No, that doesn’t mean what you think it does...
Greetings to ZHP mafiosi old and new; I’ve been away for some time.
In mid-October 2016, my ‘04 330Ci ZHP went up on blocks; the radiator had begun to leak, and I traced a slowly-worsening oil leak to the oil filter head gasket. The final straw was when the starter rather abruptly gave up the ghost; fortunately this happened while the ZHP was parked in it’s garage spot. Regrettably, job changes and short funds put repairs out of my immediate reach. Twenty-six months, countless rental cars and motorcycle rides later, I finally plunked down the $2K for new parts and set to work. Last week I replaced the oil filter head gasket, reattached the alternator and power steering pump. After that, a Zionville mechanical coolant thermostat went in, as the car has an ESS TS2 supercharger and I want to keep the engine a bit cooler if possible. Over the past week (cleaning as I went), I removed the old starter and installed a new one, replaced the PS pump and water pump pulleys with ECS alloy versions, replaced the hydraulic tensioner pulley with a new OE pulley, installed new belts, new OE hoses, new Mishimoto radiator and new OE temperature sensor, reinstalled the CAI and MAF, re-connected all hoses and wiring, and put in new oil filter, fresh oil, and fresh BMW coolant with Redline Water Wetter to both engine and intercooler. I added Lubri-Moly degunkifier to the oil, which is a sacrificial fill. Fuel is old, but 91-octane ethanol-free, full to the top of the tank and stabilized from the moment the car stopped working; it still passes the smell test, too.
Tonight came the acid test: I turned the ignition, and nothing happened. Tried a second time; still nothing. Tries three and four—no go. Crap! Then I remembered that the car has a clutch pedal—DOH! Depress clutch pedal and turn key—BINGO! Uhh, sort of, that is. The engine turned over and started, but repeatedly misfired and stalled. Next step—I replaced all the plugs, which were due to be changed (mileage is 131,047); I followed that by testing the fuel rail for patency. Through the spark plug holes the cylinders looked black and carbonaceous; I’ve a feeling adding some Seafoam to each cylinder is in order. Re-starting the engine, I was again met with frequent misfires, but I was able to use throttle pedal to keep the engine running for close to ten minutes, during which time the cabin started to fill with smoke. On exiting the vehicle, I discovered three areas of concern: 1) a small coolant leak is present near the thermostat; 2) the cats were glowing red-hot, which I’ve never seen them do before; 3) with every misfire, an electrical flash appeared behind the engine and underneath the firewall, roughly over the top of the transmission housing.
The coolant leak is of little worry to me; I should be able to trace it once the radiator cools and I can remove the expansion tank cap to facilitate removing the fan housing. The cats concern me a bit more; I’m guessing they’re glowing due to misfires sending burning fuel into them, which isn’t great but also isn’t the end of life as we know it. The arcing electricity bothers me greatly. I’m reasonably certain it’s not from the starter, which (AFAIK) I re-wired properly. That leaves me at something of a loss; what on Earth am I looking for? We’ve never had rodents burrow into our engine bays, so I’m guessing that’s not the problem. I’m thinking it’s time to head to HD and buy a fiber optic scanner, so I can look in that tight space whence the arcing appears to be emanating. Any thoughts? What might I have missed?
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