2000 BMW 323i Cylinder compression

My cylinder compression on my 2000 BMW 323i is at about 90psi. I know
thats low but i was wondering if anyone knew what the proper compression
should be? Also If anyone knows the proper way to time this vehice since
i'm sure i'll need to pull the head and have it rebuilt and surfaced. If
anyone has torque specs for the head that would be awesome too. It really
sucks that they don't sell manuals for thier cars anymore. Please help!

Greg via CarKB.com wrote:
> My cylinder compression on my 2000 BMW 323i is at about 90psi. I know
> thats low but i was wondering if anyone knew what the proper compression
> should be? Also If anyone knows the proper way to time this vehice since
> i'm sure i'll need to pull the head and have it rebuilt and surfaced. If
> anyone has torque specs for the head that would be awesome too. It really
> sucks that they don't sell manuals for thier cars anymore. Please help!

How did you measure it? Was the throttle wide open and did you let it go
through several compression cycles? Were they all pretty even?

In article >,
Greg via CarKB.com > wrote:
> My cylinder compression on my 2000 BMW 323i is at about 90psi. I know
> thats low but i was wondering if anyone knew what the proper compression
> should be? Also If anyone knows the proper way to time this vehice
> since i'm sure i'll need to pull the head and have it rebuilt and
> surfaced. If anyone has torque specs for the head that would be awesome
> too. It really sucks that they don't sell manuals for thier cars
> anymore. Please help!

If they're all the same, I'd say your measurement is faulty.
The engine should be hot, all the plugs removed, and cranked over several
revolutions with the throttle wide open.

[Thinks] Does vanos effect the compression reading while just cranking?
Because different camshafts with unchanged compression do.

--
*When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Greg via CarKB.com" > wrote in message
...
snip..
> It really
> sucks that they don't sell manuals for thier cars anymore. Please help!

They don't? http://www.bentleypublishers.com/product.htm?code=b305

Kyle.
98 740iL
97 M3

Kyle and Lori Greene wrote:
> "Greg via CarKB.com" > wrote in message
> ...
> snip..
>
>>It really
>>sucks that they don't sell manuals for thier cars anymore. Please help!
>
>
> They don't? http://www.bentleypublishers.com/product.htm?code=b305
>
> Kyle.
> 98 740iL
> 97 M3
>
>


Yep, what Kyle said.

If you are going to be doing a job as involved as pulling a head off,
you will need a manual to get the all the minutia anyway, such as torque
specs, etc.

Bentley manuals are pretty expensive manuals, but well worth it IMO.

-Fred W

the compression was fairly even but each was different all pretty close to
90-100 psi. I did this on a cold engine and throttle closed. I did one
complete test of the cylinders for about 20 seconds each and got the
compression up to 130 but that was it. Thats why i was wondering what the
compression should be. i had a friend thats a mechanic also do a
compression check and he came up with the lower numbers. Thats great that
there is finally a manual unfortunatly its not available for another few
months but yes definetly worth the money. I talked to someone in service
at BMW and they told me you could access a website that BMW has that is an
online manual but its 25 bucks a day or a couple hundred for a week.

--
Message posted via http://www.carkb.com

In article >,
Greg via CarKB.com > wrote:
> the compression was fairly even but each was different all pretty close
> to 90-100 psi. I did this on a cold engine and throttle closed.

If they're within that tolerance regardless of how you measure them, then
they're ok. But the accepted way is with the throttle wide open on a hot
engine - the instructions for the compression tester should tell you this.

> I did one complete test of the cylinders for about 20 seconds each and
> got the compression up to 130 but that was it.

Do it in the accepted way and report back.

> Thats why i was wondering what the compression should be. i had a
> friend thats a mechanic also do a compression check and he came up with
> the lower numbers.

Change your friend to a mechanic who knows his job. ;-)

> Thats great that there is finally a manual unfortunatly its
> not available for another few months but yes definetly worth the money.
> I talked to someone in service at BMW and they told me you could access
> a website that BMW has that is an online manual but its 25 bucks a day
> or a couple hundred for a week.

You can buy pirate copies of the TIS (repair) and ETK (parts) CDs on Ebay
for a few dollars.

FWIW, low compressions due to valve problems are really a thing of the
past. And certainly not on all cylinders. Head gaskets can fail, or heads
crack, but this would not effect all compressions. Similarly things like
broken rings or damaged pistons.

If all the compressions are within about 20% at cranking, it's likely they
are fine at running speeds.

--
*Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Greg via CarKB.com" > wrote in message
...
> the compression was fairly even but each was different all pretty close to
> 90-100 psi. I did this on a cold engine and throttle closed. I did one
> complete test of the cylinders for about 20 seconds each and got the
> compression up to 130 but that was it. Thats why i was wondering what the
> compression should be. i had a friend thats a mechanic also do a
> compression check and he came up with the lower numbers. Thats great that
> there is finally a manual unfortunatly its not available for another few
> months but yes definetly worth the money. I talked to someone in service
> at BMW and they told me you could access a website that BMW has that is an
> online manual but its 25 bucks a day or a couple hundred for a week.
>

I believe compression should be at least 150 PSI with the throttle wide
open. You can get the manual online through Bentley Publishing
http://www.bentleypublishers.com/product.htm?code=by46 . It looks to be
available right now. Having the print version would be preferable, but
having access online is better than nothing and is cheaper than paying BMW
for access to the TIS. Actually, I find the TIS to be a good supplement to
the Bentley for my 97 M3, but not really as a stand alone manual. It
assumes in many tests that you have access to all of the special tools and a
GT1 or MoDic computer that the BMW dealers use. There are usually several
people selling copies to the TIS on eBay for around $25 if you want one for
yourself.

Kyle.
98 740iL
97 M3

The good news is, you screwed up the same on all 6 cylinders.

Your compression should be closer to 150 psi. The important thing is that
all are within about 10% ...




"Greg via CarKB.com" > wrote in message
...
> My cylinder compression on my 2000 BMW 323i is at about 90psi. I know
> thats low but i was wondering if anyone knew what the proper compression
> should be? Also If anyone knows the proper way to time this vehice since
> i'm sure i'll need to pull the head and have it rebuilt and surfaced. If
> anyone has torque specs for the head that would be awesome too. It really
> sucks that they don't sell manuals for thier cars anymore. Please help!

I would retest it warm with the throttle wide open through several
cycles. The fact that they were all close says it's probably OK to me.

-jim

Kyle and Lori Greene wrote:
> "Greg via CarKB.com" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>the compression was fairly even but each was different all pretty close to
>>90-100 psi. I did this on a cold engine and throttle closed. I did one
>>complete test of the cylinders for about 20 seconds each and got the
>>compression up to 130 but that was it. Thats why i was wondering what the
>>compression should be. i had a friend thats a mechanic also do a
>>compression check and he came up with the lower numbers. Thats great that
>>there is finally a manual unfortunatly its not available for another few
>>months but yes definetly worth the money. I talked to someone in service
>>at BMW and they told me you could access a website that BMW has that is an
>>online manual but its 25 bucks a day or a couple hundred for a week.
>>
>
>
> I believe compression should be at least 150 PSI with the throttle wide
> open. You can get the manual online through Bentley Publishing
> http://www.bentleypublishers.com/product.htm?code=by46 . It looks to be
> available right now. Having the print version would be preferable, but
> having access online is better than nothing and is cheaper than paying BMW
> for access to the TIS. Actually, I find the TIS to be a good supplement to
> the Bentley for my 97 M3, but not really as a stand alone manual. It
> assumes in many tests that you have access to all of the special tools and a
> GT1 or MoDic computer that the BMW dealers use. There are usually several
> people selling copies to the TIS on eBay for around $25 if you want one for
> yourself.
>
> Kyle.
> 98 740iL
> 97 M3
>
>