E30 M52
-
I wonder though, because wouldnt a bad MAF manifest itself pretty much constantly regardless of temperature?
So far the car has run perfectly for a few minutes while cold and the problem seems to rear its head as the car warms up and enters closed loop which would point strongly towards the new oxygen sensor.
Who knows.. maybe the header coating fouled it as it was baking in, maybe my 3 foot extension harness sucks (Im pretty sure I checked resistance afterwards for good measure.... Regardless, I want a spare MAF so I will be on the hunt for a good deal on a new one or a known good used one.
I double-checked the part numbers for the MAF and the O2 sensor. both fit 92-95 M3/325i and are the correct parts.
I dont have a physical check engine light but I intended to wire it up once I pull the cluster again so in the meantime I cant do a stomp test.
-
you can borrow my MAF for diagnosis, its currently off the car. check your potato phone.
-
Guarantee it's the maf, all obd1 m5x cars I've owned the mafs went bad then the second hand ones didn't last long. I have one from Napa that runs the car alright but will randomly die at idle. Have an o2 sensor if swapping it gives you that warm fuzzy feeling.
-
I borrowed @straight6pwr ‘s MAF and the car behaved the same way. I pulled over and unplugged the O2 sensor and all is well. It was a new Bosch unit too... so that will be my next purchase.
Here’s a 2nd gear acceleration to verify that there aren’t any breakups in the rev range.
-
I borrowed @straight6pwr ‘s MAF and the car behaved the same way. I pulled over and unplugged the O2 sensor and all is well. It was a new Bosch unit too... so that will be my next purchase.
Here’s a 2nd gear acceleration to verify that there aren’t any breakups in the rev range.
buttery! 7k+

-
O2 Heater relay circuit is not working. I can only get 12V at the sensor by jumpering pins 87 and 30 on the relay harness. Tomorrow I will run the trigger wire from the fuel pump relay to also trigger the O2 heater circuit. I’d imagine this is my issue and hopefully last thing to iron out before I start really driving it.
Gravity kicked in and suddenly i need a new lens for my drivers side headlight. My drill fell off the shelf and smashed it

-
Gravity kicked in and suddenly i need a new lens for my drivers side headlight. My drill fell off the shelf and smashed it

I'm assuming the lenses are different left to right? I have a passenger side US ellipsoid with a broken frame, lenses are in great shape.
-
the glass lenses are identical left and right. the plastic buckets are not.
-
Bled a little more air out of the cooling system. Its a steady stream into the overflow so lets hope im done.
the o2 heater relay circuit is repaired but the car still falls on its face and doesnt run when warm unless the o2 is unplugged.
I suspect the solution will be found in one of these:
-new o2 sensor
-new DME
-ensure there are no upstream air leaks.
This exhaust system is the biggest pile of crap ever and the guy that did it sucks. I didnt know how poor of a job he did until i got home and took a better look underneath. Im living with it for now and have only scraped on my driveway entrance when i cant take it at an angle. Tonight it caught and pulled the band clamped portion of the system off the headers. Based on how stupid this exhaust system is I would not be surprised if an upstream air leak was throwing the o2 sensor off.
its a little too loud for my tastes and at some point tonight i need to crawl under the car and re-attach it.
My wife will not permit me to spend the money to have someone competent do the job and she is running out of patience with the car.
Its entirely possible to make this exhaust system work great but it will take someone who does quality work, and of course... money.
I feel like im at a bit of a stalemate
Voices inside my head tell me to list it on R3V for $7500 and be done with it
It drives so well with the o2 unplugged though
-
Bled a little more air out of the cooling system. Its a steady stream into the overflow so lets hope im done.
the o2 heater relay circuit is repaired but the car still falls on its face and doesnt run when warm unless the o2 is unplugged.
I suspect the solution will be found in one of these:
-new o2 sensor
-new DME
-ensure there are no upstream air leaks.
This exhaust system is the biggest pile of shit ever and the guy that did it sucks. I didnt know how poor of a job he did until i got home and took a better look underneath. Im living with it for now and have only scraped on my driveway entrance when i cant take it at an angle. Tonight it caught and pulled the band clamped portion of the system off the headers. Based on how stupid this exhaust system is I would not be surprised if an upstream air leak was throwing the o2 sensor off.
its a little too loud for my tastes and at some point tonight i need to crawl under the car and re-attach it.
My wife will not permit me to spend the money to have someone competent do the job and she is running out of patience with the car.
Its entirely possible to make this exhaust system work great but it will take someone who does quality work, and of course... money.
I feel like im at a bit of a stalemate
Voices inside my head tell me to list it on R3V for $7500 and be done with it
It drives so well with the o2 unplugged though
Sidepipes! Or a fender exit!
On a serious note, please don’t sell it. You’re too close to give up now. Seriously. Ill start another GoFundMe.
-
-
I will probably take you up on the spare sensor.
Just to start covering my bases I began going through the suite of sensor tests in the E36 Bentley to check the resistance and reference voltage on the following sensors:
Throtte Position Sensor
Coolant Temp Sensor
Intake Temp Sensor
Mass Airflow Sensor (voltage and ground test)Everything checks out good with those. Tomorrow I will start on the oxygen sensor +related wiring testing procedures.
-
i have a pair of them from the e34 530 i parted (obd1 m60). not sure if they work, but you certainly can have them to try.
part# 0258003522
-
I used the car to run some errands and put another few miles on with the o2 unplugged. I think I have full confidence in the cooling system now. After driving, I idled in the driveway for 5 minutes with no fan and the temp stayed at 200 F (92 C thermostat). Then I tried it in the garage with hotter stagnant air and no fan and with about 10 minutes of idling. It got up around 210 F slowly but switching the fan on brought it back down to 200.
The ellipsoid I cracked the other day has been replaced.
I did a little fine adjustment on the suspension by leveling out the ride height a bit with different spring hats and spring pads. Theres a little more to do on the rear but I have the fronts leveled with eachother. They were about 3/4” different before when measuring the fender to the ground .
I may have a new lifeline for getting the exhaust tucked up a bit more, and hopefully before the E30 picnic.
im content driving around with the o2 sensor unplugged for now but I do need to replaces these brakes pretty soon.
Still no oil leaks on this engine which seems miraculous. The 24V definitely seems to have a little bit of design improvement in terms of sealing compared to the M20.
Drive by wire and automatic transmissions are deceptive. Despite being down about 65 HP from the VQ in my infiniti the M52 is a smidgen faster rolling acceleration runs, but in actual driving the infiniti feels much faster. You also end up getting 80% of the power at 60% of the throttle opening as well as the kickdown sensation.
-
I was about to go to sleep because ive been running on fumes the past couple days but somehow, whether through sleepwalking or poor judgement I ended up upside down under the dashboard taking the pedals apart doing something I should have done long ago.
my car was originally an automatic and when I did the manual swap I noticed my brakes werent as good after the swap. The clevis adjustment wasnt quite the same and I had forgotten about this when I did the E21 booster install so i kept the original clevis location/length. It adjusted the clevis out 3 turns which ended up being a good guess as it was the maximum amount that it could be adjusted.
It feels food to have checked that off the list because i wasnt looking forward to doing it.
im not expecting that it will affect my stopping power since its only changing pedal travel but it will definitely help with pedal feel as it wont feel like i have air in the brakes with the excess travel, it will keep the brake pedal higher for those times I want to act like a heel-toe-hero too

Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login

