Happy New Year to everyone,
This month (January) my particular specimen of the E9 celebrates its 40th birthday ;-) and I am hoping that I will have some great drives and experiences throughout the year.
As part of this birthday celebration there are a couple of nagging issues that I want to take care of - prime of these is an issue with the auxiliary air valve - or at least I think that is where the problem lies.
In case you haven't already deducted from my mentioning of the air valve, my car is fitted with the D-Jet injected 3003cc engine.
For a long time I had issues with the idle speed, meaning that when I started the car from cold, the idle speed would be elevated as it should be because of the extra fuel and air that gets into the combustion chambers. Problem was (and is) however that the idle speed would never return to a normal 800-900 rpm.
This last season I was so fed up with this 'high speed idle' that I blocked the air supply through the auxiliary air valve. This obviously meant that the car would not idle well when cold, but once the engine got up to temperature the idle speed was rock solid around 900 RPM!
As mentioned above this being the anniversary year and all I decided the other day that I want to fix the problem once and for all. So I took out the aux. air valve and tested it in hot water - and it functions as it should! At 70 degrees C (about 158 Fahrenheit) the air valve closes. This is pretty much spot on in terms of how the valve is supposed to function.
So I fitted the valve again, removed the air block that I had installed to prevent extra air from getting into the manifold through the aux. air valve and started the engine. The ambient temperature in my garage was 8 deg. C (46F).
Engine started beautifully and settled into a elevated idle around 1200 rpm. This only lasted for about a minute or so when the engine RPM went from around 1200 to slightly over 2000 RPM!!!! And it never 'came down from' this speed!!
I let the car build up a working temperature and checking the aux. air valve by means of a mirror and torch light I was able to see that the valve had not closed!! The thermostat had opened, the cooling water was very warm, the water was flowing through the radiator and the engine so why does the valve not close????
I just don't get it! The valve closes at about 70 deg. Ck (I tested that) yet somehow not enough hot water gets to the air valve when it is fitted.
I know from personal experience - I previously had a CSi - that these engines with (with D-Jet) can behave absolutely beautifully in cold weather conditions.
Any ideas would be much appreciated
Cheers
This month (January) my particular specimen of the E9 celebrates its 40th birthday ;-) and I am hoping that I will have some great drives and experiences throughout the year.
As part of this birthday celebration there are a couple of nagging issues that I want to take care of - prime of these is an issue with the auxiliary air valve - or at least I think that is where the problem lies.
In case you haven't already deducted from my mentioning of the air valve, my car is fitted with the D-Jet injected 3003cc engine.
For a long time I had issues with the idle speed, meaning that when I started the car from cold, the idle speed would be elevated as it should be because of the extra fuel and air that gets into the combustion chambers. Problem was (and is) however that the idle speed would never return to a normal 800-900 rpm.
This last season I was so fed up with this 'high speed idle' that I blocked the air supply through the auxiliary air valve. This obviously meant that the car would not idle well when cold, but once the engine got up to temperature the idle speed was rock solid around 900 RPM!
As mentioned above this being the anniversary year and all I decided the other day that I want to fix the problem once and for all. So I took out the aux. air valve and tested it in hot water - and it functions as it should! At 70 degrees C (about 158 Fahrenheit) the air valve closes. This is pretty much spot on in terms of how the valve is supposed to function.
So I fitted the valve again, removed the air block that I had installed to prevent extra air from getting into the manifold through the aux. air valve and started the engine. The ambient temperature in my garage was 8 deg. C (46F).
Engine started beautifully and settled into a elevated idle around 1200 rpm. This only lasted for about a minute or so when the engine RPM went from around 1200 to slightly over 2000 RPM!!!! And it never 'came down from' this speed!!
I let the car build up a working temperature and checking the aux. air valve by means of a mirror and torch light I was able to see that the valve had not closed!! The thermostat had opened, the cooling water was very warm, the water was flowing through the radiator and the engine so why does the valve not close????
I just don't get it! The valve closes at about 70 deg. Ck (I tested that) yet somehow not enough hot water gets to the air valve when it is fitted.
I know from personal experience - I previously had a CSi - that these engines with (with D-Jet) can behave absolutely beautifully in cold weather conditions.
Any ideas would be much appreciated
Cheers