Chris’ e34 extravaganza

ChrisO

YoungCR said:

All good suggestions. I’d over prepare for the first start being a high tolerance motor. If you want to pull the tank, they are fairly simple on e34’s, just two tank straps to undo. The front strap bolts can be tricky if things are rusty though.

Really cool that this car still has its dealer tags on the keys. The keyless entry system is easy to reprogram too if everything is working.

The car has a new fuel pump and fuel lines, the previous owner just put the tank back in in the last two years

jc43089 said:

It sounds as though you have already cranked it, did the oil pressure light turn off? If not I typically remove the spark plugs before cranking a dormant engine so that there is no load on the bearings. Also adding a squirt of oil to the cylinders wouldn't hurt. A bore scope would be handy to look in the cylinders for rust but if you already cranked it over then you already are past that.

I havent personally cranked it, but in the last two years the previous owner tried to get it to run on multiple occasions

I really appreciate the advice from everyone, I'm definitely going to put some oil down into the cylinders before I try to start it and put a quart through the motor. I'm probably going to pull the valve cover gasket to take a look at the sludge and make sure I see no obvious damage

For now, there isn't a chance I could have gotten it to run today. I went over the engine bay very thoroughly and found several different issues that would prevent the car from running.

The cam pulse sensor that surrounds a spark plug wire is destroyed. Unfortunately this is a $170 sensor, and is s38b36 specific and only available as a genuine BMW part. @straight6pwr you were right, it's already expensive

Next pretty much every vacuum line is bad. The one off the fuel pressure regulator is completely split in half

The intake boot post-maf is torn wideee open

The maf plug was half plugged in

So I need to order that cam sensor and a intake boot, and redo the vacuum lines. All pretty simple things, I'm going to pull the plenum off and redo all the vacuum lines while I wait for the sensor.

I did put power to the car today though, just to see if everything worked. All headlights, tail lights, turn signals all work. Blower motor works, windows work, all seat functions work. Radio turns on but nothing comes out of the speakers, assuming It's thanks to the hellish wiring and amp/sub set up in the trunk.

It was a good feeling to see the car come to life with power

Just under 192k miles

A lot for having sat the last 11 years, would probably be over 250k if it never stopped running

I spent most of the day just degreasing and cleaning inside the engine bay, it was really bad and now I have a pretty clean motor to work with

The itb throttle linkage was pretty gummed up, I really focused on that and it's much better now

Gave the car a wash on the outside the best I could without running water, I just wanted to make it look less like a abandoned car in the parking lot of my apartment haha

But yeah, no wonder the car wouldn't start... More to come

Jdesign

I feel like I have heard this before... 5 or 6 largely important items compromised will obvious cause issues LOL. Im willing to bet it fires right up when it comes time.

ChrisO

Well I got around to compression testing the motor this morning.

Test was dry and cold but

Cylinder #1 gave false hope, decent number for a cold motor?

Cylinder #2-4 crushed my dreams, I triple checked all of them and they were in the 60-70psi range

And back to a more normal number in cylinder #6...

I made sure to check each cylinder multiple times in different orders to make sure it wasn't user or equipment error

So yea thats bad.

So the car needs:

Major engine work
All new coolant hoses
A gas tank
A new battery
A cam pulse sensor
A intake boot
New tires
New brakes
rear shocks
every busing that is rubber in the car

I also found a hole by the battery under the rear seat where it looks like something punctured the body?? It's all rusty now

I'm still super happy with my purchase, but the amount of money and work it's going to need is gonna be too much. If the thing didn't have rusty jack points and holes in the pan I'd consider "bringing it back from the dead"

I know it's a rare car but it's a easy $7000 in parts, and even if this was driving I don't see anyone paying over $8k with the overall condition/ rust. Decent rust free ones with similar miles go for 11-15k it seems like

I still have my new M3 I'm trying to build, and my main focus is on that, not tearing down a s38 when I have no major engine work experience

Sorry guys but I'm gonna look for a decent 535i to throw some fun parts on and beat around in

m42b32

That's a bummer.... but it makes sense to part out. Spending the money to rebuild the engine/etc just wouldn't make sense if the shell isn't in good shape. Swapping the M5 parts to another E34 would be pretty sweet though (M5 touring replica??)

ChrisO

m42b32 said:

That's a bummer.... but it makes sense to part out. Spending the money to rebuild the engine/etc just wouldn't make sense if the shell isn't in good shape. Swapping the M5 parts to another E34 would be pretty sweet though (M5 touring replica??)

Honestly whatever comes first a e34 touring or a 5 speed 535i!

The tourings seem next to impossible to find

B C

Par for the wibimmers course

Jdesign

RIP_S38.com

rampelsauce

m42b32 said:

(M5 touring replica??)

Bingo. Rebuild that S38 and make something that will make @DrLeadFoot feel bad about his S62 touring.

HipMF

Ain't nobody got time for that wagon business.

DrLeadFoot

Could it just need a valve adjustment? If the valves aren't closing all the way that would be a problem!

B C

Valve adjustment would loosen up over time, not tighten up.

adjacent cylinders usually indicates head gasket carnage.

I feel it may be worthwhile to put some compressed air into the cylinders and see if its coming through the crankcase or radiator.

dry/stuck rings, while less likely, can also be a thing.

HipMF

snap said:

Valve adjustment would loosen up over time, not tighten up.

I have seen valves that are gunked up/rusted to the point when they don't close after being opened. Not likely here, but it's possible. Bent valve is more likely, but still...

Put a head gasket in and go racing.

Jdesign

Yeah I agree. I would be hesitant to call it dead. Here's my 2 cents:

Was there oil in the cylinders prior to you testing it? ( I know you know what your doing, but Ive made this mistake before) you said it was "dry." The end cylinders will have the most lubrication due to the path the oil travels through the motor thus higher numbers?
Valves. If that thing is gunked up at all, very likely from sitting, the valves might not be seating completely altering the test. How long would your tester hold psi per cylinder?
Rings wear, but being a N/A motor, I doubt they are bad, a headgasket is more likely and an easy job.
Borescope; did you check to see how it looks in there?
Nevermind, your right, its probably dead.
Trade me the S38 for my M30 and I can swap it into my E24. This is really the only fair option considering you owe me a finders fee.

RobZR

HipMF said:

Ain't nobody got time for that wagon business.

I beg to differ!!

Jdesign

@HipMF asking for the BAN hammer

HipMF

Jdesign said:

@HipMF asking for the BAN hammer

Haha! Maybe...

I like wagons, but if I was building one I'd go for an engine with stupid torque. 260-270 ft-lbs in a car that weighs almost 4000 pounds isn't that great.

A gutted e24 would be a good thousand pounds lighter and more likely to use the power at the top of the rev range.

B C

HipMF said:

Haha! Maybe...

I like wagons, but if I was building one I'd go for an engine with stupid torque. 260-270 ft-lbs in a car that weighs almost 4000 pounds isn't that great.

A gutted e24 would be a good thousand pounds lighter and more likely to use the power at the top of the rev range.

Horsepower wins parts, torque sells races

jc43089

You need to put oil in the cylinders and recheck. I have seen dry cylinder walls cause extremely low compression. I had a flooded M50 show 30PSI on compression test and with a little oil it jumped back to 180. It also wouldn't start because compression was so low. I just cranked it over with the plugs out and injectors unhooked to dry the fuel away and added a squirt of oil to each cylinder and it started right up. That was on my e36 a couple months ago when it was extremely cold out and had a failed start attempt.

Jdesign

jc43089 said:

You need to put oil in the cylinders and recheck. I have seen dry cylinder walls cause extremely low compression. I had a flooded M50 show 30PSI on compression test and with a little oil it jumped back to 180. It also wouldn't start because compression was so low. I just cranked it over with the plugs out and injectors unhooked to dry the fuel away and added a squirt of oil to each cylinder and it started right up. That was on my e36 a couple months ago when it was extremely cold out and had a failed start attempt.

This.

I had a two stroke inline 6 that had numbers roughly all over the board; 60,50,110,80,130. I was super worried. Added oil, rechecked compression and it was 160's all the way across. I was shocked.

RobZR

rampelsauce said:

Bingo. Rebuild that S38 and make something that will make @DrLeadFoot feel bad about his S62 touring.

Here you go. find a perfect box for that S38 diamond like this one and make a nice faux M5.

https://fortmyers.craigslist.org/lee/cto/d/bonita-springs-94-bmw-525i-mint/6852122107.html

https://sanantonio.craigslist.org/cto/d/schertz-1995-bmw-525i/6848522043.html

WIBIMMERS

Chris’ e34 extravaganza