Long overdue update here. I had some bad luck with the car and am not sure if I would consider it my ignorance or not. But I had been driving the car on and off in 2021 until I had resolved the running problem related to the parts inside the distributor. I had resolved that problem and drove the car mostly on trips to work since my wife wasn't enjoying the smell (no cat convertor) and it was difficult getting a car seat in the back when we would go somewhere as a family.
Basically my running problem above was the US distributor with a difference advance curve. So I replaced the guts inside the euro distributor and lubricated my old distributor to get it working and driving well. And it was driving well!
Fast forward to 3/2022 and I decided to drive the car with my son and my brother for a brunch while my dad came into town. Well a mile or so from my house I thought I heard an odd knocking noise as I merged onto the highway on our route to the restaurant. I continued driving and it seemed to happen only when accelerating a bit, but I thought it was odd as I had not touched the distributor and had within the last 500 miles just set the timing with a timing light and made everything run better as well as adjusting the idle down a little bit via a throttle stop screw.
I was watching gauges and trying to be cautious about why I might have heard that noise but just cruised easy over to breakfast. Well, about 10 miles later, the car seemed to have a little bit of power loss and not feel quite as expected-- I had to push the pedal a bit further until I decided to push the clutch in and it just died. I coasted off to the side of the road and knew this could be bad because of the pinging like noise when merging onto the highway. No strange temperature, no lights etc. When I stopped and popped the hood, I saw some light smoke but no oil leakage near the oil filter housing which had happened a few times in the path on very cold starts. But this time the car was in the garage and not any colder than 45degrees. Well, I checked the dipstick and it was bone dry. Not even a small drop or film on the very end. I knew it wasn't good and didn't even try to restart the car.
So in short we changed plans and my dad and brother picked us up to instead eat at his house and gameplan how to get the car. We had strap towed it off the road to a neighborhood down the street of somebody I knew. We made breakfast and then decided to go back to the car and strap tow it the 11 miles back to my house, which is what we did.
At my house I moved some cars and we pushed it in the garage where it has sat untouched since that day. I found a used M90 (actually I think S38) crankshaft for a reasonable price and had it on the shelf thinking I may need it to put the car back together. So about 4 weeks ago I decided that I could start taking off some of the pieces and just maybe at some point I could pull the engine out at my house in the garage/driveway where it has been sitting. So after a few nights of working on it, I got the wire harness off the engine and disassembled all of the other components to pull the transmission and get started on this for sometime when I had enough spare time.
I suspected that the oil light on the dash wasn't working and I still need to determine if my light burned out and I didn't notice or if the circuit or sender for oil pressure went back and di not illuminate properly. I had also heard or read about other with a similar problem of the oil cannister seal blowing due to the pressure relief valve on the pump sticking. I suspect that was the cause and was able to test it a little bit and find it sticking a bit.
Well I guess I was excited to make progress since it was summer time and warm enough in the garage because I worked on it nights and such until within the week I had everything out and the engine was ready to be pulled out to inspect the damage.
My brother was headed to my house for a night passing through for a work trip and he hasd mentioned that he had an engine hoist that I might be able to use. So I asked him about it and he was able to bring up to me in his new E90 wagon. Previously, he didn't really have a way to transport it. We unloaded it and later than week I decided to see if I could put it in position. I had the time and thought I could make it fit.
The E12 engien mounts and subframe are different than the E28 version I am used to and I had a tough time getting the engine off the subframe because of the way it wanted to balance with the cylinder head in position. It took me a while longer than expected of getting it free from the chassis, but here was the fitment really tight even without trans.
the load leveler helped and I was able to do it with the garage closed like this. I needed the height of the garage closed but almost didn't have enough room to maneuver (but I did!)
I had to pivot the engine towards the passenger front headlight and push on the engine while leveling it to really get it free because I could not push the engine hoist further under the car due to the front subframe even though it was lifted 6 or so inches.
I put it on the stand and got things put away the early morning of my birthday this month.
Some oil was covering the engine but I never realised how grimy it was. Some oil was fresh, but it was tough to know if I had driven over 10+ miles to see where the leak in the system was. I wonder if it had leaked out slowly during a commute and then if I had possibly tightened the cannister down and not checked the oil level. I don't remember that but am not sure. Either wa, I decided to try and degrease it a bit with mainly pine sol and a water hose
Also notice the jam packed workspace and garage since the car has been sitting. I did get the engine out in that space! Oily mess too!
The pine sol and a wire brush did really improve the cleanliness, we see some silver again!
Inspecting underneath the oil pan, this is what I found. The oil pump seemed to have a slightly sticky relief valve when I jammed on it hard... I believe it had to be the cause but I am going to further disassemble the pump. Oddly, I did find this metal fragment but I cannot tell where it came from. It looks like a rocker arm tip but upon inspection I did not see damage to any of the rocker arms. I was wondering if possibly it was a damaged piece from my head reassembly issue back in 2017 when pistons hit valves.... I need to determine some of these answers before I proceed too far.
Maybe a 1/2 quart of oil in the whole oil pan when I removed it. Notice conrod #1 and #2 look pretty cooked! I think oil burning off here was the smoke I saw when I opened the hood and valve cover of the engine.
What turns out to be bearing grit on the block itself, by conrod #1. A little bit more of this by #2 and maybe #3 though it is hard to tell
What I found under conrod cap #1:
Actual bearing journal as it was a spun bearing causing engine seizure
#2 also spun, but below is #3 wear even though it didn't spin
#4 looks good with minor bearing wear and #5 and #6 both seem OK even though there was bearing wear.
I do think the crank is done, not sure if it could ever ben polished or repaired or what. Amazingly the cylinder head looks ok though I do need to do a more detailed inspection. I was able to remove pistons with all look OK and don't seem to have an major scoring or wear. It makes sense the rotating parts that are suppose to be lubricated under pressure all the time would wear.
I am working to pull the crank and then decide what I will replace. Crankshaft, main bearings, con rod bearing, at least 2 connecting rods, oil pressure relief valve, oil pressure light, gaskets. I am debating about replacing the piston rings, but am not sure if I will be able to find any. Thinking I may be able to rebuild it for less than $1000 due to spare parts I have from other engines but need to measure my replacement crankshaft and go from there.
Lots of work to do but I feel good having made meaningful progress even though I still just have a big paperweight at the moment...