Philes' Forum by Vic Lucariello

PHILES' FORUM - February, 1997

Hello, bimmerphiles! I can't believe that I'm composing this in January, 1997 and that this is the tenth anniversary of Philes' Forum!

In January, 1987, Jeff Davis was Chapter President, Elihu Savad was VP/Activities, Joe Skupian was Newsletter Editor, Dean Christie was Lime Rock Chairman, and Joanne and I attended our first Board meeting. Vic, Jr., currently a Member-At-Large and a recent driving instructor appointee, was 11 years old and already attending Lime Rock Driver Schools! [I think he started helping out on the Tower when he was 12 or 13.] Current Chapter Secretary Brian Morgan was already a past president, and Paul Paparella, who would go on to serve as Chapter President, was Chapter Secretary. Although our Lime Rock Driver School was already well established and quite successful, we had not yet held our first two-day school, instituted our skid pad training program, or instituted our computerized student database. The autocross program was alive and well, and the Whack Your Turkey Rally was already an annual tradition. The 1987 banquet was held at the Raritan Yacht Club on a frigid, icy January night.

Also in 1987, BMW enthusiasts were still bemoaning the lack of engine power in the 325e and 528e models, which are equipped with the 2.7 liter "e", or "eta" engine designed for low RPM torque, fuel economy, and longevity. Morover, these M20 motors are equipped with timing belts (as are all the M20 "Small-Block" BMW sixes) as opposed to the traditional timing chains used by BMWs to drive their camshafts. The belts need to be changed at 50-60 kmi intervals. A broken belt often results in extensive engine damage. I recall one Roundel correspondent saying that he thought the "e" really stood for "ECCH!"!

I must admit that I was not particularly fond of the eta motors. My opinion has changed over the years, however. So much so that Joanne and I now own one. If you need a daily driver that will run reliably [Remember to change that timing belt!] for many thousands of miles and deliver good fuel economy as well, the eta motors are hard to beat. With a few modifications, the 3-Series etas even do well at driver schools. Fred Scerbo and Rick Kjeldsen are two etaphiles who have been successfully driver schooling their 325s for years. Fred's `85 325e looks as if it just rolled off the showroom floor, and Rick has gone as far as having a vinyl rear-window logo made that reads, "BMW e POWER"!

The following is the very first tech tip to appear in Philes' Forum.

"Many times, while trying to clean a hopelessly skungy brake backing plate or remove layers of baked-on brake dust, I have wished for a toothbrush with harder bristles. Well, I found such items at Force Machinery on Rt. 22 Westbound in Union. These brushes are available for $1.15 with stainless or brass bristles, and I have found countless ways to utilize them around the shop."

Yes, Force Machinery is still there, and I'm still buying the brushes there. Today they cost a bit more, though.

In February, 1987, the second Philes' Forum addressed Paul Kujawski's question regarding the preferred valve adjustment interval on his 1980 320i.

My advice to Paul was that the frequency of valve adjustments should depend upon how you use your Bimmer. Cars used for normal street driving only require valve adjustments as often as the owner's manual suggests. In Paul's case, every 15,000 miles. However, higher stress useage such as autocrossing, driver schools, and racing necessitate much more frequent valve adjustments. I used the example of my own 320i, which at that time was used for autocrossing and driver schools. I recommended adjusting the valves every time the spark plugs were checked/replaced. In my case this was after every driver school.

With the exception of the M5, M6 and 4-cyl M3 motors, the BMW engine types which have gone into production since my original column was written do not require periodic valve adjustments.

Paul, who happens to be a co-worker of mine, is still a `CCA member (#21809) and still has his 320 [as do I], which he purchased new and has 90+ kmi on it. Paul joined in November, 1980, and tells me that he has maintained a file of Philes' Forums because he thinks the material is worth saving. [If this guy ain't a true Bimmerphile, I'm Madonna!] Although we didn't know each other then, Paul and I became BMW "philes" about the same time; he when he decided to buy his 320, and I when I began repairing a funny looking, little (sienna)brown car which was something called a 2002.

A tip that appeared in a later Forum recommended that, before removing your spark plugs, you should loosen them a turn or so, then blow out the spark plug wells with compressed air. You'll be surprised at how much junk accumulates in those wells, especially if the car has been driven in sandy areas. If you don't have access to an air compressor, you can buy cans of compressed air at a camera store. Although the newer BMW engines have the spark plug wells covered with boots, etc, I still take the time to blow them out.

In upcoming columns, I intend to run updated recaps of the more interesting tips that have appeared over the last 10 years.

Returning to the present, Warren Brown had a very interesting problem with his 525i. Warren noticed that the car's lights seemed to be flickering, so he connected a voltmeter to the battery and observed the running voltage to be jumping between 12 and 16 volts. Normal Bimmer running voltage is about 13.5 as measured at the battery. The instability didn't seem to be affected by driving the car over bumps, etc. Such symptoms can be attributable to wiring, alternator, or in rare cases, battery problems.

Since the symptoms didn't seem to be related to driving over bumps, etc., I suspected that the problem was in the alternator, so I suggested that Warren run the car with the alternator disconnected to confirm this. Sure enough, the voltage remained at a steady twelve volts with the alternator out of the picture. Warren, himself suspecting an alternator problem, had removed the alternator by this time, but all that would have been necessary for the test would have been to disconnect and tape it's wires. The safe way to do this, by the way, is to disconnect the battery negative cable, disconnect the alternator, then reconnect the battery for the test. Whenever you fool with any battery connections, ensure that all electrical equipment is off and that you have your eye protection on!

So we had a bum alternator on our hands. By process of elimination, Warren determined that the voltage regulator was at fault [Bimmers have used alternators with internal regulators since the mid 1970's]. Warren did this buy disassembling the alternator and checking for any intermittent open circuits in the stator, rectifiers and rotor using his ohmmeter. He also checked the rotor for grounds. When he couldn't find anything wrong, the most likely cause of the problem became the regulator/brush assembly. A new one cured the problem. If the brushes had looked worn, a prudent approach would have been to replace them before springing for a $75 regulator. In Warren's case, however, the brushes looked OK.

As luck would have it [Some would call this Murphy's Law as applied to auto repair!], when Warren got everything back together, his battery had failed! So, to confirm his diagnosis, Warren reinstalled the old voltage regulator and the fluctuating voltage returned, even with a new battery. Warren suspects, and I concur, that the voltage problem didn't help the 4+ year-old battery any. I'm glad the regulator didn't fail in the full on state and fry the Motronic engine management computer!

Incidentally, Warren was kind enough to send me an e-mail follow-up to our telephone consultation. This is how I learned about the failed battery and his success in fixing the problem. Thanks, Warren.

Dan Rosano is having an interesting problem with his new 328i which is equipped with the factory alarm system. Dan reports that on two occasions, his Bimmer wouldn't start after he used his remote to disarm the alarm. In both cases, Dan got the car to start by exercising the power door locks with his key, after which the car started right up! If anyone has experienced a similar problem or can shed some light on this one, both Dan and I will be beholden to you.

Several months ago I wrote about a problem I heard about via the BMW Digest on the Internet. This problem concerns E-36 M3s with the 3-liter engine. Some of the cars exhibit a knocking sound when the engine is started cold. The sound, which is caused by slightly undersized pistons, disappears after the engine runs for a few minutes and the pistons warm up and expand to more closely fill their bores (Pistons are made of an aluminum alloy. The thermal expansion coefficient of aluminum is about twice that of iron and steel.). The fix, which should be done under warranty, is to install new pistons.

Joe Gardinier reported that his M had this problem, and that BMW's first attempt at repairing it was to replace the piston rings (!). The problem was rectified on the second attempt when new pistons were installed. In all, Joe's car received about $6000 of warranty repairs to correct the problem. In fact, Joe says that in a gesture of goodwill, BMW cut him a check for $500 for his trouble.

Anyone wishing to contribute to Philes' Forum should contact me via the info on the masthead. I'm interested in tech tips, repair/maintenance questions and/or tips, dealer horror stories, product evaluations, etc. Please call before 8 PM, and if you leave a message, PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR WORK PHONE NUMBER. Also, please be patient, I try to return every phone call, but it sometimes takes awhile. The best way to contact me is via e-mail.

That's all for now, Bimmerphiles, thanks for the memories!