What's the deal?

[ekr470]

Good morning everyone. Have an '82 320i that i've owned for many years. It's been fairly neglected due to many different reason. Anyone, cleaned my shop and decided it was time to get it going again and try to make it road worthy. I went a bought a new battery, put gas in it, checked the oil and it started right up. Now i'm back to the issue that i was having several years ago that i never figured out.
So when she starts up, she runs really good. After a few minutes it starts to smoke. I didn't run it long enough last night but as i recall, if i run it a while, it will start to run warm.
So i suppose a leak down test is in order - and i'll do that - but trying to get some opinions on this. If it was valve guide seals or rings, wouldn't it smoke from the minute it started up? I have this feeling that the issue may be a clogged cat but i'm not sure. I've heard overheating is one of the symptoms of a clogged cat.
What are the other symptoms of a clogged cat. Do they smoke. Is there a way to diagnose it without removing it or is that pretty much the only way.

thanks

[Jeroen]

Welcome here! Let's try to be of help! It could also be something else, blown head gasket to be precise. Several things you can check:
- compression test
- check spark plugs for color differences
- check coolant tank/radiator for coolant use or foreign substances
- check oil fill cap for sludge

[ekr470]

Thanks for the reply. I have done most of those things at some point and didn't find much of interest. Compression test seemed ok as i recall. I need to do a leak down test and see what that looks like. I will post the results tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'll put up some pics of it. They are about 10 years old and she doesn't look quite as good now as then. I moved and the car had to sit out in a pasture for a few years. I finally build a shop and have in there. I think i'm ready to get back into it. We'll see.

[ekr470]

Here's a couple of pics. Please let me know if they don't show up correctly. And please forgive the horse. It's the only ones i could find at the moment.

[uwbuurman]

Oh cool, you're from TX! Which area are you based? 2 years ago I looked at an '82 320i in Dallas, the guy had also a e24 m6 for sale.

[ekr470]

I'm in the Fort Worth Area.

So here's result of the leakdown and compression tests. Pretty bad although it's probably some stuck rings. Hard to imagine it will even run with these numbers.
<img>https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Nw-SC4 ... aring</img>