Ok...the real story...Hubby and the mysterious 525i(Shirley's hubby)

[Saleswman525]

OK..Just want to let you guys know..This is Don this time.. Thanks for all the help so far..it has helped me eliminate what is not causing the troubles..

To start off, Shirley was asking questions thru me..and sometimes I might not have been as easy to understand as she has no experience with mechanical issues.

The car did not run out of gas..I thought it might have due to the engine stopping.

I will start at the beginning,

1. Car sat for roughly six months..I was told car had a bad trans due to the TransProg. But I was told it ran great.

2. The Batt. was dead so I recharged it and it is holding very good charge.

3. Upon starting the engine..which took alot of cranking, it did start , ran very rough and alot of blue smoke came out with either oil or condensation out of the tailpipe.

4. Engine ran very rough..surging RPM's up and down..I tried to keep it running..but it did die. There was alot of upper noise as in the lifters or tappets..I mean alot..but I thought that was due to the car sitting. I then thought it had ran out of gas.

5. I put in 6 gallons of gas..which brought it up to over a 1/4 of a tank..and then I put in alittle more..which it now has close to 1/2 tank.

6. Continued to try to start it...but it wouldn't fire..it is getting plenty of spark...but If I leave the car turned to continuosly engage the starter..if will fire..but again run very ruff.

7. I replaced the spark plugs...which were covered in oil..on the inside..which looked as though they were fouled..and 3 of them had oil on the outside as well..with no oil present as far as a gasket leak..

8. Upon replacing the plugs...I tried to start it..and guess what..the same thing..car would not start...and then then it finally did..it runs the same way..very rough..alot of upper noise, surging...and then dead..when it dies..if I crank it it is no easier to start..

9. When it would not start, I did spray ether into the trottle body..just to see if it would fire..and it made no difference..still nothing...

10. I know there is oil..I put 2 quarts in..due to it was low, the Anti-Freeze up full, no oil in it...and no water in the oil as I see...the car seems to be getting fuel..and spark. I did check to see if the crank sensor was loose..and it is not.

11. The way I see it...if it is running and even though it's running rough..the upper end should not be noisy...as far as the rough running..I would think it is fuel delivery...possibly injectors or some electronic control.

12. As far as the trans prog...I do appreciate the info..you guys have been wonderful..as soon as this car is running properly..I will dive into that..

13. I have not done a compression check and plan on that today...

14. Now that you guys know the whole story..what gives?..Should I just drop it off at a shop..or do you guys have any other suggestions..I can rebuild Chevy's in the dark..but this has me baffled..

Thanks agin,
Don

[tim s]

OK..Just want to let you guys know..This is Don this time.. Thanks for all the help so far..it has helped me eliminate what is not causing the troubles..

To start off, Shirley was asking questions thru me..and sometimes I might not have been as easy to understand as she has no experience with mechanical issues.

The car did not run out of gas..I thought it might have due to the engine stopping.

I will start at the beginning,

1. Car sat for roughly six months..I was told car had a bad trans due to the TransProg. But I was told it ran great.

2. The Batt. was dead so I recharged it and it is holding very good charge.

3. Upon starting the engine..which took alot of cranking, it did start , ran very rough and alot of blue smoke came out with either oil or condensation out of the tailpipe.

4. Engine ran very rough..surging RPM's up and down..I tried to keep it running..but it did die. There was alot of upper noise as in the lifters or tappets..I mean alot..but I thought that was due to the car sitting. I then thought it had ran out of gas.

5. I put in 6 gallons of gas..which brought it up to over a 1/4 of a tank..and then I put in alittle more..which it now has close to 1/2 tank.

6. Continued to try to start it...but it wouldn't fire..it is getting plenty of spark...but If I leave the car turned to continuosly engage the starter..if will fire..but again run very ruff.

7. I replaced the spark plugs...which were covered in oil..on the inside..which looked as though they were fouled..and 3 of them had oil on the outside as well..with no oil present as far as a gasket leak..

8. Upon replacing the plugs...I tried to start it..and guess what..the same thing..car would not start...and then then it finally did..it runs the same way..very rough..alot of upper noise, surging...and then dead..when it dies..if I crank it it is no easier to start..

9. When it would not start, I did spray ether into the trottle body..just to see if it would fire..and it made no difference..still nothing...

10. I know there is oil..I put 2 quarts in..due to it was low, the Anti-Freeze up full, no oil in it...and no water in the oil as I see...the car seems to be getting fuel..and spark. I did check to see if the crank sensor was loose..and it is not.

11. The way I see it...if it is running and even though it's running rough..the upper end should not be noisy...as far as the rough running..I would think it is fuel delivery...possibly injectors or some electronic control.

12. As far as the trans prog...I do appreciate the info..you guys have been wonderful..as soon as this car is running properly..I will dive into that..

13. I have not done a compression check and plan on that today...

14. Now that you guys know the whole story..what gives?..Should I just drop it off at a shop..or do you guys have any other suggestions..I can rebuild Chevy's in the dark..but this has me baffled..

Thanks agin,
Don

[632 Regal]

Don,

You say it was low on oil, leads me to think that the oil might be contaminated with fuel. Change it out, with all the fuel flooding and such you also may have washed the cylinders and rings out resulting in low compression, which could cause it to not start or at the least run shitty. Go get yourself some cheap dino oil for now, maybe 20w-50 and replace the old washed out stuff, with fuel in there it will also cause smoke out of the exhaust.

Also, a low battery will cause that same rough running symptoms. Take a good battery that is fully charged and try to start it from maybe one of your daily drivers to eliminate that problem.

[TheGeak]

I'm with Jeff on this. Please, do everyone a favor and try a new battery. If it doesn't help anything, just go back with the reciept and return it. Oil change would help, also maybe some drygas? Perhaps you got a bit of water in the tank?

Good luck man, if i was closer to Ga, i'd stop down and try to help, but its a bit of a drive from Philly.

[632 Regal]

a new battery may not be fully charged when you get it and not solve the low battery problem. Whenever I get a new battery I trickle charge it until its fully chraged, I check them when I get them and some are only chraged to 11 volts, which would not help solve your problem at this time. Use your daily driver battery.

[TheGeak]

Really? i've NEVER had a 'not-full' battery around here. I checked them all, and i can't remember one being low. Anyway, the point is still, a new (to the car) battery would be a great start.

What if the DD is a Toyota Tercel, think that would have enough CA's in the battery? tha was my only concern.

[Javier]

I would do it in two stages. First, a very lean oil (with some added cleaning additive if possible) in order to remove slug residues specially in the lifters system, after pouring out all the **** some rinse with extra lean oil only would do great, then I would change to a good quality oil and filter.

Gas is also uncertain in this car, how much water is in the tank, thou you pour in some fresh gas, the best to do would be to drain out the old gas and add only fresh gas. Jeff referred there should be a draining plug somewhere, I would pump out if none.

I would also consider an injector cleaning, long time non functioning may have them sticky or clogged. I know, easy cleaning is very hard to accomplish if the car is not running but carb cleaner, a 9 VDC volt supply, and injectors on hand, would loose and clean any residues, making the car more operable to do a 3M full cleaning later on. If you find compression OK and then attribute the rough operation to a less than perfect fuel delivery system, you may consider to send the injectors to an specialized shop for a professional ultrasound cleaning (I have never needed this to be done in my car yet).

[Tiger]

Try a couple of dry gas in the gas tank and try to shake car to mix the fluids... being low fuel in tank and sitting for a long time... there are high probability of water in the tank. Always store car with full tank and fuel stabilizer. It doesn't hurt with too much dry gas... the car just burn cleaner. Try 2 bottles.

Oil on outside of three plugs means your valve cover gasket is leaking... we normally thing of outside perimeter of valve cover gasket... but this car also has them just around the holes where the plugs goes in.

Clean the boots on those coil packs... oil in them will cause shorting and cause rough running.

I would change the oil too... just drain it out and put in new oil if you don't want to spring for oil filter... I suggest you do the complete job. Who knows what is contaminated in there. Just regular oil is fine.

I would double check the resistance of the crank sensor... make sure it is within specs... and make sure the cogs are clean too... or it will throw off the timing.

Rough running will mimic bad upper end... also because of no running for a long time... I suggest you use 5W30 or 10W30 to start off for your oil change... thinner oil got better penetration.

Report back to us for compression test... all spark plugs out... and three compressions only. But change the oil before you do this job.

[Javier]

after pouring in fresh gas only, run the pump with the return hose unplugged at the sending unit in the tank, so to flush out any old gas in the lines, then change your gas filter.

I would first change gas, then clean injectors, then do the oil to try to have the car running, even rough, with the washing oil in the system.

[BigD]

I dunno guys, I've had my car sit longer than that with no problems. It ran rough for a dozen or so seconds, and then it cleared up.

[edit: after I wrote the following, I realized that except for the 535, I don't think any E34's had AFM's, rather MAF's...can anyone confirm?]

I'd try to borrow someone else's AFM. Or maybe try to do what I described earlier - remove the air filter hose and try to push on the AFM flap to see if it gets better (if the AFM signal is correct, you should only make it worse). That's how I found out mine was bad because even the Bentley procedure didn't indicate a bad AFM.

[Tiger]

Great suggestion! Don... try this too!

[Saleswman525]

Tim,

You are right...did not have the right tool then.

Thx,
Don

[Saleswman525]

Hey Gang,

Thanks for the help.....I am off to the automotive store for supplies....will let you know how it goes.

Don

P.S. Shirley is driving me nuts to get this on the road.....LOL