Motor swap/no start issue. Any help appreciated.

[ross22davis]

Ok guys. So I bought a 95 318 (m42 I believe) and the motor was bad. I bought the car to fix and resell so decided to just stick with a 4cyl. I bought a trashed 93 318 which also had a m42 that ran nicely. Swapped the motor/harness/dme out of the 93 car into the 95. All the car would do was crank and crank and crank. Finally realized the car wasn't getting any spark. Couldn't figure it out so I swapped the dme to the one that was with the car originally and it fired right up! Ran ok for a little bit but was rough. I shut it off and later went to restart it and the car completely died and something went up in smoke on the back side of the motor. There wasn't alot of smoke but you could definitely see it and smell it.

Only thing I can think of that could smoke from behind the motor would be the starter. The car has zero power as of right now. I determined that part of my problem is that the 95 car has EWS II where I believe the 93 car doesn't so I think if I put the 93 dme back in and have the EWS system aligned with the dme then it should start. My problem now is I can't figure out what could have burnt up causing the car to lose all power.

Any help would be appreciated. Sorry if the tread runs on, typing from my phone and don't plan on proof reading lol

[flyfishvt]

93 dme can't be aligned to your ews. However you could use it to bypass the ews. There is an entire thread dedicated to bypassing ews on a 95 bmw. It's written for the 413 dme used in the 6 cylinder cars but the same rules apply for your 318.

It's impossible to tell what burned up. You'll have to start digging with a flash light or shop light. If it was electrical then you should be able to find the source just by sniffing. Open the dme cavity and snell inside. I've been through this before. When you find the source.....you'll know it

[ross22davis]

I can't find the thread on the ews bypass/delete. Do I need to get a 413 DME or can I use the 93 DME?? I don't see just a simple bypass thread anywhere. They all talk about installing a chip or software. As for the burnt wire I'll be tracing it this weekend. I have a feeling it's somewhere near the starter

[snaponbob]

Ross, you have a PM. I live in Lees Summit.

[ross22davis]

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