the one and only e30 s52 engine swap
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Thank you for this! But, I think for now tell I can do some more research and make up my mind I'll be running with the original steering wheel.
Just so there's no confusion, the threads are actually a M12 x 1.5. The adapters I received yesterday did not come with that size threads (should have double checked before ordering). However, I did get the right one ordered from Auto Meter that should be here tomorrow.
Are you installing it where the TB heater nipple came from? I thought that was M12x1.5 and the sensors whether you have 1 or 2 are M14x1.5.
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Are you installing it where the TB heater nipple came from? I thought that was M12x1.5 and the sensors whether you have 1 or 2 are M14x1.5.
All the threaded holes there are gonna be a M12 x 1.5.
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Alright, I got me a problem.
Got everything thrown back together on the motor. Went to crank it over, nothin.
No crank just a couple clicks from the abs unit and a humming noise from the IAC valve.
So far I have been able to eliminate the starter and battery from the list of suspects.
Reason for this is because I pulled all the wires off the starter solenoid, pulled the battery from the car and hooked up jumper cables straight to the starter and grounded to the housing. Used the old screwdriver trick and was able to get the starter to spin the engine no problem.
After confirming this I threw everything back together.
Went ahead and pulled the engine ground off and cleaned both sides to confirm a good clean ground as well as all the wires hooked on to the battery cable mounting block in the engine bay and gave it another try, nothin.
Checked power coming to the starter from the main battery cable, got a good constant +12 volts.
Checked power coming to the small post from the ignition wire (black and yellow) while I had a friend turn the key over, +12 volts.
Flipped the relays around between the O2, fuel pump, and starter, nothin.
I'm stumped guys.
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Here is a link to the ETM. I assume most of the stuff is E30 wiring for the starter anyway. Here is a screenshot, there is no starter relay, if the black/yellow wire at the starter is getting 12V when the key is turned to the start position then there is a bad ground somewhere.
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did you whisper some sweet nothings in her ear before just sticking the key in?
Dan
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Here is a link to the ETM. I assume most of the stuff is E30 wiring for the starter anyway. Here is a screenshot, there is no starter relay, if the black/yellow wire at the starter is getting 12V when the key is turned to the start position then there is a bad ground somewhere.
Thank you for this ^
I'll go ahead and check every ground on the car after work to confirm good clean connections.
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was the car an automatic
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you started it with the key and same wiring configuration before, correct?
the couple times i couldnt get my car to crank I realized I had the C101 adapter disconnected... oops
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The car was originally a manual.
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I never changed any of the wiring up from the last time it ran. Although, nothing was hooked up through the dash for wiring when I started it the first time. Don't know why that would affect it from cranking over though.
C101 connector is hooked up and good to go lol.
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Went through and inspected and cleaned every ground location, turned the key over... nofin.
pulled and tested each of the relays, they are all good.
couple pics of the grounds and wires I checked. I also checked the ground right next to the abs unit and the ground underneath the dash next to the steering colum
Not really sure what to do now
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Try jumpering pins 11 and 14 on the diagnostic connector with a piece of wire. Remember to have the car in neutral and the ignition switched on. Also note if pins 11 and 14 exist in tge connector, they may be bare (this is fine, just explains why jumpering them wouldnt work)
also try jiggling the key as you try cranking to jostle the ignition switch a little bit
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Does it crank if you use a jumper from the large red wire on the starter to the black/yellow wire? If it does then you know the grounds are all good. If it doesn't then there is a power or ground problem because you said the starter did work when you hooked power directly to it
Next test would be to set your meter to DC volts and put one lead on a body ground and one on the engine block while someone attempts to crank. If you see voltage it means that something isn't grounded, it could be the starter body to the transmission if things are painted, or the engine block to the mount arm that has the ground strap on it.
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try listing every bit of work you've done since the car was last started. this may narrow down what has changed, and may be causing the issue.
Dan
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Try jumpering pins 11 and 14 on the diagnostic connector with a piece of wire. Remember to have the car in neutral and the ignition switched on. Also note if pins 11 and 14 exist in tge connector, they may be bare (this is fine, just explains why jumpering them wouldnt work)
also try jiggling the key as you try cranking to jostle the ignition switch a little bit
My vote is ignition switch as well
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Does it crank if you use a jumper from the large red wire on the starter to the black/yellow wire? If it does then you know the grounds are all good. If it doesn't then there is a power or ground problem because you said the starter did work when you hooked power directly to it
Next test would be to set your meter to DC volts and put one lead on a body ground and one on the engine block while someone attempts to crank. If you see voltage it means that something isn't grounded, it could be the starter body to the transmission if things are painted, or the engine block to the mount arm that has the ground strap on it.
This. If its not cranking, the starter is bad and / or isnt getting power/signal . What is the voltage output at the starter when its OFF/START/RUN positions?
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Just to rule it out is the fusible link blown? Follow the small wire off the positive battery terminal, it's wrapped so you can't do a simple visible check. If blown no power to the main relay and ecu.
Any aftermarket alarm immobilizer or an issue with the OBC?
Some other ideas
http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/index.php/Engines_Troubleshoot
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So once I got over to the shop later today I thought over what yall said and went back to start assessing the possibility of a bad ground issue as @jc43089 stated. I went over to the other garage and snagged the jumper cables from the shelf, hooked one clamp to the alternator mounting bracket and the other side to the front subframe mounting bolt. Hopped in the car... turned the key over to start and I was suddenly welcomed with the sweet sweet sound of the starter beginning to crank, hallelujah!!!
Jumped the fuel relay to get some fuel up to the fuel rail, hopped back in the car and she came to life once again.
This is where it gets very odd though. After I ran the motor for a few seconds I shut it off, pulled the jumper cables off and the car started right back up again. Wait, what? Did it just need some kind of encouragement? I shut the car off and started it 5 different times tonight with no issues. I suppose I will leave everything the way it is and further asses the problem if it decides to return.
Thank you to everyone for their helpful feedback!
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So once I got over to the shop later today I thought over what yall said and went back to start assessing the possibility of a bad ground issue as @jc43089 stated. I went over to the other garage and snagged the jumper cables from the shelf, hooked one clamp to the alternator mounting bracket and the other side to the front subframe mounting bolt. Hopped in the car... turned the key over to start and I was suddenly welcomed with the sweet sweet sound of the starter beginning to crank, hallelujah!!!
Jumped the fuel relay to get some fuel up to the fuel rail, hopped back in the car and she came to life once again.
This is where it gets very odd though. After I ran the motor for a few seconds I shut it off, pulled the jumper cables off and the car started right back up again. Wait, what? Did it just need some kind of encouragement? I shut the car off and started it 5 different times tonight with no issues. I suppose I will leave everything the way it is and further asses the problem if it decides to return.
Thank you to everyone for their helpful feedback!
Thats really weird. Maybe you were just doing something strange last time. Battery terminals tight? Not turning the key all the way? LOLZ
Either way, that's great news!
https://www.instagram.com/_jdesigner_/ http://nevertoolow.tumblr.com/
🥳SOLD BMW E24 633CSI - BMW M30B32 🧪SOLD HCH ES9 - 1.3 LDA
👽BMW E30 325IC - Toyota 1JZ-GTE ⏰ HONDA EF9 CIVIC SI - JDM B18C5
☠️BMW E36 318i - Ford 5.0 FE302 🚴♂️ GT-Labomba - 26x2.75 Freeride
🤹♀️SOLD BMW E36/7 Z3 - BMW M54B25 🧓SOLD BMW E10 2002 - BMW M10M05 -
Update:
Gonna go back a bit before the engine not cranking phase so I can be thorough on whats been a happenin.
So my adapter for my coolant temp sender unit showed up from auto meter. Right away I tried screwing in the vdo sensor and the inside hole between the threads was way to small of a diameter for the sending unit to slide through. As I wanted to get the thing put on that day I went ahead and decided to drill the hole out big enough (I believe it was a 21/64ths) to get the sending unit threaded in and get both installed on the head.
Sense I tend to not think things through before doing I forgot about the fact that drilling out the inside hole larger was only gonna make the walls around it thinner and weaker. As I began to thread in the adapter I didn't even get it flush with the head on the block before the threads snapped off from the larger portion.
After taking a short walk down the driveway to cool off and think everything over I proceeded to remove the portion still threaded in the head out which wasn't all that terrible.
I didn't have another adapter or a way to get the vdo sending unit installed I decided to just throw the brown top m20 back in and run with the stock gauge for now.
Once I do end up doing the head gasket I will order a vdo sending unit with the correct thread pitch so I won't need to deal with finding an adapter that will work.
Also installed both my oil pressure, oil temp, and factory oil pressure gauges onto the BW distribution block and tightened that into place. Luckily I had no issues there. Routed some wiring for the sending units.
Once installed I went ahead and pulled a vacuum on the cooling system to check for any leaks. I did have a fairly quick loss of vacuum and started checking around to find that the other coolant sensor for ecm was only hand tight. Tightened down and tried again... good to go!
Filled the system up with bmw coolant I think it sucked in something around 2ish gallons all in all.
Got the intake system reinstalled, filled my power steering system with some fresh castrol atf and ran the car for a few minutes to reach around operating temp. Everything seems to be functioning great! Still slowly leaking from the head gasket above the timing cover though.
Next thing on the list... exhaust.
My buddy Forrest came back over last week and started cranking out the rest of the piping. So far its looking great!
After getting it welded past the rear sub frame I started figuring out how we were gonna hang the thing. Went to other side of the shop and dug through my tub of old parts to scavenge up my old rear sub frame bushings. Luckily we had a bit of scrap 16 gauge stainless sitting around and we went ahead and cut a long rectangular piece out in which we took the press and bump formed a piece to fit around the bushing. We left a flat section to drill a hole through for the M8 bolt that threads into the rear sub frame.
After that piece was made we took some measurements, took a piece of 3/8 stainless bar stock and shaped into something that we could use. Once shaped and fitted up, he tacked it on and welded it up.
Sense the diameter of the inside hole on the bushing was larger then the 3/8 bar stock we ended up just filling it all around with some weld beads so it fit more snug. Also threw on a little end knob to keep the hanger from slipping out.
Everything installed...
Originally was gonna run with a magnaflow muffler but found out that the inlet pipe was 2 1/4 inch and I didn't like the idea of having to reduce the pipe back down. Instead I went ahead and ordered a vibrant street power muffler which had an option for a 2.5 inch inlet. Hoping to see that tomorrow and we will be able to go ahead and get that installed and the exhaust will be complete.
Found me some seats!!! I originally said that I was having some sport seats shipped over from Florida but after doing some further searching through Craigslist I found a guy who was selling his e30 vert and had a spare set of leather sport seats from the car he was looking to get rid of sense he had got some cloth ones for it instead. Took a trip up there about a week ago and picked them up.
Ya they aren't mint and will definitely need a little work but all the brackets are in solid shape and my plan will be to reupholster them this coming winter. For now though, I will be throwing some nice matching seat covers from the old set back on and run them for the rest of the warm season.
Onto more things, fan relay is wired up.
When ahead and mounted it next to the power distribution block. Ran the wires along the tunnel behind the fender. Grinded away some paint on one of the holes beneath the passenger side headlight for a proper grounding point for the fan. Decided to run the relay independent from the car so, (for those of you who are familiar with the spal harness) instead of running the orange wire to ignition I ran it to ground. By doing this I keep the relay on a +12 volts constant and it can run freely whenever needed. I also had to go ahead an order the 2 prong switch as the 3 prong I had originally purchased was not gonna work well with my setup. Hoping to see that show up tomorrow sometime.
After reinstalling the front end and fenders I went ahead and threw the front wheels back on and layed the car on the ground.
Right away I was completely disoriented by how low the car was. I have been so use to the jack stand height of the car that I had completely forgotten what its ride height was on the ground. The rear end is gonna need some tweaking as it sits forward a bit. Yes I know, definitely gonna need some different wheels.
Received a cone air filter from AEM today. Went ahead and installed that but realized I was gonna have to do a little triming to the throttle body silicone elbow from BW in order for it to fit right.
Couldn't get it completely back together as I broke one of the band clamps that hold it to the throttle body. Will pick up another tomorrow to get it fully installed.
Ideally I'd like to make a custom air box system so I can somehow route in some colder air then the warm engine bay air this will be sucking in. Threw it on the list for a next winter project.
Got the hood bracket blasted up.
Planning to give that a coat of paint sometime this week, gonna keep the color the same as the engine bay so it doesn't stick out to much.
Started working on wiring up the gauges inside the cabin. So far I have the lights for all three done. Plan is to run that power source off the light control switch that runs the rest of the back lighting.
Ran out of the connectors needed for this so I had to take a pause tell tomorrow so I can pick some more up.
Quick question for these as well. Where is the ideal place to splice into for ignition power for the gauges themselves?
Still working on getting the car insured and registered (hobbyist plates) But I'm still hoping to take the car for a short spin down the road and back on Wednesday to make sure everything else is feeling good.
Also, the car badly needs a wash and I have been oh so fortunate of having some great friends who love to write me encouraging notes to keep me motivated.
Stay tuned!
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