Roundel - December 1990

Review of Bosch Fuel Injection and Engine Management from Roundel, December 1990

"If your repair facility feels they don't need this book, find another facility without an over-inflated ego

BMW has used electronic fuel injection since 1974 on USA cars. For over ten years little has been available on the subject other than some books by self-styled experts. These books filled a void which existed because neither BMW nor Bosch made the necessary information available to the motoring public. In fact at one time BMW even encouraged dealers to withhold the available information from both motorists and the independent repair facility.

Well, now things have changed. This book deals with all types of fuel injection from K Jetronic to LH Motronic and all the acronyms in between! The beauty of this book is that it deals with injection only and most people who purchase it will not let the book go when they dispose of their car.

There is plenty of material on theory, troubleshooting and service. In many cases factory tools which are not readily available are used. This diminishes the utility of the book for the average shade tree mechanic. Unfortunately there are other techniques which could be used to derive the same results without a major capital investment in equipment.

Many BMW owners should find the book useful even if they do not perform their own repairs on injection systems. There is enough material here so that a BMW owner can do some diagnostic work and perhaps even make the repair easier for his mechanic by simply providing more input. At the same time, studying this book will also allow him to determine when the repair facility is giving him a snow job and is experimenting with his car at his expense. Unfortunately this is often the case as many repair facilities use the customer's car as a training aid (and get paid for doing so) in lieu of sending staff to training seminars. However, the shade tree mechanic doen't have the luxury of being able to attend these trade-only seminars and must be self taught.

The book has a glossary which defines some terms which are all too obvious (TDC, RPM). At the same time it doen't have a "spotters guide" to fuel injection parts. Since I am in the parts business I see a real need for this. Between the various "authoritative catalogs" out there is an unnecessary amount of confusion about the nomenclature of fuel injection components. BMW refers to an air slide valve by one term while Bosch uses another one in its publications and yet another term in technical publications. The same is true for numerous other components which the author calls by a name which neither Bosch nor BMW use. This lack of standardization of terms has heaped confusion on the marketplace and in many cases has inhibited BMW owners from learning more about their injection systems. More than once I've spoken to a knowledgeable owner who feels awkward describing a part because of this.

The opportunity was there for the author to eliminate this once and for all and yet he ignored this problem.

Another small annoyance in the book is that the page numbers are not consecutive. Each chapter starts with page one which makes the index harder to use. Hopefully future editions of the book will correct this.

Performance modifications are dealt with which will make most shade tree mechanics very happy. These are dealt with very simply from "fooling the computer" to hot wiring the cold start injector (OK, some call it a cold start valve). Plenty of cautions and disclaimers are provided which do not diminish the utility of the information. A useful list of sources for performance injection products is also provided.

As far as providing information the author left nothing out. No secrets were held back and the book is both complete and accurate. Perhaps this is why it was so late in appearing on the scene. It obviously has been thoroughly reviewed for there are no errors in it and no absurd procedures have been used. The authors of other repair manuals would do well to follow the spirit in which this has been done. More than one BMW repair manual uses procedures which bear no resemblance to the real world.

As I've said, this book is long overdue. This is a must have for any repair shop or mechanic. If a mechanic or repair facility feels that they do not need this book, the BMW owner would do well to find another facility which doesn't have an overinflated ego. At the $30 price it is a great value since at today's labor rates its cost is rapidly amortized even if the reader never works on his own car.

Put this book on your list to Santa this year. Next year's list probably will include the "3" series manual coming out soon from the same publisher!"
-Michel Potheau, Roundel Technical Editor

Roundel, December 1990, p72

Roundel, December 1990, p73

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