HELP e30 m3 s52 swap - Runs but - Coolant Temp Gauge not working... toltally stumped.
Hello all: So we're just finishing up an OBD1 swapped s52 into an e30 m3. The car runs, pulls awesome, very fast. Everything seems to be pretty sorted except for the temperature gauge. Its the only thing keeping me from daily driving the car as I don't want to kill the motor. Here's what I've diagnosed so far.
So! Yes the thermostat is facing the right way with the spring on the motor side. I took the thermostat out completely, hooked everything up and drove the car... thinking this would indefinitely move the fluid around getting any final air bubbles out of the system. When I did this I only tightened the thermostat housing with 2 screws (being lazy), this was good though for the test, because I got steaming water coming from the housing so I knew it was getting hot. If its hot... the gauge should work.
The gauge doesn't budge. So I don't know if I'm overheating my motor or not. Hell my water-pump may be toast and I don't know. Even if the water-pump wasn't working I feel like I should still see some movement at this point in the gauge.
Any ideas on how to fix this would be awesome... I'm stumped.
I guess I could try a new temp sensors.. but its a pain to get to without taking the intake off... again, and I'd have to use a properly threaded / modified one. So... bad sensor? bad in car gauge? ideas?
Oh yeah.. I did the whole "jacking the front end of the car up" and "holding the coolant reservoir as high as you can" "and fill the radiator with coolant by poring coolany into the upper hose" to bleed the system as well.
- Wiring = good: Double checked pin 4 on the c101 (brown / violet) to pin 12 (brown / violet). I spliced the e36 harness instead of making an adapter. Those are good. I checked the connector at the sensor end and it was brown / violet. I took my test light with the car on and it lit up on both at the connector and at the c101 pin 4. So Wiring checks out.
- Gauge = The temp gauge worked before the swap.
- Temp Sensor = I'm using a brand new temp sensor from Market Motorworks that was threaded to fit in the old throttle body coolant line spot.
- Thermostat = Brand new thermostat. I TESTED the thermostat by boiling water and dropping it in. It opened... great.
So! Yes the thermostat is facing the right way with the spring on the motor side. I took the thermostat out completely, hooked everything up and drove the car... thinking this would indefinitely move the fluid around getting any final air bubbles out of the system. When I did this I only tightened the thermostat housing with 2 screws (being lazy), this was good though for the test, because I got steaming water coming from the housing so I knew it was getting hot. If its hot... the gauge should work.
The gauge doesn't budge. So I don't know if I'm overheating my motor or not. Hell my water-pump may be toast and I don't know. Even if the water-pump wasn't working I feel like I should still see some movement at this point in the gauge.
Any ideas on how to fix this would be awesome... I'm stumped.
I guess I could try a new temp sensors.. but its a pain to get to without taking the intake off... again, and I'd have to use a properly threaded / modified one. So... bad sensor? bad in car gauge? ideas?
Oh yeah.. I did the whole "jacking the front end of the car up" and "holding the coolant reservoir as high as you can" "and fill the radiator with coolant by poring coolany into the upper hose" to bleed the system as well.
Comment