What's Wrong With My BMW? Common issues on a BMW e23 

I’m glad to see someone working on these old e23s on RU-vid. My 1986 L7 was pretty neglected by the time I got a hold of it at the start of the pandemic. The basic stuff really made my car run buttery smooth. Bosch plugs, wires, coil, vacuum, cleaning the throttle plate and setting it along with new throttle position sensor and factory idle control valve but I think the 3,2 has a different ICV than the 3,5. My largest contributor to smoothing the idle was opening up that AFM and adjusting the swiper to contact a good surface on the black contact surface and adjusting the spring. I ended up adjusting the spring tension nearly 6-7 clicks which is a looser tension and a richer mixture. I the fine tuned the AFM with the adjustment screw. That AFM makes a giant difference in running. I bought a nice looking rebuilt AFM on eBay however the swiper arm had created heavy groves in the black contact board that the idle was awful. If you have heavy deep groves in that Contact surface the idle will never get better no matter what else you replace. You can have the AFM board surface replaced and repaired. The other thing which improved the smoothness for me was using Liquimoly MOs2 oil but that’s just my preference.

MIke: When you adjust the valves, set the clearance on the cam side rather than on the valve side. The number to use is slightly larger, and I don't have that handy at the moment, but for older engines it helps compensate for wear on the tips of the valves that sometimes get hammered with age. On mine, the initial effort using the usual process still left more clatter than it should have, so I combed the internet and found this tip from an old, retired BMW tech. This way of doing it worked like the proverbial CHARM and the silence has lasted for over two years. I think it's 012 for valve side and .014 for cam side. My 71.5 year old memory has no edge, but I'll go look it up, okay? It's always good, BTW, to have an assistant in the process. Saves time. Pay him/her with some cheap intoxicants. But not TOO much. You don't have to just "Live With It". Cheers! Dan from Bangor P.S. A dirty, gummed-up Idle Air Control Valve affects the car while driving, too, not just at idle......

Thanks for the video. I've been working on my E23 733i 5-speed for a year now :/ latest issue now is a crank-but-no-start issue I'm chasing down. No spark it seems. Never ending fun..

Hi ,nice one , I have 86. Try to push on the oil dep stick when the engine running, if it's lust, try to remove it and plug in back when the angin is running. Good luck 👍

thank you for this video , we have a e23 733 84 5 speed, California car, but we are sending it to NH next year

I've got a '65 Chevelle that I need to get running. Flat tires and gas like molasses, probably. The hardest part is starting.

Love this video! great info

They always have alot of hoses like my Toyota tercel 83 never ending aonther awesome video your sweating cuz your working lol

Air Force math? :) Good video Mike!

Have my dad's 733i and going through her, starter went out today. Any suggestions?

try MAF conversion from miller , then your idle issue will be solved

Do you still have problems