1st time posting. Glad to be a part of the ti community. A few moths ago I purchased a black 95 ti 5spd m42 w/ active package. I was also happy to find out it has a factory lsd! Got a real good deal on it because it had 205k mi on the odometer, and of course had some issues. It idles poorly on cold start and almost stalls. Also if the car idles for a few minutes the cel will light up. One blip of the throttle and cel goes away. Being a bmw tech, I have access to all the diagnostic equipment, etc.
So I hooked it up and found fc: 1226 knock sensor 2. I could visually see #1 is coming apart so I assume #2 is doing the same. Weeks of research and chats with the e36 guys at the shop, I'm pretty much on my own and was told it would be a pita to replace them. While in there replacing the knock sensors with genuine bmw ones, I wanted to tackle the "mess under the intake" and modify a few things to make it less of a mess.
It took about 3 hours but I managed to remove the lower intake manifold to take a good look at everything. I literally touched knock sensor 2 and it fell apart lol. Also i checked over all the rubber tubes for the icv and ccvv. The hoses seem old but where sealed and not leaking when I smoke tested the intake before I did anything. I also did the "shake test" for the icv and don't get much movement at all. I cannot even move it by hand inside with a screw driver. So I'd say it would be a good idea to replace the icv.
As far as the mess under the intake, not much can be done. I plan on replacing the plastic coolant pipe even though it looks new, most of the coolant hoses and bypass the intake spacer heater "t-body heater for you m44 people" I saw someone on a forum use a m44 coolant hose to fit the upper nipple on the plastic pipe back to the cylinder head. I purchased forementioned hose and attempted to see how it could possibly work as a bypass. there was no way. So I looked at it with the original hose installed and it looks as if i can simply cut it short and route it back to the cylinder head instead of the upper intake spacer. It seems so simple and has the different size hose ends and all. I will update if this turns out to work.
The fuel injectors and inlet ports in the cylinder head look surprisingly clean for the mileage. I plan on cleaning further and cleaning the injectors per that pelican parts diy.
The DISA vacuum lines are in need of replacement so i will be refreshing all those lines.
i have photos but none uploaded to photobucket. Unless there is another way to upload. I'm not very forum savvy. My goal was to put some information out there that I was trying to gather but fell short. Just going for it and seeing what needs done to move onto the next step. But for all the info that was useful, I'd like to thank everyone for that. It's all about helping each other out right?
I will update as this project progresses.