BlackEnduro
New member
My very old 318i touring developed bad detonation (pinking) at lower revs. No fault codes showed and my usual repairer had no clue what was causing it. They suspected electronics and steered me to Combined Electronics in Plattekloof.
There, the ECU was swapped out and checked. The second ECU made no difference so they started looking for mechanical issues. The usual tests showed nothing so they tested for compression loss between cylinders and found the problem. The gasket had blown between 1 and 2 cylinders. A normal compression test did not show anything.
The solution, a new head gasket and head skim and in my case also the block removed and skimmed due to etching in the block where the blow through had happened. Expensive, but cheaper than anew car by a very long way. Car feels like it has a new motor in it.
If you have a pinking high mileage car, this could be the problem.
There, the ECU was swapped out and checked. The second ECU made no difference so they started looking for mechanical issues. The usual tests showed nothing so they tested for compression loss between cylinders and found the problem. The gasket had blown between 1 and 2 cylinders. A normal compression test did not show anything.
The solution, a new head gasket and head skim and in my case also the block removed and skimmed due to etching in the block where the blow through had happened. Expensive, but cheaper than anew car by a very long way. Car feels like it has a new motor in it.
If you have a pinking high mileage car, this could be the problem.
