m52b28 engine swap NEED HELP!

[CGramme]

I just bought a 1993 5 speed 325is with a blown engine so I had a m52b28 replace the old m50 2.5. The swap is done but the car runs terrible sometimes. the swap was completed a few days ago but I need to know if the shop screwed me or if it should run really bad at first and then the ecu will adjust later. I'm sure there are people on here that have done this swap and I would like to hear how it went. I used the stock 1993 ecu on the new 1996 engine and I know it needs to adjust to the new engine but should the engine randomly stop and not let me give any gas while i'm driving? today is the second day I've had the car and i need to drive it 8 hours home asap. The engine also has a m50 intake mani on it and it runs great sometimes. another concern of mine is a noise comming from right under the e brake. I'm pretty sure the driveshaft or something is hitting the body of the car when i am on the gas. It only makes noise bellow about 30 mph but its a ticking or more like pounding noise that goes with rpm while im driving right under the armrest. I can feel it hitting through the armrest. any help or info would be great! How long does it take for this swap to be considered a driveable car?

[CrazyCoder]

You used the stock '93 ECU on a '96 engine? Was the old engine VANOS equipped? If not, then I'm surprised it's running.

The thumping noise sounds like the guibo is bad.

It kinda sounds to me like a shoddy swap.

[dcskate102]

You used the stock '93 ECU on a '96 engine? Was the old engine VANOS equipped? If not, then I'm surprised it's running.

The thumping noise sounds like the guibo is bad.

It kinda sounds to me like a shoddy swap.

All '93 cars had vanos if I remember correctly but I could be wrong.

How did you go about wiring the coolant temp gauge and sensor?

Are you throwing any codes?

Check the crank and cam sensors.

There's a lot of things that could be wrong.

[CGramme]

And yes both engines are single vanos. My temp sensor isn't working right now and i'm working on getting that asap. Is it different in the 96? I'm new to bmw what is the guibo? I thought it was probably a bad bearing. And the obd1 has on board diagnostis right? How do i access it? I feel like the shop should take care of all this but i really don't want to take it back there . To bad all my tools are in a different state. Thanks for the pointers so far guys!

[328istothebone]

First get an adequate ECU for the engine. There's no way that ECU should be used with that engine. Once you have acquired the correct ECU and got it running off of that, you will probably get your CEL on (if anything else is wrong) and that will help you further diagnose the car.

[CGramme]

I've heard from alot of people the ecu will work with the engine. Same exact engine just .3 liters larger. Does anyone agree with that or do i really need a new ecu? The guy at the shop said it'll take awhile for the ecu to adjust but that sounds like he's buying some time from my 30 day warranty.. What is the guibo? Getting a owners manual tomorrow and reading all of it...

[328istothebone]

You're going from an OBDI engine to an OBDII engine.
Completely different cams and timing specs.
Fuel and Air mixture being different
Coolant temp sensors connected differently..

The car won't run right with a DME from a 93 on a 96.

[dcskate102]

You're going from an OBDI engine to an OBDII engine.
Completely different cams and timing specs.
Fuel and Air mixture being different
Coolant temp sensors connected differently..

The car won't run right with a DME from a 93 on a 96.

Yes it will. Don't feed him wrong information.

The motor will start and run fine you just should get a chip to properly tune it.

You need to wire the coolant sensor on the head now or else the car will run like sh!t

http://www.turnermotorsport.com/html..._ID=TEN9989M50 this should make life easier it you don't know how to wire.

[nine9six]

You're going from an OBDI engine to an OBDII engine.
Completely different cams and timing specs.
Fuel and Air mixture being different
Coolant temp sensors connected differently..

The car won't run right with a DME from a 93 on a 96.

That is false. all he needs is to get the correct chip for the 2.8 motor. I believe his car is swapped to OBD1 now.

[CGramme]

Thanks for all the help. The engine is still obd1 because i kept the m50 manifold... How would you go about chiping it? Conforti? I'm pretty broke now after everything i already bought for it so cost friendly is nice. Do i have to customize the temp sensor?

[nine9six]

Thanks for all the help. The engine is still obd1 because i kept the m50 manifold... How would you go about chiping it? Conforti? I'm pretty broke now after everything i already bought for it so cost friendly is nice. Do i have to customize the temp sensor?

I don't think the off the shelf chip will do. I believe you need a custom tune which if I remember correctly AA or Turner offers.

[dcskate102]

Thanks for all the help. The engine is still obd1 because i kept the m50 manifold... How would you go about chiping it? Conforti? I'm pretty broke now after everything i already bought for it so cost friendly is nice. Do i have to customize the temp sensor?

Go with a trm chip. Best one for the money and its essentially made to your specs, but like I said you don't even need the chip to get it to run properly.

[328istothebone]

Yes it will. Don't feed him wrong information.

The motor will start and run fine you just should get a chip to properly tune it.

You need to wire the coolant sensor on the head now or else the car will run like sh!t

http://www.turnermotorsport.com/html..._ID=TEN9989M50 this should make life easier it you don't know how to wire.

Ok, it will work, BUT you need to spend a couple hundred to work PROBABLY (last time I checked for a proper custom tune). His DME currently WON'T run the car probably, even you just admitted to it needing changes (tune, coolant temp sensor) to run properly. If he got a (cheaper, 96 DME) over the tune he would probably be closer to getting it running much better. Later he could finish the OBDI swap, after everything was settled in. How is that the wrong information? Different people have different ways of diagnosing problems. The above peoples opinions will probably work and may cost alittle more than my method. Just because we don't have the same mind of going around things, doesn't mean I am wrong. Simply a different style. Thanks. Goodluck though man!

[dcskate102]

Ok, it will work, BUT you need to spend a couple hundred to work PROBABLY (last time I checked for a proper custom tune). His DME currently WON'T run the car probably, even you just admitted to it needing changes (tune, coolant temp sensor) to run properly. If he got a (cheaper, 96 DME) over the tune he would probably be closer to getting it running much better. Later he could finish the OBDI swap, after everything was settled in. How is that the wrong information? Different people have different ways of diagnosing problems. The above peoples opinions will probably work and may cost alittle more than my method. Just because we don't have the same mind of going around things, doesn't mean I am wrong. Simply a different style. Thanks. Goodluck though man!

Stop being so dense. The car WILL run properly on the stock '93 dme. I ran a 413 red label with a stock chip for months and the car ran beautifully. Besides you can't just throw a obdII ecu in a obdI car. Adding the chip will simply give the motor slightly more power and help remove the slight loss of torque associated with using the m50 manifold.

[CGramme]

I would like to get this thing running well without chiping it yet. I had to do the same temp wiring conversion on my mx6 after engine swap so i'll do that after i eat breakfast. How about checking codes? There is on board diagnostic testing right? The car runs great at times but i'm scared to drive it cause last time it stopped in the middle of an intersection. The check engine light comes on and off also sometimes... What is the difference in the check light and the check engine light? I should figure more out later today after i get the owners manual. Thanks for all the help!

[dhinez]

Damn if you were a little closer I could look at it for you. I just got done doing a ODBI conversion onto my 328i. It should run somewhat smooth without software. It may have some hiccups since its running off stock 325i software. When I did mines, I ran the motor with a stock 325 chip which it ran a little rough, but it was drivable. I had a performance chip for the 325 lying around so I dropped that in. It helped smooth things out but it had some hesitation. What's happening is that the ecu is trying to compensate for the bigger motor (2.8 vs. 2.5) and bigger injectors (17 lbs vs. 21.5 lbs.). The ecu cannot completely adjust to the motor but it does try to smooth things out. I have a TRM chip for a 2.8L motor, 21.5 lbs injectors, s52 cams, ltw flywheel, and a 7K redline. The car idle really smooth now. I would suggest that you pull the CEL if you can and start from there to eliminate your problems. I would highly recommend a chip tuned for the setup though.

[CGramme]

ok i want to wire the temp sensor my self but cant seem to find alot of info on it. the obd1 has two sensors both with two wires going to each. the obd2 has one sensor with four wires going to it. Anyone know the correct splice for making the conection? To bad the manual doesn't have hardly any info on the sensor...

[dhinez]

Here you go.

http://homepage.mac.com/aceves/OBDI/OBD_ONE1.htm

[CGramme]

I reset the ecu and its running fine now... Hope it stays this way. Now i just hot to fix the noise under the e brake.

[328istothebone]

That's good to hear OP! I just doubt that it will be able to completely compensate for the different dynamics of the slightly bigger engine... Your best bet will probably be to go with a custom tune as other have said, to finish up the OBDI swap, or a DME for that engine, w/ harness. But for power and ease of tuning the OBDI swap/custom tune sounds like a better choice... now that it's running better!

[CGramme]

Well it's running good so far... I only drove it about a half hour today because apparently the radiator is leaking. Thank jesus it didn't over heat. Radiator comes tomorrow and so does an eight hour drive home so we'll see how things are going. Car did run great today after the reset though. I was suprised... The car seems to have a m50 head also by looking at the temp sensors today. Does the m52 head have places to put both sensors. I heard it was the same in 96 one just has a plug. It does still have the m50 value cover and i'm not sure why. I tried looking to see an iron block but its hard to see in there. It better have one! I'll look better tomorrow. I'm pretty sure the vibrating is the universal joint and hopefully it can wait till i get home to be replaced. Thanks for all your help! I need a drink...

[dhinez]

I have a 96 M52b28 in my car. My car build is 12/95 so it still uses the the m50 head with the two temperature sensor holes. One has a plug and the other has the OBDII temperature sensor. I think 97+ e36 have the new style head with the one temperature hole. In the classified section, I seen that someone modified an m52/s52 head for the extra temp sensor spot because it did not have but one slot. I believe it was a 97 head.

[waddock]

Well it's running good so far... I only drove it about a half hour today because apparently the radiator is leaking. Thank jesus it didn't over heat. Radiator comes tomorrow and so does an eight hour drive home so we'll see how things are going. Car did run great today after the reset though. I was suprised... The car seems to have a m50 head also by looking at the temp sensors today. Does the m52 head have places to put both sensors. I heard it was the same in 96 one just has a plug. It does still have the m50 value cover and i'm not sure why. I tried looking to see an iron block but its hard to see in there. It better have one! I'll look better tomorrow. I'm pretty sure the vibrating is the universal joint and hopefully it can wait till i get home to be replaced. Thanks for all your help! I need a drink...

Hi it's been a while.

But was the vibrating the UJ?

Was the M52 engine connected to a Getrag 260 gearbox?

i got a similar issue.

thanks

[E36328Coupe]

I've heard from alot of people the ecu will work with the engine. Same exact engine just .3 liters larger. Does anyone agree with that or do i really need a new ecu? The guy at the shop said it'll take awhile for the ecu to adjust but that sounds like he's buying some time from my 30 day warranty.. What is the guibo? Getting a owners manual tomorrow and reading all of it...

You are right, you will find many threads where the 325 inlet manifold and management complete are used on 328 as the "full OBD1" conversion. I hope you still have the 325 inlet manifold for the extra free power benefit