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Hello friends, I have been having some starting issues with my E30 for the last little while. Here are the following symptoms, and a little update at the end from today which might narrow things down. Please have a look below and let me know what you think it might be: Engine needs to crank for like 5+ seconds with my foot 30% on the accelerator before it is able to start Only marginally better when the engine is warm A whole bunch of very fuelly smoke comes out from the exhaust when it starts (exhaust smoke looks and smells "regular" after driving a while though) Engine can sputter slightly for maybe 1-2 seconds when gently accelerating from stand still When moving slowly in crawling traffic, sometimes can hear motor revs slightly modulating/pulsing, going up and down Rough idle When 3-point-turning into parking spot, during the 2nd turn when the car changes direction from fwd/back with low revs, very rarely the engine can die/stall out Fuel economy is pretty poor. Went very roughly 400km on a 60L tank of fuel, so around 15L/100km. I haven't driven my E30 in a long while but I remember 10-12L/100km as a ballpark economy figure Now for the potentially informative clue today: I had a feeling my issues are fuel related, so I swapped out my fuel filter this afternoon as it was long overdue. Following a youtube guide, I took out the fuel pump relay and started the car. Without the pump the car quickly clears out the fuel in the line so I'm not drenched when I take off the old filter. After taking the old one out (and getting slightly drenched in the residual fuel) and putting the new one in, the lines are obviously very empty of fuel prior to starting the engine. Turning the key and expecting another 5+ second beating before it starts, I was ecstatic when the engine started 2nd crank! No staring issues at all! I ran it for about 10 seconds and switched it off. Attempt number 2 was also very smooth and successful! I drove to the petrol station with the hugest grin, beaming!! My long term problem was finally fixed!! However, after a 5min drive and a refuel, the engine was back to it's old 5+ crank battle from before. Same with the slight sputter when gently accelerating. TLDR and my amateur thoughts: Something is causing my car to inject waaaayy too much fuel when starting? (Potentially just all the time). Car struggles to start for ages and when it finally does there is a big cloud of fuelly smoke. When I emptied the fuel lines today the car started no problem. But after driving around perhaps the lines are filled again and the car gets too much fuel again to start easily? Does this sound like something you know? Would greatly appreciate any hints and tips. My precious E30 has been a bit of a concern for a while, and now I'm commuting again it's something I'd like to iron out asap. Cheers in advance for the help guys! 😄 Edit: My car also had this weird additional hose sticking out into the air. I'm pointing at it on the right. The photos are looking up into the bottom of the car. This hose wasn't in the E30 video I watched. But I read somewhere the larger fuel tanks have an additional line or something?
