That is why I said to pull the plugs first, that can tell you an awefull lot just by looking at the plugs themselves. Look to see if there is coolant or fuel on the tip! Also check the wires, from one connector to the other not plugged into anything they should be around 1KOhm! Of course checking for spark is pretty simple if you have two people and like the occassional shock from touching the plug wire stupidly while touching the body of the car. Then once you verify all this you can move to the other things. What made me think of all this is that he stated he was getting white smoke! That is not good! And if it is coming from the intake then something is blocked or broken. On the M102 you can tell if the timing chain is still intact by just popping the oil cap, I would assume you can see it with the M103 oil cap removed as well. All in all start with the basics, like plugs, wire, cap, rotor!

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~Jamie
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2003 Pewter C230K SC C1, C4, C5, C7, heated seats, CD Changer, and 6 Speed. ContiExtremes on the C7's.

1986 190E 2.3 Black, Auto, Mods to come soon.....