wolliver 1 Report post Posted October 23, 2009 hey all, not to long ago (5 or 6 months) i took my car into bavarian motors over on the shore, my car was only running on 4 cylinders (my 1986 E30 325i) they replaced some bits in the distributor, like the distributor cap and what not, and that fixed the problem, all costed about 500ish dollers to do. my question is how long should these components last (like how long were the designed to last)? ive only done about 5000ks since it was done. now its back to running on 4 again (or 5). Ive checked all the sparkplugs and they are fine, checked the HT leads (replaced on) but otherwise all fine. is there any other main causes of this (i havnt checked the distributor itself yet)? it would be horrible if this was the case again, as i dont have a cent to my name at the moment to fix it AGAIN. any ideas would be appreciated, Thanks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest FrantiC Report post Posted October 23, 2009 Try determine which cylinders are misfiring. I used to do this when I was troubleshooting megasquirt... Unplug the injector loom from the engine loom. Remove all the sparkplugs plug them all in and rest them on the chassis so then surrounds are grounded. I sat mine up on the shock tower and just crank the engine over and check that all the spark plugs are firing. You can do this 1 by 1, pulling the spark plugs, laying them on the valve cover or something and crank the engine over and verify they are all sparking. You unplug the injector loom so it doesnt inject fuel as you keep cranking the engine over and over and flood it, also the vapour comes out the sparkplug holes. Not keen on a fire... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wolliver 1 Report post Posted October 23, 2009 cool will do... would you know what kind of distibutor they have? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
*Glenn* 855 Report post Posted October 23, 2009 What Fanni is explaining to you will only tell you, you have spark at all 6 cylinders but unfortunately, doing it like that doesnt tell you that the spark is timed. It only tells you that you have spark at the spark plugs at some point without resistance ( fuel charge under compression). There are alot of different reasons this is happening. I suggest you ring Ernst and ask him to have a look... It may just be a faulty part. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wolliver 1 Report post Posted October 23, 2009 will do glen, i dont supose you would know if they will be open this monday will you? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest FrantiC Report post Posted October 23, 2009 Yeah well my method was to show if you can show an obvious misfire from a plug not firing. Timing is kinda out of the question, But yeah a spark outside the engine doesn't always mean it is firing inside the engine with fuel and compressed air there too. Have had that issue with fouled plugs before, They were all sparking fine outside, but in the engine they wouldn't fire at all. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
*Glenn* 855 Report post Posted October 23, 2009 will do glen, i dont supose you would know if they will be open this monday will you? I doubt it.. Monday's a public holiday... try Tuesday Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
