S54 in E36 M3, my turn

[gpeterson]

ok gpeterson, you should have it in your mail, i did the full read by accident, i also did the partial. you got both

I took a look - EWS delete was done, unfortunately your no-start issue is something else.

[mitch500]

Did you check the little fuses on Andrews harness? Some of mine were not fully seated in there holders. Just a thought.

[TH3 Shifty]

took a look at those delphi fuse's/holders all appear seated and still OK. I finally downloaded INPA last night but it was 10:45pm when finished and i was too tired to go back out and fiddle with it...

While gpeterson was reading my tune, i decided to take a look at something else. I can smell fuel pretty easily through the throttle bodies, I took out spark plug 1-3.. all were wet, meaning we are getting fuel in the cylinders. I decided to plug the coil packs into the spark plugs while out of the head to see if spark is coming from the plugs, had my wife crank the car while doing this.... didnt see any spark from the plugs jumping between the electrode.

Something is stopping the spark..

ALSO

if its the first crank over of the night/day... it cranks, burbles like it just fired, then dies in 1second. Then consecutive cranks, just cranks... leave it a few hours it will do it again, burble 1 second, die, then just cranks... MIGHT be that the fuel pressure or even the pump is not staying active, going to check the pressure at the schrader valve on the FPR tonight.. Also need to check the brand new fuel pump i put in, is working. I have the black relay in place per Andrews instructions. I really dont see what else im missing here..

ive checked the grounds and moved the grounds several times,
i checked the ground on the head from the coil harness 3 times, removed and reseated.
Replaced the Crank Position sensor, no change
Made sure the black wire from the swap harness is on the 30h terminal.
I obviously have power to the DME or i wouldnt be able to read it.
Checked the chassis to motor mount ground 4 times

I have not checked or tested the relays on the main harness (blue and green)... What can i check in INPA??
I was also told that ive the ICV is bad, it wont fire either... mine is old(170k miles).. would that cause a no spark issue??

I leaning very closely to the swap harness being an issue, no way to check a complete rats nest of ALL BLACK WIRES... I have the harnesses out of the cubby hole, spread out on the passenger fender and the DME sitting out on the wiper cowl, ive been over the harness 4-5 times, unplugging and resecuring each connection.

I changed the Z3M plug to the E46 plug, and matted the green to green and black to black wires for the connector, ill un-tape that and check my butt connectors and solder tonight... again...

just to recap:
Engine Harness is a brand new Z3M harness, only modification is adding the E46 plug.. i re-used the 2 relay's (blue and green) from the old 170k E46 M3 harness
Trans harness, brand new BMW Manual E46 M3 harness
Swap Harness from Andrew
Used DME from a member

[TH3 Shifty]

on a side note...

I timed the car about 4-5 times while assembling the cams/timing chain/VANOS.. i used all the correct tools, rotated the car by the crank over about 10-15 times... even if i was off by a tooth, it would still start and fire, just the timing would be off.. if it was way off, my timing pins would have never fell into the slots.. and on a more side note, i would have noticed mechanical bind of the piston to valves.. had none of that..

VANOS rebuilt with ALL Beisan parts, timed 4-5 times, yes i really did that many, kinda anal about it
Re-used cams from old motor
Crank was re-cut, proper oversized bearings used
New timing everything, chain, and all parts
100% all gaskets changed

I followed the Cam timing procedure in the BMW book, and followed respected tutorials from M3forum guys. I really dont see it being a timing issue, especially if i DO NOT HAVE SPARK, this is something electrical

[mitch500]

I'd start with easy stuff and change those old relays.

[TH3 Shifty]

just realized the igition harness is also from the donor car.. i wonder if that is bad??

[gpeterson]

Since you are not getting spark I'd turn the key on and check for 12v at pin 3 of the ignition coils:

Screen Shot 2018-01-20 at 7.52.28 AM.png

[TH3 Shifty]

what color is that wire?


Edit: green i assuming

[gpeterson]

what color is that wire?

GN = green, here is a table of BMW's color abbreviations:

Screen Shot 2018-01-20 at 8.30.11 AM.png

[PITT M3 RR]

just realized the igition harness is also from the donor car.. i wonder if that is bad??

I should have a spare if you end up needing it

[TH3 Shifty]

awesome.. thank you.. i'll check it out tonight, after work... i should be focused on my patients but instead im acting like im doing my charting and searching shiz to fix this damn thing... lol..

[TH3 Shifty]

on a side note... for shitz and giggles... lets play the "where are your 5 grounds secured at"? i want to mimic where you guys have placed your 3 harness ground wires. so the 2 wires from Andrews Harness, and the 1 bigger ground from the main harness.

1 & 2, Currently I have my 2 Andrew harness black wire grounds, going to the bolt under the round diagnotic port on the frame.

3. -I have my large harness ground, going to a threaded bolt hole that was used for the old S52 air pump.

4. -The ignition harness ground is on the head in stock S54 location

5. -The chassis ground is in the stock place, chassis frame to motor mount arm

[mitch500]

My 2 Andrews grounds are on the old SAP ground as well as my engine harness ground.

Coils grounded to head and big ground on the engine arm is stock location l.

[bimerok]

Just to confirm, when you say you took out spark plug, connected the coil pack and saw no spark jumping between electrodes while cranking motor... While you were doing that, did you have the spark plug grounded somewhere by the threads area? If you didn't, then there is no way you would get spark out of it by just connecting the coil...

[TH3 Shifty]

Just to confirm, when you say you took out spark plug, connected the coil pack and saw no spark jumping between electrodes while cranking motor... While you were doing that, did you have the spark plug grounded somewhere by the threads area? If you didn't, then there is no way you would get spark out of it by just connecting the coil...

a valid question, i had it touching one of the valve cover posts, i assume thats an OK ground to use? if not i will do it again with an aligator clip to it and the block, might not have been a ground... but then i have to ask... why the hell is it not lighting off if i have fuel AND spark in the cylinder, at least running rough and missfiring i would expect.

[mitch500]

I was just reading in a local BMW forum where I live and someone had a very similar issue as to what your having.

Do you have a spare main engine relay you can swap out with?

[bimerok]

Sounds like you were doing it right. The post on the cover should be grounded, I think. Easy to check with a tester or a test light.

[TH3 Shifty]

I was just reading in a local BMW forum where I live and someone had a very similar issue as to what your having.

Do you have a spare main engine relay you can swap out with?

no i dont.. and thats one of the old relays i used from the donor... , is there an aftermarket relay i could use in the meantime to test it?

[mitch500]

no i dont.. and thats one of the old relays i used from the donor... , is there an aftermarket relay i could use in the meantime to test it?

Im not sure on that question but maybe you can poke around with this article.
https://www.pelicanparts.com/techart...ay_Testing.htm

[TH3 Shifty]

ok i think i found a suitable replacement

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/i...99/2005/bmw/m3

part # 25-0422 IDI

i put the vehicle info in (05 BMW M3) and this is listed as a EFI main relay Import Direct Ignition 4 terminal Computer control relay



and what do ya know... theres only 1 left in my area... going to go get it in 15min..

[youinreverse]

So I'm having the exact same issues with my swap into an E46 sedan. It's kind of eerie how similar they are.

Here's my thread on M3Forum (you've posted in there before). http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=568457

I had a friend bring his ICOM over. It couldn't connect to the DME. I was able to pull a read from the DME with MSSFlasher and the EWS was supposedly deleted. My car starts and runs for two seconds and then immediately dies and then only cranks after that. I can't figure it out for the life of me.

I'm going to be following your thread closely. Hopefully one of us can figure this out because I'm getting super frustrated with mine.

I was originally trying to start it using the M3 key, DME, and EWS module just to test things before I got everything programmed. I didn't have any luck with that, so I just sent my DME and cluster to Kassel Performance last week to get them programmed and tuned. I just got the DME back yesterday, but I'm still waiting on my cluster. From the phone calls/texts with Jim there, he seems like he really knows his stuff and he has a swapped E46 323 touring, which is really similar to my swap, so hopefully I can get it figured out with his help.

[mitch500]

Any luck?

[TH3 Shifty]

Ok so that relay I posted:
i get to o’riellys they have the part. Pull it out of the box..... BAMM, factory original BMW stamped part!!! I ask the kid behind the counter “wow that’s a factory part, do they come like this all the time?” He says yeah actually they do. We see more and more factory BMW parts in generic boxes all the time now.

o’reillys has, of late, stepped up their euro parts and suppliers

it when I got home I was soo tired, I had 5hr sleep the night before and then worked a 14hr. So I crashed out at 9pm. At church this morning till noon, but I plan on testing it when I get home.

- - - Updated - - -

So I'm having the exact same issues with my swap into an E46 sedan. It's kind of eerie how similar they are.

Here's my thread on M3Forum (you've posted in there before). http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=568457

I had a friend bring his ICOM over. It couldn't connect to the DME. I was able to pull a read from the DME with MSSFlasher and the EWS was supposedly deleted. My car starts and runs for two seconds and then immediately dies and then only cranks after that. I can't figure it out for the life of me.

I'm going to be following your thread closely. Hopefully one of us can figure this out because I'm getting super frustrated with mine.

I was originally trying to start it using the M3 key, DME, and EWS module just to test things before I got everything programmed. I didn't have any luck with that, so I just sent my DME and cluster to Kassel Performance last week to get them programmed and tuned. I just got the DME back yesterday, but I'm still waiting on my cluster. From the phone calls/texts with Jim there, he seems like he really knows his stuff and he has a swapped E46 323 touring, which is really similar to my swap, so hopefully I can get it figured out with his help.

Wow that’s way odd that we both have the same issue. The way you describe the starting running for 2 seconds, dieing, then just cranking is exactly what mine does.

So I also still have the E36 EWS and RFID chip in the car and in my key. I thought that we didn’t need that stuff anymore but I took it out and couldn’t even get the car to crank. Put it back in and I have the current situation.

Yeah ah if you find out anything please post it, and I’ll do likewise

[TH3 Shifty]

So on the agenda for today, before I have to leave for work at 5:30, I plan on the following:

1. Retesting the spark issue with the plug out and using an uncontested ground
2. Swapping the blue relay out, also testing the relay wires per Pelican parts tutorial.
3. Testing the FPR

[mitch500]

Ok so that relay I posted:
i get to o’riellys they have the part. Pull it out of the box..... BAMM, factory original BMW stamped part!!! I ask the kid behind the counter “wow that’s a factory part, do they come like this all the time?” He says yeah actually they do. We see more and more factory BMW parts in generic boxes all the time now.

o’reillys has, of late, stepped up their euro parts and suppliers

it when I got home I was soo tired, I had 5hr sleep the night before and then worked a 14hr. So I crashed out at 9pm. At church this morning till noon, but I plan on testing it when I get home.

- - - Updated - - -




Wow that’s way odd that we both have the same issue. The way you describe the starting running for 2 seconds, dieing, then just cranking is exactly what mine does.

So I also still have the E36 EWS and RFID chip in the car and in my key. I thought that we didn’t need that stuff anymore but I took it out and couldn’t even get the car to crank. Put it back in and I have the current situation.

Yeah ah if you find out anything please post it, and I’ll do likewise

I still have the EWS ring and chipped key installed as well.

Excited for the results!