So here's the deal now, my car is back up to primo condition (for the most part). Brought it in for the smog pre-test becuase I didn't want to risk becoming a gross polluter. Failed the pre test for idle, passed on cruise. Timing was not set to spec there. Today I brought it to my uncle's shop, who doesn't do smogs unfortunately, and I set the timing to spec and put it on the 5 gas. Now its the other way around will pass at idle but not cruise. We came to the conclusion that the frequency valve is not getting power and we already knew that the O2 sensor was not changing the co%. We put power into the frequency valve and it made the RPMs lower, almost stalling the car. Tomorrow I am going to check out the ECU area for loose wires/grounds if there are any there, check out the lambda relay and wiring(That is the one that is unmarked next to the FP relay, correct?). I'm almost there guys, any suggestions on where to look what to check would be great!

Fresh plug, cap, rotor, good plug wires and timing set plus fresh oil change to synthetic will help too. Can't help much with the late CIS as mine has EFI now.

ken

Synthetic eh? I'm kinda weary about that at 411k but if that would be a good oil for it sure. Got new Silbers, 1500 miles on cap, rotor and belden wires. Going to change the oil either tomorrow or friday and I just bought a case of 20/50 regular castrol.

Synthetic shows less on the sniffer...

ken

reduce the timing a few degree's, mine passed very cleanly with the timing set so low the car wouldn't even rev over 4k :)

just a FWIW.

Sweet, I think I will be picking up some synth today. I was thinking about making some matchmarks on the distributor to set for the idle and one for the cruise. I have a smog shop that would probably be leniant on that.

BTW, it's possible to pass smog with out the freq valve working- mine did. Fresh oil, synth or otherwise, helps a lot! Keep your spark plug gaps towards spec, and remember that your engine doesnt do well with more modern/expensive plugs. Use normal Bosh coppers or NGK's. These are things I have played with in the past and have helped me, both with a 200K 2.0 and a fresh 1.8L.
John

Well get this one here guys. I was poking aroud with my test light, checking the computer's grounds and other grounds; when I decided to take a good look at the frequency valve's wiring. So I followed the bk/bl wire to the computer--no issue there. I follow the bk/yl wire to the lambda relay, which was the one I thought it was, and check it for a ground signal--nothing. So I pull out the relay to check the layout real quick and what do I see right away? Bk/yl wire isn't going to anything!! The wrong relay was in there the whole time. Pulled out the horn relay, which was the 5 pin supposed to be 4, and swapped them. Hooked up the ecu and fired it up.

Right away I hear the satisfying buzz of the frequency valve on and off as the car seems to be "mutating" and adapting to how, for once, it is supposed to run. Took her out for a spin and wow, what a difference that makes! The car isn't missing anymore at half throttle and acceleration was amazingly quicker and smoother.

I still don't know about the o2 sensor functioning... It does have ground on the sensor itself, but I'm not sure how to test it other than that; besides having it on the 5 gas machine. I will be putting this on there tomorrow! Everyone cross your fingers for me. If it can pass the pre test, its going straight to my smog shop.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I will be putting some standard Bosch plugs in tomorrow before any testing. I may change the cap and rotor, but perhaps I will just file the cap and rotors' contacts a bit. Changed over to synthetic also, I used the mobil 1 15/50 because it was the thickest I could find. I wasn't about to settle for some quaker state synth 20/50. See you guys after smog.:) :buttrock

There are faqs on how to set your mixture using the output of the O2 sensor. You can take a multimeter and measure the voltage output of the sensor where it unclips from (sensor side). Do this with the engine at operating temp and look for a voltage of about .4V to .8V. .9 and you are lean, .2 and you are rich.
Good luck,
John

I may as well jump the gun here, while were on the topic of oil and fuel,Does anyone bother running 100octane here? i filled upa full tank the other day, advanced the timing 3 degrees and its running alot sharper i daresay its on the limit of pinking atm, but is this the norm for anyone else? (BTW aus spec 318i's didnt run cats nor do we have smog tests).

Franzino

Passed!!!

Cool deal!

That's the one thing I don't miss about living in CA, passing the biannual smog test! :D

Haha totally mate, nothing like freedom to blow unburnt fuel :P