good to hear that. persistence pays off!

its possible the pump can fail any time I think. if you've jumped the relay and no sound from the pump, then new pump is a good bet. there's a thread yesterday here referring to an earlier thread explaining how to cut a hole in the boot floor to replace the tank.. (canyon's the man!)

OK, does sound like there's a real problem :-( if there's water getting from the coolant into the exhaust, must be via the cylinders, so would expect oil/water emulsion visible in oil filler hole.

sorry, meant slope, not slow :-) how much steam is there? clouds of it?

before you put kseal in, is the steam the only symptom? if its not running bad or down on power, it could be fine.... You said its SORN right? if you're just running it (idling) on your drive, there's going to be a lot of water around from combustion, and the exhaust might not be hot enough to...

I'm not sure of the diagnosis, but I'd certainly look for the source of that diesel smell - check the spill off pipes between the injectors & to the return. perhaps they're perished and leaking.

Nisbeam, what's the misfire like? e.g. just drops one cylinder occasionally, or bigger than that? is there any rhythm to it? for it to be the filter, I'd expect whole bunch of cylinders would miss at same time, and it'd be more common at higher revs/load. occasional misfire on a cylinder or two...

yes, thats a fair point. I did get a spare working ECU of ebay (£20) before I embarked on the exercise. installing the new chip proved pretty easy in this case: the chip is just push in. no soldering required. [although I would have happily soldered too, given I had the backup ECU]

I'm probably opening a can of old worms, but did you consider chipping your ECU instead? I did mine with a chip from these guys BMW E36 325 TDS , !! Chiptuning !! , Performance CHIP on eBay (end time 11-Mar-11 21:48:37 GMT) only £45 and I'm very happy with it.

sorry, should have mentioned. Not lpg. more extreme modification: engine swap to diesel. I think lpg is considered more or less standard. Wouldn't expect premium for it.

no, unlimited mileage. But i don't know what their limits are for age to be on 'classic' policy

I have my 92 classic on classic insurance. 130 with footman james.

the EGR pipe goes past the thermostat I think, so maybe you loosened it? blank it off while you're there!

I guess that should be a high CO reading, rather than C02? a very high C02 reading is desirable :) blue smoke sounds like oil, which I guess would also contribute to high HC and CO. I'd guess its engine wear - valve guides or rings?

I did mine b4 christmas, and as Wammers says, doesn't take so long. nice warm car within 5 mins, and 5 mpg better fuel economy. a good tip I think is to test your new thermostat before installing: put it in a pan of water and heat it - check that the thermostat opens quickly at the right...

have you tried running some of that dry fuel stuff through it? Halfords | Wynn's Dry Fuel 325ml It does work.

I don't think there should be vacuum in the tank - perhaps its stopping fuel flow? You could try drilling a v small hole in the fuel cap. (or find where the air return is meant to be and ensure its not blocked!)

a quick search for 325 and FIP on this site returns.... http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f10/p38-2-5dse-bmw-325tds-engine-swap-134158.html which I think represents the collective wisdom:)

you can see how it all fits together here: Belt Drive Water Pump/Alternator BMW 3' E36, 325td (M51) — BMW parts catalog

yup -thats right - don't have to take anything apart - just get a spanner on the tensioner and take that bolt out (back of the pivot is threaded, so no nut to loose). then get that hex key on the centre of the pivot. the bit with the hex hole is effectively a cap that threads onto a tube ...