Someone please tell me you know the cheap answer to the following problem:

1986 760 Ti -

Starts fine, but after driving for a few miles, accelleration deteriorated dramatically. I pulled over and looked under the hood. The part where the exhaust manifold meets the turbo was glowing red hot. I checked the oil dipstick and the oil wasn't even warm to the touch. I drove it home and am now dreading the trip to the mechanic where he tells me I'm in for $800. Please help, any advice is appreciated.

i had the same problem on my 87 760. when it happened i was having many other problems with the way the car was running. at the shop they replaced the wiring harness and all the problems went away. so maybe it's an electrical sensor or the wire running to it. hope this helps

John if your cat is clogged, you would be making boost on the gauge but no power because the exhaust can't leave the system fast enough. You would definitely get the glowing from this scenario. If your intake system has developed a leak you would definitely see and feel what you describe. I would also have the timing checked as a jump of a few teeth on the belt could produce these symptoms as well. Get the mechanic to write out an estimate and then let us B.boarders know what he suspects and hopefully we could eliminate unneccessary stuff that we have already experienced.

Well, every clogged cat I've seen lead to amazingly high manifold/turbo temps.

A bad knock sensor can send your timing off to nevernever land, causing much the same response.

Ed O'Briant

What JohnB is trying to tell you is to check for loose or cracked hoses. Check all the clamps because if one is loose of there is a bad rubber connection, the high pressure air will leak out causing an over rich condition. You might not be able to tell this too easily with the engine running due to high vacuum sealing the break in the hose.

Lack of exhaust flow would lead to low temps.

Sounds more like a leaking pressure side of the turbo...check the compressor overrun valve near the radiator on the right side. The bolts that hold the valve together/mounted often loosen or even drop out. Valve could also fail/stick but that's probably rare.

Is there a big black cloud of smoke following you? Indicative of overfueling as the amm senses massive air flow and adds fuel at the ports to air that never gets there....

I'm gonna go with the crowd and say it's a clogged cat. How much boost are you getting?

I would suspect a restricted or clogged cat.

So is the cat clogged?