Ultimate 4 Cylinder to 6 Cylinder Swap Thread

[LiamE36]

I have a 1996 e36 316 (1.6 8v)
I have put the m50 lump from a e36 325 (i believe to be 1992) in.
I have fitted the red label 402 dme.
I only have the engine wiring loom that plugs to the chassis loom.
The engine turns over on the starter but I have no fuel and believe no spark?
What do i need to do to get fuel and spark?

I do not have x6031 on my loom?

[Bluebimma]

Did you follow the steps above?

[LiamE36]

to a certain extent yes
But as far as i can see i have no x6031 plug?
Iv cut the black/violet wire

[Bluebimma]

If you can get the starter to engage, and have cut the EWS wire, then you need to check your crank position sensor, cam position sensor, the wiring for hot and ground, feed and return on the fuel lines, and check if youre getting no fuel or spark FOR SURE. A lot of guys say they arent getting these things but never really check or dont know how.

Do you know how to jump the fuel pump relay? If so, see if it turns the fuel pump on. The fuel should run to the front of the engine and return at the rear of the engine.

Without x6031, just manually run your lines to the corresponding lines inside of the car, may require drilling or just fish it though the firewall.

[LiamE36]

The fuel pump works, iv directly powered it from the relay to check this.
I checked spark by earthing the coil pack and turning the engine over
(no spark)

Is there some tests i can carry out on the crank/cam sensors to check they work?

Iv bypassed the EWS by connecting the black/yellow with the black/green
which allowed the engine to turn over on the starter/key.

[Bluebimma]

If the blk/ylw to blk/grn is the only wires you did for EWS delete, you need to cut #7 on X20 to finish it. If youve already cut the wires for EWS then the next step is to either ohm out the cam and crank sensors, or make sure theyre plugged into the correct sockets.

[LiamE36]

#7 being the black/violet? or the lime green?
I checked ohm on the crank sensor earlier today, roughly 450.
Have not checked cam sensor yet.
Crank plugs into the bottom plug and cam the top plug?

[Bluebimma]

I couldnt tell you, youd need to check your sockets and their colors, as sockets can be moved. On x20, position #1 should be blank, count counter clockwise to #7, then cut it. I just did my 98 last week, it was 14gauge lime green.

[LiamE36]

Mine are numbered
On the engine harness side #7 is lime green and on the chassis side #7 is black/violet.
Which side did u cut?

[Bluebimma]

theyre all numbered but can be confusing sometimes when trying to pin things out when colors arent always the same chassis to chassis. you can cut either side as long as its the ews line.

[LiamE36]

I'll double check that tomorrow then.
Thanks for all your help, much appreciated.

I know where ill go for anymore info from now on

[LiamE36]

Iv got 3 plugs.
Iv got the engine harness to chassis - X20?
And iv got the obd plug and a plug that goes
to my abs unit.
Which plug is x6031?

[Lemmy92]

Hey Guys, I have the same issue as Liam...I have no Fuel (But can get Pump Running permenant, and No Spark..(Confirmed this) Starter Cranks and Engages...Checked all the Grounds and Lives etc, checked Crank Sensor, Cut pin 7 on the X20...I have converted from a 1994 318is..and put a 92 M50 Engine in it...The engine had a 413 DME, but replaced that with the correct 402 DME but to no avail...got an electrician coming out soon to look at it, but would really like to save the money and cancel that!

Tom

Cheers - Tom

[Bluebimma]

EWS shouldnt be an issue unless the UK e36 has another version of EWS than the US market. If you have one, look at your EWS module underneath the dash and make sure it doesnt say EWSII. Also, did you bypass the module, under the dash, by crossing the blk/green with blk/yel or just cut the EWS wire and the starter works?

From the sounds of it, if you can jump the fuel pump relay and get fuel, then id lean more towards the crank position sensor being an issue or you DONT have everything hooked up correctly.

Ive run into what you and liam have run into last month with my 1998 EWSII 318ti and a 1995 325is auto. I removed the complete EWS system and DME from the 1995, cut the ews wire even, still had no spark or fuel. I borrowed a 413 non-ews chip, installed it in the EWSI 413 DME, the engine fired right up. In your case, if EVERYTHING else is correct, you could order or find another 402 chip or aftermarket performance chip and it should fire right up.

It would also help everyone if you guys upload pics of your swaps and current splices, grounds, power wires, so they can be corrected accordingly.

tony

[Lemmy92]

no...I mean Fuel pump relay has no power at all?...I just put a live on Pin 13 of the X20 from pin 21..The white DME Relay? That has power at two points...

I had a look under the glovebox, and there's a black box on top with what looks like an alarm number or part number possibly, but couldn't find no black/green or black/yellow...specially thicker ones..I looked around a little too...

I'll get some pictures up soon if I can, Cars at work atm and I'm not in until Monday morning now..

[Bluebimma]

You need to figure out why you dont have power to that particular relay socket. If you have a schematic for that engine that year, you can trace it to where it leads for power and see if the source has power. Chances are though, if its not getting power, something else isnt getting power which is causing you not to have spark either.

[Lemmy92]

Switched Battery live comes from the DME at pin 54 to the Fuel Pump Relay and the ECM Relay on a whte/red wire? as far as I can make out anyway...not too good with the wiring diagrams but will have to check that..

Is the ECM Relay the white one of the three?...because a Red Power line from Pin 25 of the DME should feed to both of them too..

Reading on that's from a 93 onwards 2.5 not a 92

[Bluebimma]

Color may be different from the years and the fact that youre in the uk and not the US. I dont think i even have a white relay in mine.

[Lemmy92]

Ok! Managed to get it running! but with the 413 DME, not the 402 one :/

I was fiddling around with the 3 main relays, and on the DME relay I was checking for power, and earthed the brown wire, which made it click, and the emission thing, (Not sure what it's called...Round black canister) started humming, so decided what the hell, tried everything else so gave it a crank....and to my surprise it fired right up! Set the fuel pump and spark going again.

However, I followed that wire in the schematics and it goes into the DME, pin 26 I think..can't remember from mind, so it must be controlled by that but it's not putting a signal out..so not certain what to do from here to get it working properly. Grounds seem good.. Might just have to put a switch round the dash somewhere.


Image leeched from google... I thought orange one was Fuel Pump not blue?

[Phazeshyft]

Time to resurrect this old thread with probably a stupid question. a friend of mine has a 1996 318i that we just swapped the 4cyl out with a 6cyl from a 1993 320i, the engine is the 206S1 version and both chassis are the E36. Everything bolted up nicely, brought over everything from the harness to the muffler. however, when we start it it backfires and a sputters, almost like its timing is off. checked and its still lined up.

PLEASE HELP!!

I snipped the #7 wire but its still the same.
Any Suggested are appreciated.

[Bluebimma]

If it starts and sputters, its not ews. check the intake, see if it has a fuel pressure regulator installed. If it does, check underneath the left side of the car for another fuel pressure regulator....96 was a year where the m44 could have the fpr underneath the car or on the fuel rail. You only need one, so remove whatever is neccessary.

[Phazeshyft]

I checked all that, there is only one FPR and one fuel filter. the original 4cyl had a DME computer and the 6cyl has a motronics, i found the x20 connector but not the other, there is a smaller connector like it but it seems to be the ABS and does not connect to the harness.
It runs rough and backfires occasionally but I checked the timing and its good. really confused right now.

[Phazeshyft]

Figured out it was the idle control sensor that just needed to be reset. running great now, however the Tach seems to be off, is there anyway to re-calibrate it?

[Kaantjee]

Figured out it was the idle control sensor that just needed to be reset. running great now, however the Tach seems to be off, is there anyway to re-calibrate it?

Nope, change it with a 6 cilinder tacho.. Want a EUDM tacho..?

[NSBMW]

Hey all, Im attempting this swap very soon. I have a 1996 318i m44 with EWS2 and I have a 1992 325i m50nv no EWS. So according to this documentation, the x20 connector does not need to be modified? I have the guage cluster computer harness, everything. I should just be able to plug and play am I right? I wont have to deal with any ews problems will I? I also have to figure out where all the sensor connectors plug into on the harness, what the easiest way to do that?