12/06/2014

Rough Idle - A shaky situation

A day or so later after the excursion home the 328 still sat quietly in the garage. I really wanted to drive her back and forth to work but, I needed to title her, pay taxes, and give the car a good inspection.

The idling situation was on my mind but the tires were nagging at me more so. I had limited funds available at this point so I wasn't sure which direction to go in terms of tire tread or repairs. Both, at this point, seem rather high on the priority list.

Later that evening, thankfully, a buddy of mine (Jeremy) was able to come by and help me take a look see at the car. All the motivation I needed. He, being the same guy who was knowledgeable in the e36 market, was ready to get his hand dirty. Bring out the floor jack!

Laying under the 328 was a much different scene than hatch I was used to spending time under. Not knowing where every nut and bolt is located is, well, exciting. Basking under the inline six's cast iron bottom end, front mount steering rack, and elongated rear drive transmission was strange and wonderful.

We scoped out the suspension first. Definitely all stock. Passenger side: A ripped boot on the ball joint, cracks on the lolly pop bushing. The M3s have a more solid front rubber bushing. The 328 only has rubber material on the left and right side only. The rest is open. Hot spots for troubles and with 154K on the clock definitely in need of replacement. The driver side didn't look too bad. Tell, tell signs of why that passenger side tire looks so bad.

On to the oil leak situation. We could see fresh oil running down from the valve cover and what looked like the head gasket. Couldn't be sure. I thought for a moment that we could start the car then, see where the oil is dripping. Then my senses came back to me. Laying under a running car and watching for oil to come dripping out seems like bad idea. With no definite answers on the oil leak we moved on to the misfire issue.

I took the car off the heavy duty jack stands. Lowered her back down to the earth. Jeremy suggested that we start the car and pull the coil pack clip off to find the trouble spot. So that's what we did. An easy diagnosis. Looks like the issue resided with ole cylinder number 6. I also noticed that two of the coils looked different. I wonder what happened here?
 
  So we took out the coil pack and discovered that the spark plug boot was in bad shape. A nasty crack right down the side. Hmm, this could most assuredly be the issue.


The e36 328i has independent coils on each cylinder instead of a distributor. The spark still has to get to the spark plug so, in this case, the charge travels through a short spark plug boot. Back to the story.

After a quick change of the spark plug boot for another that Jeremy brought along with him, we put the pieces back together. I hoped in and started her up. Awesome! It did the trick no more misfire. The engine sounded good and revved freely.

We took a short trip just to see if things we solid. She felt good, purring on all cylinders now. Smooth and powerful. Ah, the torques. 

The automatics have a 3.93 rear diff, most of the time, and with only 4 gears in the trans it's a quick little car in 1st and 2nd. This is of course as long as the torque converter isn't slipping and you have good traction. Do you even drift bro?!
  Recap: 
 
  Suspension: crap.
  Oil leak: not sure.
  Misfire: fixed. Yay!
  Power seats: still gangster
  Smell: smoky strawberries
  Glitter: everywhere
 
  We are getting there.
  

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