02Pilot

New parts too often suck - sadly, it's where things are at the moment. If it were me, I'd take a Dremel and notch that distributor cap to keep it in place. Just match it up with the old one, mark, and cut.

If nothing's dragging, temps only matter as you approach the high end of the spectrum for failure, in this case boiling your brake fluid. You are very far away from that. Don't worry about it until you start getting up into the 350degF+ range.

FWIW, I've done it on modern EFI cars with multiple catalytic converters in the system with zero problems. The only thing I haven't tried it on is a very modern DI motor. Given their reputation for carbon build-up on the intake valves, I suspect I'll have occasion to soon enough.

I hate to be the negative voice here, but nothing you put in the tank is going to clean decades of carbon out of the ring lands and piston tops. Take a little bit off the top? Sure. But the really hard stuff is still going to be there. Inspect the cylinders with a borescope before and after if you don't believe me. If you've ever had a head gasket dump coolant into a cylinder and torn the engine down, you know very well how effective steam is in cleaning the piston - the cylinder(s) with the leak are spotless. You need something that will thermally shock the deposits to get them off without tearing down the engine and doing it mechanically.

Late to this, but carbon would be my first thought as well. If you want to get more aggressive than just driving hard, here's the old-school method. Get about a quart of water and a very small diameter hose (1-2mm orifice). Get the engine hot, then insert the hose into the airflow pre-throttle plate and run the engine at fast idle. The suction will pull the water slowly into the cylinders and steam-clean the carbon more effectively than any chemical. DO NOT LET THE ENGINE STALL. Continue until the water is gone and the steam cloud from the exhaust abates. Your cylinders are now cleaner than they've been in years. You can use lots of things besides water - some swore by Windex, some people like the Seafoam cans made for this sort of cleaning for their convenience, but water works just fine.

Deposits breaking loose will generally end up in the oil, and thus the filter, rather than burning and heading out the exhaust. The smoke is oil burning off; the two are not related except in that deposits removed from the rings and ring lands may allow for better oil control and thus less consumption. That the smoke is reduced is more likely due to increasing the viscosity of the oil via the additives. Generally, smoke on deceleration is oil coming through the valve seals, and on acceleration coming through the rings. It's likely both have some degree of blow-by. Run it hard once it's hot - if you can get out of the city it would be better, but just run it hard. Abrupt throttle transitions (snap open or shut) may help to dislodge ring deposits, again only once it's hot. See where you're at once the tank is done.

I'm in for one. Any plans to produce a PDF to go along with the print copy (and to leak onto the web proactively in case the lawyers show up)? CCA long ago ceased to be the mechanically-oriented enthusiast organization it once was. Today's BMW buyer, and thus potential new CCA member, likely has, um, other priorities. The focus of the organization and the magazine tell you everything you need to know about where things have gone. I let my membership lapse a couple years ago.

A quart of ATF is an old-school method of flushing the crankcase (lighter weight plus greater detergency). Hell, if you get really desperate, I've filled engines with pure kerosene to loosen up severe deposits (not run them, obviously, just soaked).

So maybe a quart every 1000-1200 miles. That's a fair bit, but I've seen worse. I'll tell you what I'd do, quick and dirty. Put the timing back where it was. Dump a quart of ATF in the crankcase, two 20oz. bottles of Techron in half a tank of fuel. Go for a nice long drive, and once it's warm, wring its neck. WOT, hit the redline a few times. You will do one of two things: either you will blow some of the accumulated crap out of the engine and it will run a lot better, or you will exacerbate whatever is already broken to the point that you have to fix it. If you haven't properly broken it, change the oil and filter and drive on. If you have, well, it was asking for attention anyway. Not terribly scientific, but if it succeeds it wouldn't be the first time I'd seen one of these engines go from sputtering and smoking to purring (well, happily ticking is probably a more accurate characterization) with a good thrashing.

Over how many miles? Unless it's quite a few, that's high consumption. The amount of oil in the combustion chambers alone could be causing your running issues, as it effectively lowers octane; combined with your advancing the timing, this is a recipe for trouble. You really need a leakdown test to determine where the oil is coming from, and at the same time determine if you have a head gasket or cracked head (cooling system will show bubbles during the leakdown test if this is so).

How much oil are you consuming? Is the blue smoke most prevalent when you are on the throttle or off? Let's consider some basic diagnostics. First thing I would do is return to the baseline timing you had before this started - best to eliminate variables. Pulling and examining the plugs is a good start. Once you're sure they'll come out easily, reinstall, get the engine warm, pull the plugs again, and do a compression test. A leakdown test would be good too, but requires compressed air and more time. If the compression test numbers are uneven, put a tablespoon of oil in each cylinder and retest. Record both sets of numbers and report back. If the plugs are fouled wet when hot, you've definitely got oil entering the cylinders from somewhere. If they're fouled black and dry, you're rich. Make sure the air filter is clean and the carb unobstructed. Inspect the breather from the valve cover to the air filter housing (assuming it's still there) - how much oil do you see coming from it? Is the filter housing fouled with oil? Finally, what's your driving style? At what RPM do you tend to shift? How often do you open the throttle fully? I've seen engines that were simply so clogged with sludge that the rings were stuck and leaking badly, but not actually bad.

Yeah, top of the dash is a much better location for critical gauges. I've had mine set up that way for a very long time. (Apologies for the sub-optimal cellphone photo).

I take your point, but the 128i isn't like most modern cars. The interior is conventional (knobs and buttons). Mine has no iDrive, manual seats, three pedals, basically drives like an updated (and much faster) 2002. Putting M3 control arms, Bilsteins and Eibachs in it didn't hurt, of course.

Thanks folks. Nice to see a few familiar names are still lurking about.

I haven't been active on this forum in a long, long time, but circumstances have shifted a bit and I have a little more time and energy to devote to my 2002, so I figure I might as well reintroduce myself to the community. I've had my current car since 1995. I built it with a stiff suspension, big brakes, and a fairly energetic motor. New England and Mid-Atlantic folks may remember it from drives I organized around New York and up to Lime Rock for 02 Fest East, back when everyone parked on the main straight. It went down to SC and back for 02-02-02 as well. While down there I managed FTD in the autox, and got photos of the car in action in the Roundel and European Car. I moved away from autox soon thereafter and just used the car for many years driving around New England and New York. Inevitably, the relationship plateaued, and while I still drove the car, it wasn't as far or as frequently. While I did all the basic regular maintenance when I thawed the car out every spring, a lot of little non-critical jobs (aesthetics mostly) were put off. The years passed.... Fast forward to last summer. I bought a new daily driver, to which the 2002 is the spiritual ancestor. It's an M-Sport 128i. Six speeds instead of four, six cylinders instead of four, basic black instead of retina-searing yellow, but the lineage is unmistakable. Maybe the new car made me nostalgic or something, but after I got it my enthusiasm for the has 02 gradually returned. Lots of little things got done, along with one or two bigger ones, and a garage reorganization. The car is running and driving as well as it ever has, and I'm enjoying it as much as I did years ago. It looks a little different now than it did for many years. Anyway, I'm done rambling for the moment. Howdy to the old-timers who might remember me or my car, and it's nice to be back.

Looking for a pair of good Euro front indicator/turn signals. Bonus if already converted to US dual-filament bulb, but not necessary. Just need to be decent and uncracked, not perfect. Thanks.

I missed Sunday's meeting, but here's a few shots from Monday:

I will certainly check both of these possibilities, though it feels much more like a fuel problem than an electrical problem to me. I cleaned and gapped the plugs after the first incident, and I have a Pertronix installed. The wires are only a few years old, with very little mileage on them. Only the coil is old; it should probably be replaced just based on age at this point. The idea of a fuel line connection that's allowing a bit of air into the system sounds very plausible. I use a similar setup to yours, BD - rubber line to the original steel return line along the left side, with rubber lines connecting thence to the filter, the pump, and the carbs. The lines in the engine bay are relatively new, but those from the tank haven't been touched in years. Thanks for the suggestions. I will update when I have a chance to investigate further.

OK, it's been a while. I haven't been driving my 02 much in the last few years - maybe a few hundred miles a summer. In spite of this, it has been remarkably reliable. When I took it out a couple weeks ago, however, it started acting up. I quickly realized that every time I started to climb a hill the car began to stumble. The longer the hill, the worse it got. Level or downhill: no problems. I found and repaired a broken float pin pivot in the rear DCOE, figuring that the float hanging improperly had caused the rear carb to flood every time I went uphill. I replaced the fuel filter as a precaution, and inspected the in-tank screen, which was very clean. Took the car out once or twice in short hops - no problems. This morning the problem reappeared. I immediately checked the float cover repair - it is intact and holding perfectly, so the problem lies elsewhere. I checked the fuel flow from the pump (Carter electric, mounted low on the forward frame rail) - it is flowing a lot of fuel, at least on level ground. I don't have a spec on the max flow I need to feed the carbs, but there's more than enough to handle the light to moderate throttle it is stumbling under. Voltage to the pump is fine. The problem appeared with a full tank; the tank is now at about half-full. I'm going to jack up the front end and retest the pump flow. Beyond that, I'm pretty much out of ideas. FWIW, I've run this set up for 15 years without problems; nothing that would affect the fuel system has been touched recently except as noted above. If anyone's run into similar issues or has any thoughts, I'm all ears.

Graham it Bimmers Only is a good dude. I bought my first 02 from him years ago, and I've been dealing with him ever since. He's fully capable of building you whatever crazy sort of engine you might care to afford.

I hope it all works out, but with as many cars as they're planning on, limited access, trying to space the cars by year, and an early close to setup (I'm expecting a long line of old cars waiting to get onto the track at 0900), it sounds like it has the potential to become FUBAR awfully quickly.

I'm planning to be up there. Have to buy tickets at the gate, though - no time to get them in advance. As to parking on the track, IIRC last year there were cars arriving all day and being placed around Big Bend and the Left-Hander. Are they closing access to the track after 9am, or do we just miss out on parking with the group but still get on the track if we're late?

I particularly like that in the longitudinal section illustration all the men are wearing hats up through the E30, whereupon they go without.