r/E30

Never works and when it does it does this anyone know the problem

So I’ve finally been able to record when the rpm jump happens because it’s been doing it a lot more recently instead of just the freeway now and I’ve cleaned my AFM and the ICV I also recently changed the throttle position switch which wasn’t the issue, would it be possible to be fuel related as I plan on checking it soon but I wanted a second opinion since I have it on video now

Parked next to you in Willow lawn, are you on here?

Took her out for a spin today. Still smiles for miles. Next brakes and rotors all around and ready for summer drives.

Selling my 1986 BMW 325 E30 sedan after 38 years of continuous ownership. 

Details:

• 38 years of continuous ownership
• Clean California title in my name
• Registered and currently licensed in California
• Located in North Orange County, CA
• Recent California smog certificate
• Odometer stopped at 90k. Estimated actual miles ~150k. Parked for periods between 1993-2016, but maintained with regular oil changes.
• Driven locally on a weekly basis in California from 2016 until a few weeks ago.
• Timing belt replaced 2021.  Manual transmission 5 speed.  
• I recently purchased a new car and no longer have the garage space or time to continue working on or storing this one.

Known Issues:

• Intermittent starting issue (starts right up some days, takes effort on others).
• Transmission needs work (no 4th gear).
• Needs cosmetic restoration: Surface rust present, including a small spot near the trunk edge and light surface rust on the rear door sills.

Price: $3,900 or best reasonable offer. Cash only. Serious inquiries only.

VIN: WBAAE5401G1508492

Message me for more pictures or to schedule a viewing.

So over this winter, I swapped on Z3 hubs on my stock trail arms and CV axles. And possibly >200KM into the setup, I’ve blown my axles as they’re leaking from both the diff flange and the hub region.

Could any 5 lug experts explain what went wrong and next steps to take ?

I should mention that this car was originally a 320i and i’ve swapped the engine to an M20B25 but retained the 168mm diff and stock axles.

Can I take the nut out of that tube to move it and access an eccentric screw to lower the clutch pedal on an M20B20?

So, in the end, I got rid of the whitewalls on my E30 (Atlas portawalls), and I suppose the car looks better. I was never really sure about them. The first pic is the before, a little bit dirty becouse of the rain.

Just replaced a hose in the cooling system on my 89 325is, and after putting more coolant in (which was a huge pain as my car was slanted right cause it’s on a hill, and I don’t have a way to jack it up at my house), it’s been running weirdly cold. My engine has always ran below the midway point, I’ve never seen it go past that, but now it’s running even colder. What do you guys think? It was around 103 degrees out (40 Celsius), and the thermostat was already replaced for being “stuck open” in November.

Can anyone help me out on how I can get this central ball joint off. I’ve been hamering at this thing from the top with a fork and lubed it but I cannot for the life of me get it off.

I have new M3 aluminum control arms with balljoints so I dont need these to survive but I just cannot get the right pressure on them to get them off.

I’ve also tried extending the fork and using more leverage with a jack.

UPDATE I GOT IT OFF (check comment for explanation)

Well idk how cooked I am. When pressing out my trail arm bushing on my press I must have bent my trail arm. I only discovered this when trying to see clearance for the arms for placement of reinforcements. I am wondering if I can just put a bottle jack in the middle and just press it out? Or is the alignment screwed on my arm now? (It is the driver side trail arm)

Hi,
I have a BMW E30 M20B20 turbo with MS2 Extra and I’m having a repeatable sync loss issue around 5300–5500 rpm.

Setup:
-M20B20 turbo
-TD04HL-16T turbo
-Wasted spark
-Siemens Deka 630cc injectors
-MS2 Extra 3.3.3
-Mototronics 55-pin plug and play board in Bosch Motronic case
-60-2 crank trigger
-stock-style BMW VR crank sensor
-internal MAP sensor

Trigger settings:
-Toothed Wheel
-60 teeth
-2 missing teeth
-crank wheel
-Falling Edge
-Wasted Spark
-Tooth #1 angle: 84° BTDC
-Noise filtering: off
-Rev limiter: 6800 rpm
-Overboost protection: 240 kPa

The engine pulls cleanly until around 5300–5500 rpm, then it suddenly cuts very hard, almost like hitting a hard rev limiter.
In the normal datalog the RPM drops almost to 0 / 1 rpm right when the cut happens. At the same time Lost Sync Count increases and Lost Sync Reason is 2.
MAP is only around 190–210 kPa absolute when it happens, so roughly 0.9–1.1 bar boost. Overboost is set to 240 kPa, so I don’t think it’s overboost cut. Battery voltage also stays stable around 13.5 V and SecL keeps counting, so the ECU does not seem to reboot.
I also recorded tooth/composite logs. The composite log while revving in neutral looks mostly clean in the captured area. The tooth logger has many normal-looking sections, but I’m not 100% sure if it caught the exact moment of the cut. So I can clearly see the sync loss in the normal log, but I can’t confidently say yet whether it is an extra false tooth or a missing real tooth.
The crank sensor was dirty and I cleaned it. Sensor gap is roughly 0.5–0.6 mm. The sensor mount seems fixed, not slotted.
The car supposedly used to run properly to around 6800 rpm with 1.0–1.2 bar boost, so I don’t really think the basic settings like Falling/Rising Edge were always wrong.

My current plan is:
-replace the old spark plugs with NGK BKR7E, gapped to 0.6 mm
-replace the crank sensor with Bosch 0 986 280 799 / BMW 12 14 1 710 668
-check crank sensor wiring, plug, shielding and cable routing
-check engine ground, ECU ground and coil ground
-check timing with a timing light using fixed timing

Does this sound more like ignition noise / EMI, a weak or bad VR sensor signal, wiring/shielding/grounding, or possibly a VR input issue on the ECU board?
Any advice would be appreciated.

First welding project ever before and after. Weeks of work and constantly in the learning zone.

Before yall put me on blast, this is a $600 89 325i that has a solid engine and drivetrain. No leaks and runs great. I thought it would be a great car to learn to weld on.

Seam sealer will fill in those edges and in between the welds. Then top coat to bring it all together.

Auto welding: 2/5 stars. Recommend if you want an ambitious project to put you in the learning zone but also hate yourself a lot

My lap welds need work but I got solid penetration on the many plug welds. Feedback welcome

Strange rubbing/whining noise. I thought it might be the water pump but after removing the belts the noise is still there, and spinning the fan/water pump by hand I don't hear or feel anything abnormal. Any thoughts? This is an m40b18 with 220k + miles lol. Cam shaft has been replaced relatively recently.