What to do with my 83 528e?

[Mike Ahern <mahern@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi. I have an 83 528e which I call the ultimate breakdown machine. Its latest and worst problem is that it idles really badly when starting hot. I took it to a mechanic
today and he said that my fuel pressure is leaking down fast and that what is happening is that my fuel injectors are sending their gas into the cylinders causing a rich
condition on start up. This sounds reasonable, but he wants $800 bucks to change them, the valve gasket and do a valve job while the valve cover is off, Is this
reasonable, and will the car run better if he does this?

I have gotten second opinions on what might be wrong.  I talked to someone who worked at a bmw junkyard who thought that if all plugs are black (they are) that my rich
condition is probably not bad fuel injectors (which would be only one or two blackened plugs), but possibly a bad fuel pressure regulator.  He also correctly predicted
that I would have a resistor soldered into a wire from the thermostat.  He said that this resistor was to correct a lean condition that was common to this model.  I read
the ohms of this resistor to be 500 ohms.  Is this a good value for this resistor?  If I lower the resistance will I approach a more lean condition, say 250 ohms?

I do a lot of my own work on my fords, and I have done a little work on the bmw, I changed the timing belt, the dist cab and rotor, the plugs (wr9ls gapped at .032") , the
air filter, I got an idle control valve and an air flow meter from a junk car but they didn't help so I threw them away.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Mike Ahern
mahern@domain.elided

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