Introduction - 1995 BMW M3 Coupe

[jaimerod]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Jaime and I just bought an 1995 E36 M3. It's in pretty good shape, but it my plans are to fix absolutely everything I can and make it as reliable as possible.

I was told the cooling system has been overhauled, and I can see the plastic piece is not aluminum. But I can still see some old looking hoses so I may have to do a bit more work there.

I ordered new Vanos seals and the rattle fix, so once the tools and parts come in I'll try to tackle that.

The car runs ok, but I think it is lacking power, though I never drove one before. There is a sporadic 1216 code that pops up, and I tried to fix it with a cheap TPS, but no dice. I'll probably have to spring for a german made one. I hear that Bremi makes a good TPS. Do you guys think I can get away with a Bremi, or do I need to pay twice as much for a BMW part.

There is a small issue with the ignition that I'm trying to sort out. I made a thread specifically for that so it may be of use to someone else one day.

There is also a small low popping noise coming form the exhaust. It may be a exhaust leak, or a some vacuum hose or misfire. I made a thread for that as well.

I'm excited to be a part of the E36 M3 world and I really wanted a car to wrench on. Judging by the amount of small issues with the car, it will keep me going for quite some time!

- Jaime

1995_bmw_m3_1B4D7224-FBA2-456B-9430-1B8CD63741A4-44079-scaled.jpg1995_bmw_m3_AF249900-0BF7-4411-A491-822BF1CEE610-44108-scaled.jpg1995_bmw_m3_A772B001-F70B-4CEB-81D8-2AE7F95D2BC0-44348-scaled.jpg1995_bmw_m3_10F95F57-132E-4E2F-AECC-336F89CBAFF6-44672-scaled.jpg

[Braymond141]

Welcome.

OBD1 is the worst. Replace the TPS with a Genuine part, but thanks to the terrible diagnostics, that likely won't fix it. I've been down that road before with a supercharged 95. It could be anything from the idle set screw on the throttle body to a knock sensor to the VANOS not being perfectly timed. Nobody knows.

That leads me into my next observation; Was this car previously supercharged? The charcoal canister does not go where yours is located unless a supercharger kit as been installed. It looks like your airbox mount brackets are missing (another sc requirement) and I can clearly see someone didn't know how to assemble the MAF.

I’m betting the car was supercharged and you still have the sc chip or more installed.

[aeronaut]

Welcome to the community! S50 love!

VANOS rebuild is basic wrenching plus about 3 things you have to get right, it's not bad at all.

[RBNetEngr]

Nice looking, clean car. You found a nice one!

Welcome to the community.

[jaimerod]

Good observations. I think it was supercharged. Why else would they relocate the charcoal canister and the cruise control.

Anyway to tell if I have the wrong ecu mapping? I see there is a Dinan sticker on the 20 pin connector saying it has custom software.

How do I go about setting the idle screw? Is there a diy for it, or should I buy a shop manual?

[Veleno]

Welcome!

Looks like you got a really clean car! Did you pick it up locally or out fo state?

[Braymond141]

Good observations. I think it was supercharged. Why else would they relocate the charcoal canister and the cruise control.

Anyway to tell if I have the wrong ecu mapping? I see there is a Dinan sticker on the 20 pin connector saying it has custom software.

How do I go about setting the idle screw? Is there a diy for it, or should I buy a shop manual?

Let’s focus on the known issues first, not create new ones by aimlessly adjusting the throttle body.

Remove the ecu and open the lid. Most chips have a part number on them. I can help you identify which chip is in there and supply you with the correct one if needed.

Message me: 559-492-8493

[Hagasan41]

Welcome and congratulations! I just joined the E36 family as well with a ‘99 Hellrot! Look forward to seeing your updates and progress.

[jaimerod]

@Braymond141 You were right. I opened it up and immediate got hit with a Dinan Turbotronic 11 box and the DME has a Dinan chip in it.

Is this what is potentially causing my problem? What do I have to do to fix it?

20220917_131535.jpg20220917_133729.jpg20220917_133709.jpg20220917_133717.jpg

Let’s focus on the known issues first, not create new ones by aimlessly adjusting the throttle body.

Remove the ecu and open the lid. Most chips have a part number on them. I can help you identify which chip is in there and supply you with the correct one if needed.

Message me: 559-492-8493

[bmwstephen]

@Braymond141 You were right. I opened it up and immediate got hit with a Dinan Turbotronic 11 box and the DME has a Dinan chip in it.

Is this what is potentially causing my problem? What do I have to do to fix it?

20220917_131535.jpg20220917_133729.jpg20220917_133709.jpg20220917_133717.jpg

Do you not have the stock chip? by the looks of it, you have a late model 95 production year that has EWS.

IF you are on stock setup; Dinan's stock tune is D900-2943 15C since your ECU has the factory programing ECU of 1404732

I also have a factory DME/Chip for for your production year.

Either way if you go with OEM or genuine Dinan, you'll need to get the EWS aligned for the replacement tunes to work.

Alternative is to get it bypassed with another custom tune.

[jaimerod]

It looks like the injectors are wrong as well

20220917_145121.jpg

I guess I have to replace those too... Anyone know of a place to get inexpensive injectors. Are the remanufactured ones good?

[jaimerod]

No, I bought the car like this so I do not have the stock chip unfortunately.

How does one get the EWS aligned. It should like something the stealership has to do...

Do you not have the stock chip? by the looks of it, you have a late model 95 production year that has EWS.

IF you are on stock setup; Dinan's stock tune is D900-2943 15C since your ECU has the factory programing ECU of 1404732

I also have a factory DME/Chip for for your production year.

Either way if you go with OEM or genuine Dinan, you'll need to get the EWS aligned for the replacement tunes to work.

Alternative is to get it bypassed with another custom tune.

[bmwstephen]

No, I bought the car like this so I do not have the stock chip unfortunately.

How does one get the EWS aligned. It should like something the stealership has to do...

Well that's where it got complicated. I had a spare factory chip and a corrected dinan tune but couldn't find a local shop (dealer on independent) in the bay area that still had the tools to communicate with OBDI ADS. Usually if the place carries the older version of INPA/DIS, GT1 that can communicate through the ADS port would work. Most shops now carry autologic or ISTA-D which can't communicate (Even Steve Dinan's new shop Carbanh no longer had the tools) couldn't do an EWS alignment. So here are my recommendations:

1) Find a shop that carries the correct tools or has experience doing EWS alignments on OBDI
2) You can outsource EWS alignment by pulling/sending the DME and EWS module (remove behind glovebox) to a specialist (i.e. RPM Motorsport)
3) Obtain an older M3 DME (red label) with ending "506" part number; and bypass EWS wire
4) Obtain a custom chip tune that doesn't have the EWS code; and bypass EWS wire (reach out to Hakentt here)

I would much prefer but ended up doing number 4) and used this method to bypass the EWS wire: Wire 7 delete BMW EWS - YouTube

[jaimerod]

My stock injectors arrived and I need to get a chip. Should I buy the TRM OBD1 EWS Delete chip and swap out my Dinan chip for that? Will that put everything back to stock, minus the EWS?

Is there another chip you would recommend? I feel like the $100 price tag for that is reasonable, but tbh I have never heard of TRM before. I just saw the link on the YouTube video bmwstephen sent.

[GG///M3]

My stock injectors arrived and I need to get a chip. Should I buy the TRM OBD1 EWS Delete chip and swap out my Dinan chip for that? Will that put everything back to stock, minus the EWS?

Is there another chip you would recommend? I feel like the $100 price tag for that is reasonable, but tbh I have never heard of TRM before. I just saw the link on the YouTube video bmwstephen sent.

Are you keeping the car completely stock?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[propcar]

My stock injectors arrived and I need to get a chip. Should I buy the TRM OBD1 EWS Delete chip and swap out my Dinan chip for that? Will that put everything back to stock, minus the EWS?

Is there another chip you would recommend? I feel like the $100 price tag for that is reasonable, but tbh I have never heard of TRM before. I just saw the link on the YouTube video bmwstephen sent.

TRM while being quiet these days was/is a reputable tuner. I've had their OBD2 tune with a few things eliminated, SAP, rear 02's, gas cap etc.

[jaimerod]

Are you keeping the car completely stock?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The car has already been modded by the previous owner.

My plan is to get it to run well and do all the maintenance. Once it's all squared away I'll probably start putting as much back to stock as possible. Specifically the stock turn signals, fender signals, and tail lights.

Some mods I want to do is put a Stromung exhaust, an intake, and rebuild the shifter since it's pretty sloppy!

[jaimerod]

I changed the injector to rebuilt Bosch 17.5 lb. stock injectors and restored the stock chip (TRM EWS Delete).

I'm pretty sure I messed something up because it's running very poorly and wants to stall right away. Sounds extremely rough and idle surges. Huge amount of hesitation.

I checked and the injector looks seated and the electronics are clipped i. I don't see any fuel leaks.

Did I just buy some shitty injectors? Any help would be appreciated. Here are 2 videos of it running after warming up for a couple mins.

* https://photos.app.goo.gl/Kebmz6yEzYL8TK216
* https://photos.app.goo.gl/ugMna12zj47vBjEC7

Stomp test shows 1281, but I think that's because I disconnected the battery before removing the DME.

[bmwstephen]

did you mess with the MAF?

[jaimerod]

I'll double check that in the morning. I do remember something I forgot. I still have the turbotronic 11 cable hooked up. Since it modifies the air/fuel signal, could that be the problem.

Does anyone have any information about how to remove it?

[pbonsalb]

Dinan Turbotronic is essentially a resistor in the HFM signal wire to that scaled HFM signal to allow larger injectors with the stock HFM. If you simply swapped stock 17.5 lb for stock spec 17.5 lb then I don’t see what the problem could be. If there were larger injectors, remove the Dinan box or cable with resistor and splice in wiring with no resistor.

[Braymond141]

Dinan Turbotronic is essentially a resistor in the HFM signal wire to that scaled HFM signal to allow larger injectors with the stock HFM. If you simply swapped stock 17.5 lb for stock spec 17.5 lb then I don’t see what the problem could be. If there were larger injectors, remove the Dinan box or cable with resistor and splice in wiring with no resistor.

The T11 is for scaling the injector pulse width seen by the OBC to calculate fuel economy. It is not the T9 MAF scaler you are thinking of.

Anything Dinan related on this car must be removed and the wiring returned back to stock. A Dinan T9 scaler will also be installed with a supercharger so this must also be found and removed.

[jaimerod]

I removed the Turbotronic 11 module that was velcroed to the ecu and reconnected the wires in the engine harness. However the same issue occurs.

If I disconnect the MAF everything runs great.

I searched for the T9 Scaler but I was unable to find it. I don't even know what it looks like or where to start the search. Any more information would be super helpful!

Thanks!!

[Braymond141]

I removed the Turbotronic 11 module that was velcroed to the ecu and reconnected the wires in the engine harness. However the same issue occurs.

If I disconnect the MAF everything runs great.

I searched for the T9 Scaler but I was unable to find it. I don't even know what it looks like or where to start the search. Any more information would be super helpful!

Thanks!!

My bad. On 95 there are no T9. It's a "T10" which is just a resistor in the MAF signal wire (yellow). You certainly have that in there still.

Peel the boot back on the MAF connector to get the wire look/color off pin 2. Trace that wire to the ECU and eventually you will find the resistor.

[jaimerod]

Got it! Mine was in tact and not broken into those pieces, but I found it, removed and soldered the wire together.

Now the car is running again!

Thanks to everyone for helping me fix this. You guys rock!