Kepes

Wow, what was the cause??

People who don't replace their bulbs in pairs and one is obviously brighter than the other. Really bugs me for some reason

Yup, and obviously the majority of the driving population are against the law so how do they get away with bringing it in every summer and public holiday???

Water pump replaced and problem solved - at last!! I can drive around this summer without the heater on The OEM unit was faulty from the factory. Pelicanparts have been good and will refund me. I replaced the OEM composite impeller pump with a metal impeller GMB unit. Made in Thailand, fortunately(?) unlike your unit which was made in China Grant. Next up is an oil change as well as the spark plugs and then to enjoy driving it in the summer Thanks for all of the help, team!

Thank you both so much for your responses! Charlie that was exactly what I needed to see/hear. I thought I'd test the thermostat as I was replacing the waterpump but i'm fairly sure its fine and that the waterpump is the issue

I didnt finish in the 4hours I had to do it, partly thanks to a stripped distributor rotor bolt but I'll finish it tomorrow. Just have to put the distributor and radiator back in

When testing a thermostat on the stove in a pot of water, should an 80c thermostat start to open at 80, or earlier? And how far should it open? The thermostat in question is starting to open at 80c and opens to about 6mm at around 88-90c. Time for a new one?

How'd the waterpump replacement go? I'm doing mine tomorrow. I've done the timing belt along with waterpump before, but never the waterpump on it's own. Pretty straight forawrd though yeah? Just like lego. How'd you get the tensioner spring back on with the pump?

gorgeous car and sharp price me thinks! GLWS

I remember seeing this on trade me and thinking it was a great deal! Correct me if i'm wrong, but from the odd posts I've seen around the forums it looks like you're going to have one very fun E30. I'm excited

I replaced the head gasket on my B25. VR didn't have fantastic reviews online. A lot of people saying it leaked oil down the block, sometimes so much that the gasket had to be replaced again. I used a Goetze gasket. Seemed to be very high quality and has held up well after a year of having it installed. Honestly I think with your intentions there really is no point in putting in a non OEM gasket. The OEM gaskets hold up just fine even with boost. (No first hand experience, however I've done a lot of research re turboing an E30) fcpeuro.com seems really good for parts, I've only started using them recently. If you want to use a local company, euro-italian is a forum sponsor. Also have heard good things about milland.co.nz

I use red line MTL in my 260. It's good stuff and a lot of the e30 guys in the US use it if you have a look online. I have no complaints, at 330km it still shifts nicely with the redline oil

Gearbox may well be assholed too. Great success!

Yeah it is extremely frustrating!! Thanks heaps for all of your help Grant, I really appreciate it. I'll get the water pump done and report back Edit: Are you a mechanic?

You're more experienced than me so you'll know better, but given that there's a leak from the wp do you think it should be replaced?

Apparently the leak represent coolant getting passed the internal seal? Or something like that. From what I've read, when the weep hole leaks it means there's coolant passing through the bearing and therefore it's on it's last legs if not already broken

Yeah you did and now I wish I had listened Went to Repco today and the sell the GMB unit for $102. It's $30US online and I need to buy a valve cover gasket anyway so looks like the E30 will be retiring until it arrives. Started to over heat on my way home from work today. I've become used to glancing at the temp gauge every now and then so I got the heater on full blast and made it home. I've been incredibly lucky come to think of it

I know exactly how you feel! I'm also angry at myself for not properly diagnosing it before buying the new radiator. Oh well, Now I've got two good radiators. It was dark when all of my coolant leaked on the street. Parked on a very steep hill, obviously it caused the coolant to come out the weep hole on the slope. I just assumed it was the radiator. I was actually going to order a GMB unit as this one was an OEM Saleri unit, but I may reconsider after hearing your experience.

Got frustrated and pulled the skid tray and lip etc to have a good look after work. Looks pretty obvious that I have a leak from the weep hole on the water pump. It is also making some bearing noise.

If only cars held up just as well

I feel the same way as you, I've never actually had a problem bleeding it. I'll start by checking the temps and comparing them to what the gauge is telling me. That would be cool, but I'm working weekends atm so looks like we both have our hands full! Good luck with the reno

Right, middle of the gauge is about 90 degrees isn't it? I'll try get one of those infra red temp readers. Yeah, heater was on/open. I've drained the cooling system so many times and usually without any issue so it probably won't be an air lock, I guess I just said it was to give myself some false hope or something I think what you alluded to is probably the best option - get a mechanic who know's what he's doing to check it out

No offence taken! I appreciate you're response, you know what you're talking about. I am stabbing in the dark. You're probably right in that I should get a mechanic who knows what they're doing to diagnose the problem. Yes that's exactly what I did to test the gauge as per the instructions in the Bentley manual, what else can be done to test the gauge correctly? The gauge is behaving extremely consistently, with the needle rising in the situations mentioned. I've only had the radiator in for 1 day. No coolant loss yet however I will keep checking it. The upper radiator hose is higher than the bleed screw, so potentially air still in the system. It is self bleeding over time (so I hear) so I'll give it a week or so. Thanks for your help again Grant.

Those wheels are going to look so good! Saw your fb post... 8-12 weeks

I checked the gauge - all good. I don't know how to check the sending unit (brown sensor). It has 1 prong and there is no explanation in the bentley manual on how to do it/what the resistance should be at x degrees Celsius. If it is flow then the only related things changed during the hg were water pump, and I did take apart the thermostat housing. I really do think that it was something that changed during the process because the problem began as soon as it was back together. The fan has some horizontal movement to it aka it wobbles a tad. A couple of months back I parked my car up the ski field (below freezing temps) for the weekend. When I started it, there was a whining noise from the front of the engine (wp bearing!?) which went away by the time I opened the bonnet. I can't really explain the sound. Kinda like a fuel pump that's about to go bad. I'm really leaning towards a faulty waterpump. The Bentley manual lists advanced timing as a probably cause of overheating. It was my first time doing a timing belt, and although the marks looked good to me, the car pings on 91 and even 95 under load. I didn't think much of it and just used 98 fuel, problem solved masked. I thought that the resurfacing of the head was the reason for it. Could the timing marks being off by a few degrees be the issue? Right! I really enjoy working on this car and the problem solving side to it. I'll get there in the end.