - but 2 or 3 days a week will definitely help.

I'm definitely finding myself zipping along faster then normal, just cause it's so easy to drive/park.

Someone mentioned valve adjustment's on this engine - how often?

After the car comes up to operating temp, it literally does sound very much like a diesel; I can tell you that looking through the valve cover, it could stand to be cleaner in there - LOTS of varnish.

We only have barely 3k on the 1st batch of the Rotella synthetic (first OCI since their purchase), should we change it out, then run a longer batch the 2nd go-around? I have no idea what oil was used before, only that it was really black when they bought it.

 

[Stanley Rockafeller]

Quote:

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Someone mentioned valve adjustment's on this engine - how often?

After the car comes up to operating temp, it literally does sound very much like a diesel;

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yup, you need an adjustment. on my eta it sounded like a few bolts rolling around in a tin can when the motor was fully warmed up. You'll get much better performance and economy once you do so/

 

[JHZR2]

Quote:

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After the car comes up to operating temp, it literally does sound very much like a diesel; I can tell you that looking through the valve cover, it could stand to be cleaner in there - LOTS of varnish.

We only have barely 3k on the 1st batch of the Rotella synthetic (first OCI since their purchase), should we change it out, then run a longer batch the 2nd go-around? I have no idea what oil was used before, only that it was really black when they bought it.

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Rotella syn seems to be a great firt in these older BMW engines - I use it inm y M42 in my e30 318i.

And my 318i also sounds kind of like a diesel at operating temperature - and that is a MUCH newer, higher tech engine than yours - it was built based upon the state of the are BMW V12 engines made in the early 1990s... but yet it still sounds like a diesel.

Why? It is the injectors! Valves may cause some noise sometimes, but in these cars, it is the injectors. A good mechanic's stethescope proved the point for me. I replaced the injectors as an experiment, and the new ones did the same... it is a fact of the design, I suppose.

JMH

 

[mdv]

I believe BMW recommends valve adjustments every 15k. Easy job on these motors. Even when properly adjusted these are noisy valvetrains. As others mentioned injectors are very loud on them too.

 

[Ramblin Fever]

Ok, cool!

Thank you all for the help - greatly appreciated

 

[windnsea00]

They use also beefy parts throughout the top and bottom end, they aren't little econo engines...they are designed to be worked hard and last long

 

[nel]

Here's a little trick to making it easier to do the valve adjustment. Get a momentary contact switch with two wires. You'll find the engine diagnostics port in the engine compartment (black, cylindrical). Remove the cover, and plug the two wires into pins 11 and 14. When you hit the momentary switch, it completes the circuit to the solenoid and starter motor to crank the engine over. The fuel pump/injector and spark are not enabled so no worries there. Of course, be sure to have the car in neutral if you have a manual transmission.

 

[Stanley Rockafeller]

i found it easier to just use a flat driveway, pu;; the plugs, leave the caar in 3rd or 5th gear and slowly push the car forwards/backwards to advance the motor to the cylinder I'm currently adjusting the valves on.

...just my opinion tho i think the aforementioned method would work better on auto cars

 

[mdv]

Quote:

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Here's a little trick to making it easier to do the valve adjustment. Get a momentary contact switch with two wires. You'll find the engine diagnostics port in the engine compartment (black, cylindrical). Remove the cover, and plug the two wires into pins 11 and 14. When you hit the momentary switch, it completes the circuit to the solenoid and starter motor to crank the engine over. The fuel pump/injector and spark are not enabled so no worries there. Of course, be sure to have the car in neutral if you have a manual transmission.

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That's how I do it.

 

[CBR.worm]

I buddy of mine just donated an 85 325e that he drove every day for the last 18 years to a local church. The odometer stopped working at 180k in 1990. His daily commute is from Mojave to LA - about 100 miles each way every day. The car required normal maintenance, steering rack, A/C work, etc - but he never opened the engine or transmission. Best guess is that the car had well over 500K when he got rid of it. The last time the automatic transmission oil was changed was in the late 90's. Every set of tires that would wear out he would threaten to get a new car but would instead get another set of tires and go another 50K or so. He finally got rid of it and bought a toyota truck. He got the new truck in late February and now has over 10K on the truck. The car was in pretty rough condition, but mechanically it just kept on going. The reason he finally decided to donate it was the 22 year old alternator went up in smoke one morning.

 

[Stanley Rockafeller]

an awesome testament to the durability of the m20 and the e30 in general. The eta's usually last longer as the redline's much lower than the i's.

To me, the e30 represented everythign I always wanted a vintage 80's Volvo 242 to be(reason why I chose an e30 over a 242). Obviously the Volvo wasnt' designed to be nearly as performance oriented as the e30 was. Though the reliability seems to be just as good for either car.

 

[Ramblin Fever]

Update:

Car started running a little rough last week, so thought we'd pull a spark plug this weekend. Now I'm REALLY torqued off at the mechanic we bought this from.

There is no way these plugs have been changed in quite some time, #1 cylinder was very difficult to remove, and they all had white crusty stuff on the tips; and now the brakes are starting to make noise.

BTW - I'm not a fan of bosch plugs, however, the owners manual called for them with this car, so that's what we put in - it's running a lot smoother.

 

[Stanley Rockafeller]

in my 325es, i ran NGK G-Powers and it really cleaned things up very well too.

Yeah, when you buy used, regardless of age, you gonna have that stuff checked out regardless of what the seller claims

 

[Ramblin Fever]

Update again: ok, we put in Bosch spark plugs almost 2 weeks ago, those are the plugs the manual called for.

My question is, in the Haynes manual it said to gap them for .028, but in the owners manual - we've later noticed, it's spec'd for .027 gap.

They are currently gapped at .028 should this matter much, or should we regap them?

For the 2 days immediately following the new plugs, car ran REAL good, and still does, but has a very mild hesitation when you shift to 2nd, almost like it's not getting enough fuel to give it the power to indulge in 2nd gear, if you will.

Yet, I've also noticed that if the outside temp is above 80F, it will do this, but, if it's cooler outside, 60-70's or so, it runs like normal and has a boatload of power in 2nd gear.

I have since also dumped in 3/4 of a bottle of Techron fuel system cleaner, and it is now running on nothing but Shell 85 - wondering truly if it needs a new fuel filter.

Can someone tell me where to find that at on this car?

 

[nel]

The fuel filter on my '90 325is is located in front of the fuel tank on the driver's side. Look just in front of the rear tire on that side. With a hesitation problem, I would also look at the air flow sensor boot closely--it's prone to cracking. You may have to remove it to inspect or use a mirror so you can see the bottom of the boot that leads from the sensor to the throttle body. Also, check the vacuum line to the fuel pressure regulator. When old, those rubber parts start cracking. Finally, check the air filter if you haven't already.

 

[Steve S]

Last of the quality bimmers, real nice cars.