MkX

Yes its his car .. he is the Stafford authorized guy in Kandy.. saw the car few times when I go there for small things. Its in great shape.

Ok guys.. first things first.. i'll do the injector/TB clean and tune up. Thanks for the feeback.

Yes. But normaly VTEC functions without a problem. Actuly when ever TPS error comes the ECON mode (mild cam profile with 12 valve .. right) not functioning. What I am thinking is since default TPS position indicates throttle closed (engine idle). During the error even throttle is open, its low voltage .. that means engine keep on working on 16 valve as a regular engine, so the ECON mode will not open. But what about 5200 - 5500 VTEC zone? If voltage suppsed increases with the throttle and TPS gives low voltage means no wild cam profile too? .. that makes inlet gas rich with more petrol like in the morning... ?????

This is 96 JDM version - Ferio (with navi system) and it's Manual. TPS is positioned straight opposit side of where throttle is fixed (if not mistaken). There is another sensor on top of the TB closer to throtle (AF may be). Last time 3M tune up did solve the problem .. And yes I was thinking of doing it as idle RPM start to drop around 400 - 600. Issue came for couple of times for last 6,7 months. But it automatically rectified. And error was TPS low voltage. Also I observed it happened in cold mornings if I travel in 5th gear with low RPM (1500 - 1800) where engine is not heated up enough. When ever I maintained RPM around 2000 and travel till ECONO mode on .. issue never came. So I was wondering if TPS causing the problem with low idle and error came once in a while (even after tune up) .. or is it not tuning up for last 6 months caused the TPS error.

What I get to know is that TPS does't come as a seperate part from Honda as they do not recommend to change sensor only but throttle body it self. Since this error come once in a while I don't wanna go for 2nd hand untrusted replacement of entire T.body. The TPS at ebay cost around Rs.3.5K - 4K including shipping.. So any body who has changed TPS only or has experience with after market TPS at ebay? Also what is the price of Brand new and 2nd hand thorttle bodies?

Guys need some help with TPS in D15B Vi engine. My check light came and it is due to TPS low voltage. But it get corrects automatically after some time. This happened couple of times before too. When this happened initially Agents instructed to chagne my battery immediatly and tune up. And I did so and it solved the problem. But when this came again the option was to change the entire throttle body and TPS they don't fix seperatly. But issue doesn't last for long period one day or two maximum. I Read about this and noticed the TPS can fail due to bad idle or vise versa. I din't do any tune up for last 6 months except for regular service and start feeling little bit of low idle RPM and rough idle. So I wanted to do a tune up.. but before that TPS error came again. Need help with few things. Do we need to do regular tune up every 3, 4 months even if we don't feel any thing wrong with the car. There are TPS available in ebay and looks like its a DIY job to remove and fix it. But agents says it is not recommended as the TPS angle need to be 100% accurate, etc. Comments/Suggestions please.

If I take my daily run it'll be only 320Km per month. If I come colombo once a month it'll be maximum 600Km per month. So annual mileage would be 7200Km. Lets say 8000Km

Yes aruguments are good as long as its done with the correct spirit and with in the context... Any how loosing bit of performance .. and geting some thing like 9Kmpl is ok. If the current average service cost me 7K and if I did 4 services for a year it's cost me 28K and with other stuff like tune up lets make it 50K. In comparison what would E36 will cost.

Just curious.. The theory we talk about Jap cars Vs Indian tin cans. Can it be applied to Jap bikes Vs Indian bikes? Because I do have a brand new TVS bike at home which I tought to use once in a while. (not used though)

Since you asked to clarify Its Vi.. But lets keep this little bit more friendly and informative.

Biggest issue I see is whether you can maintain it. If agent has a monopoly in the market and if their prices are so high as mentioned in other thread like break caliper rs.26,000 then you better stay away from those. And I would like to recall one accident happened with Cherry QQ. About 2 years back I was going to Colombo in an intercity FUSO bus. There was a huge traffic passing kiribath goda. And the other side of the road is clear. So bus diver took it to right hand side (wrong side) of the road and start travelling around 60 - 70Kmph or even more. Suddenly Cherry QQ entered the road from left hand side through the vehicles are not moving. Our bus hit the entire engine area from the righ side of the car .. and impact is so big car turned 180 degrees and hit the rear windscreen area also. Any how the car diver get out with out any scratch.. But it was suppsed to be a fatal accident by all means

Alignment is checked for all wheels at once so charge is for all 4 wheels. But wheel balancing is done seperatly for 4 wheels and charged according to the weights they put depending on the requirements.

M. city it was around 750 - 1000 for the alignment, for wheel balancing it's depending on the weights you have to put. 1g = Rs.10 or so

how do we change the MTF in EK3 and how frequent do we need to do that.

Yeh defa.. getting a better well cared one at Premium is always much better than trying to restore as we don't know what problems it will cause. Now I now the drivers attitude and knowledge really does matter.

This make sense.. E36 budget fits with me so I'll keep the option open. If am to own a Beemer best time is with in this 2 , 3 years.. no commitments, no major investments like house or some thing. So if I get one now and can restore fully hope it'll be good to go for another 10 years.

Guys please.. Lets try not to go OT as I said E36 and EK3 does not need a comparison interm of technicality of it. But I would much appciate if we keep this to practicality of the ownership of E36 to someone who does not simply get settled with typical Sunny and Corolla mind set. (some who can go for Carina / Primera, etc)

Please go through the entire thread.. no body wants Drag here .. Below is what i got from Wiki. EK3 Vi Power : 130 hp (95.4 kW, 130 ps) @ 6600 rpm Torque : 107 ft·lbf (138 Nm) @ 5200 rpm 318i Power: 113 hp (85 kW; 115 ps) @5500 rpm Torque : 124 lb·ft (168 N·m) @3900 rpm 316i Power : 101 hp (75 kW; 102 ps) @5500 rpm Torque : 110 lb·ft (150 N·m) @3900 rpm VVTI I agree on this.. EK3 Vi is little boys toy.. or some grown up too. And own that and so far happy with it's performance and exceptional fuel efficiency. So this is not about the Brand war.. we all aware what Honda is mean to be and what BMW is. And guys.. as I said previously little bit of performance difference (+/-) specifically to 316i/318i is ok. And fuel economy is fine with me. And 1.6M - 1.8M budget is fine too. So the issue I see is maintaining the car.. understandable increase of the cost compare to Jap cars .. BUT is it scary as people think about it or is it some thing else that little above the average guy away from it.

Well yes I am having EK3 Vi (VTI some says) Well this is the tricky part... it not may be in couple of months. But may be when I move to my next car depending on the requirement.. E36 is some thing I would like to consider over any Jap car that goes over 2M budget.. initial cost of 1.5M - 2M not a problem and say my company give me enough fuel.. and may be I can spend another 1lak or so to do some initial stuff. I am sure there are plenty of guys who can spend 2M - 3M for a car.. but I never come across anybody consider going for E36 and save some thing like 0.5M - 1M for future potential repairs. That makes me worry thinking that with 2M budget is practical to get BMW even though I have some extra budget but yes bit tight.

Did you see some of us asked him to rephrase what he said..

So far only car i owned is my EK3. And only E36 - 318i is with the budget that varry in this range and most commonly available. So am ok to give up little bit of acceleration of the EK3 to 318i, but does not want to get smoked in Kadugannawa with 3 passengers either. Cost of maintanence .. well is understandable its higher than the cars that can be found in every corner of the street. But is it expensive to an extend where monthly salaried guy who is not a Millionaire to maintain. Sourcing the parts.. again will somebody had to put his car in "Kota Uda" to find parts other than the agents. And small things like cabin parts/locks/etc.. are virtually not available? Infact I am having hard time in finding a clip/lock that locks the air filter box in my EK3. There are 2 of them but one gone missing. any body can help with me this? (specialy in kandy)

Not supprised then.. specially when 91 - 92 priced little over to this car. If we assume the A/L community is little above the average .. still no much difference. Is there any real facts behind this negative attitude towards Euro cars (BMW in perticular since E36 is almost with in my budget in case i opt for one). Not the fuel consumption but most importantly finding the correct parts,etc wothout cost a fortune.

Yeh that is it.. isn't it bargain for 1997 E36.. There is brand new Premio for 65 laks. Why on earth a person who can spend 65 laks for a car can't buy one of E36 for 17 laks spend few hundred thousand for any repairs needed and save around 40 laks. Ok my point is .. isn't the exclusivity and prestige of BMW not worth 1.7M .. or is it hell of a hassel to find parts/maintain a BMW. (I am not promoting any cars or brands.. but some thing really goes wrong in our market or in my head ).

Guys, Still my car maximum car budget is around 1.5M - 2M. But I can see lot of folks who has budget around 2.5M - 3.5M going after new/recon jap cars. I wonder why they don't even consider BMW E36 (little old but with 1M - 2M cash saving) ????? At least I don't see any of them in here in A/L. Lets keep the fuel consumption aside.. we don't need this 15kmpl but with decent fuel consupmtion (9 - 11Kmpl), is it really difficuilt to maintain BMW ???? This came to my mind again because another beautiful E36 is in classifields (hope its in good condition)