engine and drivetrain tii experts help needed please - long

[John_in_VA]

Add a pint to the fuel tank, unless you plan to drain it.

[adamm]

Bet none of you thought this thread would rear its ugly head again?!

Turns out I think Jason was closest I think:

Just before Christmas my servos gave up (everything at once eh?! and if you've never worked on twin servos you have no idea of the pain... anyway) so the car has been sitting for a little while.

When I finally got her back on the road this week the old poor running was still there. This time however Mike McCartney's book occurred to me and whilst she was running on 3 cylinders I got out and felt the fuel injection lines - you can feel them 'pulse' when they're delivering fuel. Sure enough one wasn't pulsing, so to determine if it was the fuel line blocked or the Kugelfischer not delivering I eased off the connection slightly to see if fuel came out. No fuel. So, stuck at work with no decent tools, no allen keys I had to resort to giving the Kugelfischer a sharp tap with the end of my adjustable spanner - and hey presto! she immediately started delivering fuel through the fourth fuel line. I can't believe I didn't think to do this before - but hey!

So my question now is: what's causing the 'stick' and how to get rid of it? I'm guessing that I have some crappy fuel in the system causing the suction valves (or thrust valves?) to stick occasionally so should I just run one of those injector cleaner products through the system or is there a better way of cleaning the KF out?

TIA and hope this helps somebody else out!

adam & betsy

[BillWilliams]

you change the motor oil.

I am not sure a fuel injector cleaner will help, it will not hurt though.

How about some Marvel Mystery oil in the gas and the motor oil?

[jgerock]

Sounds like your KF valves are sticking from lack of use or bad oil.

I recommend draining the engine oil (after a long drive), then open the oil filler plug (hex wrench) on the top of the KF pump and pour a little bit of fresh 20W-50 oil (or Marvel Mystery Oil) in (you will have to use a small funnel or oil can).

Also make sure the small plastic line that feeds pressurized oil from the oil filter housing to the KF pump is not blocked.

Refill the engine with 20W-50 oil and go fo a long drive.

On the fuel delivery side, I'm assuming you have cleaned all the screens in the system. The one at the pump head protects the KF pump and the cold start valve.

[adamm]

these cars continue to amaze and frustrate me every day!

not long before i started having this problem i tried to change the oil but couldn't for the life of me get the drain plug out so just thought i'd do it another day! not long after i began experiencing these symptoms and so i've been spending all my time trying to get to the bottom of the problem whereas really i should have just persisted in trying to remove the drain plug and changing the oil!

isn't hindsight a wonderful thing??

this is definitely the first thing for me to do this weekend - cross your fingers i'll be able to post a positive result and hopefully conclude this episode.

appreciate your never-ending help!

[BillWilliams]

You do not need to change the oil in the Kugelfisher. The motor oil circulates through the Kugelfisher.

Some folks like to put some oil in there when they store them or right before they start them up after a rebuild.

Never try to top them off, you will be putting a lot of oil in there. You would fill the motor all the way up and then some doing that, not that your were going to. Sorry to imply that.

If you do want to get that screw plug out, do the spray thing with a good penetrant, WD40 is NOT a penetrant, to loosen it up a bit.

Get a set of those metric hex sockets that go on the end of a 3/8" ratchet set. Do not try to use a L shaped hex wrench.

[adamm]

No no! I won't! I should have made myself more clear - it was a complete motor oil change I was looking to do and it was the sump plug I couldn't remove - not the oil in the KF only!

I shall be changing the oil and the filter so there be only the 4.25 litres going in - nothing more!

Thanks Bill

[BillWilliams]

on you and get the story wrong.

The sequence of posts threw me.

Carry on.

[adamm]

that's alright bill - I just wanted you to know that I was all straight and knew what i was doing (sort of!!)

cheers!

[jgerock]

I tried to carefully word my post on the oil change, but I guess it didn't come across so well.

Anyway >>> Drain your engine oil and check if there is any oil inside the KF pump. If you cannot easily see any thru the filler hole with a flashlight, then try adding a little bit. If your pump is all gummed up with old oil, then the fresh oil will not drain out the bottom hose that connects it to the engine block.

[adamm]

It might be a while til I empty the oil out - I have spent my afternoon trying every which-way to get the buggering sump plug out! I think the previous owner had probably had a good chew at it before - suggestions welcome!!!

I think if I wasn't laughing as I typed this I'd be crying!!

[jgerock]

Squirt some penetrant such as "PB Blaster" on the sump plug and let it sit for a while (even overnight).

After the soaking, take a small ball peen hammer and rap it directly on the end of the plug (not too hard!). Then, use a 6-point box end wrench or a 1/2" drive metric socket with a breaker bar or long ratchet.

Good luck.

[adamm]

This is turning into the longest 'one man' thread in history!

Jim, Bill, Others; I know the 'oil' subject has been discussed endlessly on the board but bearing in mind my particular application do you think I should go with a lighter oil in my car?

The engine was rebuilt about 5-6k miles ago - new everything (apart from the KF!!), it's been a pretty cold winter (by UK standards anyway) and I'm wondering if the 20W50 I'm running (and was considering replacing with the same) was perhaps contributing to the sticky Kugelfischer problem? Specifically I was thinking of running Castrol GTX 10W40 - I'd be grateful to hear any thoughts.

TIA

[jgerock]

Right in my owner's manual, 20W-50 oil is what BMW recommended for the cars (down to 10 deg. C). I'd stick with it. I've read the lack of regular oil changes is what causes most problems with sticking valves in the KF pump.

The manual says change the engine oil "Every 4,000 miles (6000 km) or every 6 months at the latest, for every season of the year."

[adamm]

A quick follow up for the sake of completeness: oil changed on Saturday followed by a good long run on Sunday. She's been in my garage since and I was really pleasantly surprised today when she started well and quickly ran up onto all 4 cylinders - fingers crossed no more sticky kugelfischer - time will tell!

A big big thank you once again to all of you who helped me - hopefully those others of you who expressed suffering similar problems earlier in the post have also benefitted from the help I have received. Now I just hope it lasts!!

adam