E30 318i M40: GUIDE - Replacing lower inlet-manifold gasket - rough idle and stalling fixed!

After all the diagnosis and testing from THIS POST, I found the cause of my rough idle and stalling out when cold was a damaged paper gasket on the lower inlet-manifold allowing unmetered air to be drawn in to the plenum at will and confusing the AFM and DME over how much fuel to deliver. 

The engine just about ticked over when warm, albeit with a slight misfire. On cold startups however, the misfire was a lot more severe and at low revs the engine just couldn’t hold on, stalling out due to a way over-lean mixture. It would drive though, but there was no throttle response until about halfway up the rev range and power would arrive with a bang. It is amazing how sensitive these older engines with analog electronics are to unmetered air leaks!

IF YOU HAVE THESE SYMPTOMS, CHECK HERE!

I ordered a new gasket from eBay, it was a snip at £6.88. Be careful when ordering, older M10 engine gaskets are far more plentiful, so ensure yours is the right one for the M40... they have a funny shape which is quite distinctive. Choice was limited, in fact I could find one more gasket for sale of the right type and that came with a full £30 set including a head gasket, so be sure to check out carpartsinmotion, they have rare-fit stuff.

GUIDE:

1. Undo the jubilee-clip and disconnect the large rubber duct from the throttle-body using a flat screwdriver or 7mm socket.

2. Unclip the throttle-cable from the throttle-linkage and remove the two 10mm screws holding the metal plate to the throttle-body so the cable assembly can be moved clear.

3. Remove the wiring connectors from the throttle position sensor [TPS] and idle control valve [ICV].

4. Remove the rubber hose from the bottom of the ICV.

5. Remove the vacuum air hose from the front side of the throttle-body by undoing the jubilee-clip and teasing it off carefully with a flat screwdriver.

6. Remove the two coolant hoses from either side of the throttle-body by undoing the jubilee clips and teasing them off with a flat screwdriver. 

7. Remove the six nuts from the upper inlet-manifold using an 11mm wrench [9 in diagram] and two locating studs in the centre with a 10mm wrench [13 in diagram]. 

8. The upper inlet-manifold can now be lifted out of the engine bay.

9. Remove the wiring connector from the fuel-rail / injectors. 

10. Remove the metal fuel send and return pipes from each end of the fuel-rail by undoing the jubilee clips. (This is where it gets messy, you may wish to plug or clamp the ends of these hoses). The send pipe is attached to the fuel pressure regulator [FPR] at the front of the fuel-rail and the return pipe is at the back of the rail.

11. Remove the five nuts holding the ports of the lower inlet-manifold to the head using an 11mm socket [4 in diagram].

12. Remove the two bracing bolts from the lower inlet-manifold using a 13mm socket. (They point towards the right side of the car) [11 in diagram].

13. The lower inlet manifold is now free to be removed. This can be a bit tricky as the rigid fuel pipes are routed through one of the gaps in the manifold ports. Also make a note of how the hoses to the throttle-body are routed through around the lower manifold, as it can be confusing once the upper manifold is bolted back in.

14. Clean off the mating surfaces of the cylinder head and the inlet manifold.

15. Carefully fit the new gasket to the studs on the head. It only fits one way round.

16. To refit reverse the above steps.