Wolfie

[dm635]

an important test i forgot is to have a meter on the battery posts. will probably have around 12v.but when you go to start the voltage will really drop.
sounds like you need a charged battery

[jbd5015]

Alright...UPDATE!

After a long day of running around i got all this done:

1. Bilstein sports installed (rears on the second to lowest setting, thinking of going all the way down)
2. Upper control arms removed, pressed in HD's and reinstalled.
3. Had battery tested at Advanced Auto Parts.

Advanced said the battery was WAY low, but not dead. So i hooked it up to a charger on a slow trickle to get charged all the way through. We shall see what happens. Hopefully i wont need to buy a new one, they are too expensive haha.

For the weekend...finish up my interior swap.

-Jeff

[alpinacsi]

At this point, you might need to concentrate on getting it running before you spend too much time and money on want to do type things. What if something is wrong and you have to take it to a repair shop to fork out a lot of money to make it run? Hate to be a pessimist but, this has been going on for a very long time eventhough you have been seperated at times from wolfie. My advise would be to concentrate on getting it running right and then proceed with the other things. I do hope it was the nothing but the split hose.

[alpinacsi]

Advanced should charge the battery for free if your charger is not working. Also, you mentioned it was new a few weeks back; whoever sold it to you should atleast charge it for free.

[jbd5015]

This is true. Im just waiting for the battery to charge now. Its getting to the point where i have to wait for some parts to get and in the time between, im doing other stuff on it. The interior isnt costing me anything except my time cause it came with the car. I know what you mean about focusing on it running, and this weekend my parents are gone, so ill have a car to get around and if my charger doesnt work im going to see what advanced/napa are going to do for me. I do hope too that its only something simple, which i think it is judging by how well it ran before he sat for a while. I checked the transmission sensors while the car was up on stands, and they weren't cut or chewed by varmints at least. Im definitely on a tight budget for the car, thats why ive got a bunch of parts i dont need that im trying to sell to at least just break even on the stuff i need to pay for to get the car running.

-Jeff

[alpinacsi]

I am waiting to hear that with the battery charged and the leaking intake hose fixed, it runs. So...whats the news?

[jbd5015]

HES ALIIIIIIVE!!!!

haha...went to Pepboys, wait an hour for charge, bring home...turn key...stutter...stutter...spit...fire...rough idle, then dies. Turn it over again, revs up to like 2500rpm by himself and starts purring nice and quiet. I let him idle for a few mins, took him for a spin. He still has to idle pretty high, like 1100 rpm or he shuts off while driving. But then the skies literally rained on my parade so i had to call it a night haha. Thanks for all the tips guys, im still going to work on gettin the idle smoother and lower, but there is life!

-Jeff

[alpinacsi]

You might want to do a search on servicing the ICV. Since you had a split hose going to it, it may need a good cleaning.

[alpinacsi]

Oh; ...and congrats on getting it running again!

[dm635]

great news jeff. you have to be feeling much better. so you think the hose was the problem all along? seems that even a bad hose would still at least let you fire it up.

[jbd5015]

It was definitely a "HOT DAMN!" moment with the car haha. Im thinking it was a mix between the hose, and some other vaccum leaks, and the pins for the relays. Some of them were pushed down after repeated pulling and switching. I went out again not too long ago and he fired up quicker than he ever has before. Im definitely going to look into cleaning the ICV, and making sure there are no other leaks in the vaccum lines. I have removed the charcoal canister, as it was original, and all the lines going to and from were TOAST. I dont know if im going to put it back in or not, ill need all new lines. Im thinking im just going to plug up the wholes again with something better than the tape i had when i first did it. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice, ill be able to start "fine tuning" the car.

-Jeff

[jbd5015]

He gave me a hard time this morning starting. Took about 3 mins of cranking to get a fire with a high idle...1800 rpms. I adjusted it with that plastic thing on the throttle cable near the throttle body. Once the temp got up to normal, i dropped the adjuster all the way so the throttle was at idle. He idled nice and smooth at like 850rpm. Sounds like there is a little bit of backfiring now and again, but it tapered off after running for about 15 mins. I started playing with the OBC, set the time and thats about it. I have no idea how do anything except the stop watch kinda thing. Id like to figure out why it took so long to start up. When i brought the battery home last night, he started in about 30 seconds after plugging the thing in.

-Jeff

[CW6er]

It sounds like the Idle Air Control Valve may be stuck closed or inop, but it could be a dozen other things also. If the car was running right and then suddenly had a problem then it is easier to track down likly causes, but the systems are too complex and interrelated to pin down one answer from the long list of symptoms you have. You really need to get a Bentley 5-Series '82 to '88 (green cover) manual and go through Ch. 3 Engine Management - Driveability, and make sure everything is working and set back to the factory base line. For instance, the throttle butterfly is set with a feeler gauge and left alone, the idle is not adjusted with the plastic knobs on the linkage - I hope you aren't cracking the throttle open with it? Any way, getting the Bentley would help sorting things out. $37 at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0837603188/...8&linkCode=asn

[jbd5015]

Today the car was running great for about 20 mins, then just shut off. I took the ICV out, shot it with some MAF cleaner, as well as the AFM, and no change. While i had it running, i pulled the dip stick and it shut off. But started again. I also swapped out AFM for another one. It ran, but pretty rough. The spare AFM is from an 87 so its not the right one, but still ran with it. I put the original one back in, cleaned, with no success. Im looking again for how to jump the fuel relay to see if thats it.

-Jeff

[CW6er]

Jump terminal 30 to 87, or Red to green/violet:

[jbd5015]

Havent messed with the relays yet...got a little sidetracked with the rear interior...here are some shots, also a couple of the car and the new suspension set up. (sorry for the blurry shot, camera is weird sometimes)

[jbd5015]

The seats are going to need a steam clean...but are awesome other than that.

-Jeff

[jbd5015]

not much luck on the fuel jumping. I took the relay out and jumped the 30 - 87 pins and no difference. Dont know if i was supposed to do something else though. Kinda funky that this would happen right after it was running nice and smooth, he wouldnt even studder when i reved the engine to over 4k.

-Jeff

[alpinacsi]

after all of the cranking and no start you also need to check the plugs

[jbd5015]

I would, unfortunately my tools wont arrive till after dark tonight! And my plug tool from the trunk is gone ...loved that thing, got stolen with my first tool box a little ways back, my other set is in the trunk of my sisters car. What size deep socket are they anyway? Ive always used the plug tool from the trunk. Metric and standard both work i presume, dont know what size ill have.

-Jeff

[CW6er]

not much luck on the fuel jumping. I took the relay out and jumped the 30 - 87 pins and no difference. Dont know if i was supposed to do something else though. Kinda funky that this would happen right after it was running nice and smooth, he wouldnt even studder when i reved the engine to over 4k.

Jumping the relay is only used for testing the operation of the fuel pumps. If you tried to start the engine with it jumped, it probably flooded the engine.

You jump the fuel pump relay to test the fuel pressure or delivery rate when the engine is not running. The ECU only energizes the pump relay for a few seconds to pressurize the fuel rail when the key is first turned and then shuts it off to prevent flooding with prolonged cranking until it senses that the engine is running and then re-energizes it .

If you just want to see if the fuel pump relay it's self is good, swap it out with the K8 (fog lights) or K2 (horn) relay. Test the fog lights (or horn) first to be sure it's good and then swap it.

[jbd5015]

Thats definitely some good info. I tested all the lights when the car was running and the fogs were working. Dad and i are going to tag team the car tomorrow.

-Jeff

[jbd5015]

The ICV is making me worry. I took it out again and noticed that it makes noise when you turn it end over end. By looking in i could see the valve was open, and it moves freely with a thin screwdrive i stuck in. But theres something loose in there. Didnt know if there was supposed to be something loose or not. Anyone know?

-Jeff

[dm635]

try swapping your spare ECU. may as well try the easy stuff. is the ICV controlled by the ECU,or does it have a separate control unit like the early 318's had.

[CW6er]

Is this the same ICV as your's, with a vane that rotates to uncover a side port?: http://www.badmotorfinger.com/wiki/M...egValveTesting

It's not the vane clicking as the shaft slides in and out? Put your finger on it to hold it and try again.

For normal cleaning it is not necessary to pry it apart as pictured in the above link and risk screwing it up. It is sealed with nothing to clean inside. Simply squirt a little carb cleaner in the port and rotate the vane. however, if something is rattling around inside I thought the inside view might help.