Doing fine. I'm starting my first regular full time job since 2016 next week. It's been all contract work since then with some breaks that were so long I thought I might be unofficially retired. The job will be with a company I've been contracting with since May. I've been working on the design of the factory that's going to build the battery for the GM electric cars that
Forum: Community Forum

I'm glad you got it going again. I thought we might have come to the end of the line when it didn't work last time I tried to check in. I still drive my E30 too, on the rare occasions that I drive these days. John
Forum: Community Forum

QuoteBob in Everett Unfortunately, it appears to be the severe vibration type failure. I see on pelican parts I can get a new one for about $90. I might have to go that way. I checked a local pic-a-part place and they had none of the E-30 model cars within 100 miles. $90 is a great deal. I was seeing more like $350. I should probably buy one too while I can so I'll be ready when my late
Forum: Car Talk

I've replaced mine a couple of times and I've never seen anything for sale besides the whole assembly. So far, I've managed to avoid shelling out the big bucks for a new one, but the boneyard options are getting pretty rare. Open the housing and have a look. You might get lucky and find that the fan is rubbing the housing and hasn't broken. I had a fan break once and the vibra
Forum: Car Talk

QuoteFerdinand The brake wear sensors are fed 12v via Fuse-10 whenever the ignition switch is in the Run or Start position. That reminds me. Fuse 10 also feeds the backup lights, and the wire for the backup light switch is the one that can rub against the driveshaft until it gets a bare spot and grounds out on the shaft if it isn't properly secured. Are you having trouble with your b
Forum: Technical Forum

Try unplugging the connectors to the wires in the pads and spraying some WD-40 or similar on the contacts. Maybe a little corrosion is preventing good contact in the plug. John
Forum: Technical Forum

QuoteFerdinand My new alternator arrived and I popped the hood on the car to begin the installation. When I had previously removed the voltage regulator, cleaned the contacts, and put it back, I first had to take out the air flow sensor box to make room. Well, it turns out... I forgot to plug back in the electrical connector to the air flow sensor! D'oh! What?! You mean I'
Forum: Technical Forum

I just had a similar experience. My car started running like it was about to die when I had heavy electrical loads, but ran fine when the loads were light (headlights on vs. headlights off). This was an intermittent problem. Sometimes I could make the problem go away by revving the engine up a little. The dash lights would also flicker a little bit when the engine was sputtering. It all looked li
Forum: Technical Forum

Wow, what bad news. I obviously don't check in to the community forum very often. I was just looking around since the site has been down a few days and saw this. I'll miss Rick's posts too. He always had something interesting to say. John
Forum: Community Forum

Yes, I have that same wheel. The screwdriver will be fine. I can even pull my horn button out with my fingers if I cram them into the little gap just right. John
Forum: Technical Forum

QuoteOve Kvam So for towing longer distances, should we put the transmission in second gear, and ride the clutch instead? Or maybe at least some of the time? For long distance towing of a manual transmission, either lift the drive wheels and let it roll on the non-drive wheels, or in the case of our front engine / rear drive cars, you can unbolt the driveshaft from the differential or remove
Forum: Car Talk

QuoteBob in Everett The original drive shaft, trans, clutch and flywheel were used. The engine had to be rotated slightly to the right and motor mounts adjusted so the intake would clear the brake booster from a Porche 944. Did you have to modify the shifter because of the rotation? How is access to the A/C fan now? This is a really tempting mod. I'm interested in more details as you
Forum: Car Talk

QuoteOve Kvam You know the definition of an extrovert programmer? That is a programmer who looks at the other person's shoes when talking to somebody. :-) (I am also a software guy) That is hilarious. Glad to hear things are going well, Kelly, including the good news on the car in your other post. John
Forum: Community Forum

I'm glad to see old cars get saved, no matter how far gone they are. My E30 is rough looking, but it has a nice new set of wheels on it and it's in great mechanical shape, so I guess I'm right on trend. John
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QuoteBob in Everett The carbon build up on the piston heads is probaby a 1/16 inch thick in places. I always buy my gas at Costco because it is close and less expensive than elsewhere. Maybe I should be buying some Shell or something. Bob For a few years in the '80s I would only buy Amoco gas because I thought it was going to keep my engine clean. When I finally rebuilt that engine,
Forum: Technical Forum

QuoteOve Kvam How about a 1-series, the E82? It was produced from 2007-2013. Maybe a 128i? Last traditional BMW Say what?! I thought they just started making the 1 series and they've already quit! What's up with that? I just bought a set of 15" wheels for my E30 so I can get tires for it. I plan to drive it until there's just no way to get parts to keep it running. I
Forum: Car Talk

I think the crank position sensor is a suspect. Mine checked good by checking the resistance, but I got rid of my "no start" problem by replacing them (two in my '87 325). Maybe the missing is due to the sensor failing intermittently. John
Forum: Technical Forum

QuoteBob in Everett Thanks John, you must be the only person that has ever taken one apart. The o-ring you mentioned, did you have trouble finding one compatible with R-134? Don't know what might be clogging my valve but suspect the conversion to R-134 was not done very well. It was part of a reconstruction after an accicent. The dryer sight glass has had some kind of mud on the insi
Forum: Technical Forum

I agree. This is a good forum. I've looked at some threads on other forums, especially looking for information on the E34, and I have found some good information, but the signal to noise ratio is a lot lower than it is here. John
Forum: Community Forum

The expansion valve is right beside the evaporator on the passenger side (LHD cars). You have to take the glove compartment and the trim pieces on the left side of the glove compartment out to get to it. It's connected in two places to the evaporator and has two hose connections. I've had mine out and apart and I'd be surprised if there was anything blocking the flow inside it. I s
Forum: Technical Forum

Quotealanrw John, is the stalk switch a sealed unit or is there a cover that is held on by screws? alan The turn signal switch was a sealed unit, at least in terms of whether you could open it up. It had plenty of openings to spray solvent in. I just realized we're talking about the same switch. I was just at O'Reilly Auto Parts and I saw electrical contact cleaner among all
Forum: Technical Forum

My turn signal switch stopped working on one side, but the flashers worked all around, so I knew the trouble was in the switch, similar to your problem with the brights. I have a small spray can of electrical contact cleaner, which is some sort of solvent that's not as harsh as brake cleaner. I took the switch off the column so I wouldn't make a mess in the car and I sprayed the contact
Forum: Technical Forum

Quotealanrw Is there a way to test crank sensors with a DVM? I checked my position sensor on the 2000 millivolt scale on my meter. I got a variety of readings as the sensor tab passed the sensor, but they seemed to all be between 5 and 20. It seemed like it was about as fast as the meter could read. I didn't test voltage output of the other sensor before I replaced it. After all this was d
Forum: Technical Forum

QuoteJohn Yust One extremely slight possibility that I've thought of is that maybe I really am supposed to have that tab on the flywheel that I didn't see, and maybe there was just enough of a remnant of it there on my flywheel that the car would run when everything was perfect. Maybe now the bellhousing sensors are getting a little old and tired and they can't pick up what'
Forum: Technical Forum

Quotealanrw Well, the interesting thing here is everything was fine until it rained. When you crank, is the tac bouncing? Are you getting voltage to the coil? Now it becomes a matter of tracing. I bet there is a connector somewhere in there that is damp and corroded. The art now lies in finding the bad component. Relays? No bouncing in the tac when I crank. What does that indicate? I have volta
Forum: Technical Forum

Well now it looks like it was not the cap and rotor. The car has refused to start for over a week now. This all started after another huge rain event, which I can't see how it's related, but there you have it. I've been so disgusted I haven't been willing to post about it. Rain does not get into any places under the hood where it should make any difference and the interior of
Forum: Technical Forum

Make sure you're getting accurate mileage readings. A couple of years ago I though I had suddenly started getting really bad mileage and it turned out the real problem was that my odometer gears were falling apart. As I lost teeth off the gears, I got less mileage recorded for each tank purchased which made it look like the mileage was dropping off. I think the OBC mileage was still accurate
Forum: Technical Forum

Looks like it was the cap and rotor. I let the car sit for a weekend again and it started right up when I got home. We've also had a lot of rain and I haven't had any trouble with it running rough. I still can't explain why the injectors weren't pulsing. Maybe I wasn't checking them right, although I didn't smell any gas at the tailpipe either. I also can't e
Forum: Technical Forum

I let the car sit Saturday without starting it to see what would happen. Sunday afternoon I tried it and it started - not as quick as if I'd used it the day before, but it did start. I decided to look at the distributor cap again. I remembered thinking it was a little on the cruddy looking side when I checked it a couple of weeks ago. I wanted it to look OK, since they cost so much, and a ro
Forum: Technical Forum

This is good. I'm going to check inside that boot under the connector this weekend and there's a cluster of ground connections right beside it that I'll loosen up and retorque just to make sure there's good contact. I might even retorque the battery ground strap to the body - just to be sure. I think the only connector I haven't already had apart is the engine temp. I
Forum: Technical Forum