1991 E36 318i Auto Sedan

[WadiM3]

So finally the time has come where I will be taking the wrench into my own hand and start wrenching.
over the weekend I drove for a 110 mile each way journey, on the way back my daily drive beater started misfiring. I made it back to London and I rented a DIY Garage for £15 a hour has almost every proffesional tool and a lift. My beater has been loyal for the past 3500 miles I've owned her for and has returned me Atleast £2500 for the £200 I paid for her. So I thought I will learn how to look after a car my self for the first time ever and if something went wrong worst case scenario is im not out of pocket. My first attempt was to diagnose the misfire. I checked the spark plugs and they were pretty knackered.

IMG_7150.JPG
I took them out and replaced them with a set of 4 brand new NGK BKR6EK's which to my surprise didn't sort out the misfiring. I then went on to check if the coils were fine and checked this by connecting each one to a sparkplug and they were working. I then went on to check that the boots were not torn or ripped which were fine on all 4. I even had someone help me test them and they were working. So sparkplugs are ruled out and so are coils. I then put everything back together and started the engine wth the misfire and unplugged the AFM and the car instantly died. I restarted the car without the AFM connected and the misfire was still present.

so then I got 3 cans of brake cleaner and started spraying around all the Intake plastics and there was no rise in RPM's (I know this isn't the best way but a smoke machine is a sacred tool here and wasn't available). I was out of help and ideas so I decided to change the engine oil and filters. Now to my surprise when I checked the dipstick it barely had any oil so I took the oil filter out and it looked horribly clogged like a bee hive. Replaced it filled it up correctly with 10w40 then ran the engine for 5-10 mins hoping that it would solve the misfire but it didn't . Car is still drivable but this misfire is really bothering me and I ran out of ideas. I did a quick search online and a suggestion was to clean the distributor cap. Not having any experience with these as I'm only familiar with the m50/52 and s50 engine components. After doing some searches I took the cap off and cleaned the distributor cap which has some very light dust inside and cleaned the contacts with electric contacts cleaner. Put everything back together and still the same. I ran a friends LAUNCH diagonostic and the only code stored was for the AFM which I unplugged earlier and after clearing it never returned. I'm really out of ideas and would appreciate any suggestions or ideas or even instructions on how to do it.
misfire is present permanently wether idling or driving.

Things im looking to do after I sort out the misfire:
change the transmission fluid and filter
change differential oil
fix the driver side window as it won't go down or up
flush and sort the cooling system out.
it has a very slow rocker cover leak which I also want to try and tackle my self
Replace thermostat as car temp drops down to 1/4 5 mins after I turn on the heaters


Car: BMW E36 318i Sedan Auto
Engine: M40B18
Vin: AL26302

[MIKYZZ4]

If the distributor cap and rotor show any type of wear or crack lines, replace them.

An old school way to check for worn out ignition components is-
Place vehicle in a dark unlit location, or better yet, an enclosed garage.
Start engine, raise the hood(bonnet for you London lads), turn off lighting(total darkness).
Looking directly at engine, observe if any type of spark or electrical discharge is present.
If sparking/arcing is observed from any ignition component -replace.

PS...do this with any type of protection cap or cover removed(#8+#15)
and sparkplug/ignition wires exposed and in view.
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=12_0037

Btw, there is a single ignition coil pack on this engine.
Doing your own wrenching, you've progressed to the next level.

[WadiM3]

Thanks Mikey for the replies, I will give you a detailed response when I get back home from work. The way we checked for spark was attaching the sparkplug wire to a external sparkplug I think the guy was resting/ touching the sparkplug against something in the engine bay while he was asking me to turn the car on and off

[jc43089]

You checked that the spark was working, he is suggesting to check if it is jumping from an ignition wire to a metal part anywhere which would be "wasting" some of the spark so the spark in the cylinder is weak.

[WadiM3]

I pulled the plug and took it into a specialist. Turns out that everything is fine except for that cylinder 4 has no compression. We checked the cam yes it was worn as expected but not worn enough to cause this problem. Now I have to drive the car on 3 cylinders until it dies and goes to the salvage yard.

[WadiM3]

What's required to save this motor if I changed my mind? And how many miles would I roughly get out of it if I drive it on 3 cylinders?

was told by the specialist that the exhuast valve on cylinder 4 is burnt

[MIKYZZ4]

- - - Updated - - -

Take off the head, have it reworked, install new valves and seals, call it a day,
Unless I'm missing something - Chris, care to chime in?

Sorry, forgot Chris doesn't usually cruise this sub-forum.

[WadiM3]

lol he's trying to stay as far away as possible from me, also I'm really unwelcome in that sub where I originally posted my thread but with Mauim3's personal dislike towards me he towed my thread out. Oh well Atleast I still have some good friends left such as yourself, Darin and Abel