Re: Life! Sort of... (archive)

I read several classic car mags from England. They all say to pour some diesel into the spark plug holes and let sit a couple days. Keep the plugs out when you try to turn it over. The fluid has to go somewhere if its not already leaked down the cylinders. Otherwise use the start in short bursts to keep from overheating/melting it. Marvel oil is probably as good or perhaps better but what the hell. If you feels its not improving it sounds like the pistons rings have broken or otherwise rusted in the cylinder - which means the engine has to be pulled apart. I say go for broke with oil and so forth. You have little to loose.
Peter s

My mechanic pal came over today to fiddle with my '77.
Of course I had wires wrong all over the place. The one thing we still don't know about is the ring connection w/ 3 grounds splitting off the harness to the alt. WTF does it go?
Anyway, we got the old girl to spin by jumping terminals (still issues with wiring). Did not spin all that freely. I added more Marvel Mystery Oil and it finally spun a little better, but certainly not totally free.
Having never owned a fuel injected gasoline car (just diesel!), I don't know how to try and get it running after sitting for so long. Can I remove the bellows and add some gas to the intake (I assume that's what it's called, looks like a big piston to the right of the injector lines on the driver side wheel well)? Or anywhere else for that matter?
It was all so simple with carbs ;)
Thanks, as always!
-Dave
'77 320i
bmw02.org

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