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at the end of my rope with random issues, considering cutting my losses and moving on

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    at the end of my rope with random issues, considering cutting my losses and moving on

    I don't even know where to begin at this point. never has this swap ran properly since day 1. I'm really sad and pissed off that I'm beginning to regret doing it at all. /vent

    I have an S50/ZF, both engine & trans are fully rebuilt, clutch is feramic south bend with low miles. should have done more while the motor was out, but I couldn't.

    idle has been rough, I had to increase it to about 8-900rpm for any hope of smoothness. idle also increased after warmup. I've always suspected vac leaks but have been putting off a shop visit until my major issues are dealt with - terrible lifter tick that I suspect stems from internal pressure loss, hopefully a new secondary chain tensioner helps but I may need new lifters which is another very expensive proposition.

    anyways, today I changed out the throttle body because my original was junky, didn't return to the stop reliably, and I wanted to freshen it up and put in a new gasket. I also changed the CCV, because I noticed oil buildup and of course I found a little pool of oil inside the intake. Really though, I'm not sure I can fault the CCV for anything but a weak seal... I don't see how that OBD1 design can possibly ensure that oil doesn't enter the intake. I also changed the coolant temp sensor, likely responsible for the odd warmup idle change. I already have a new ICV and all new rubber.

    first impression - relief. idle behavior seems normal and smoother. but that feeling didn't last long....

    as soon as I tried for a bit of thrust, I got this strange vibration/hesitation/misfire/breakup that I've been feeling increasingly since the swap. happened once in the first 4 months, twice in the latter 2 months, and then has been occurring off-and-on in the past week. as I go beyond maybe 20% throttle, the engine chokes, stutters, and gutlessly hesitates in a constant sort of way. see video:



    you can hear it but the feeling is dramatic.

    first time this happened was in first gear taking off. I let off the throttle, re-selected the gear and it was fine for a long time. later, it would be up to 3rd gear in higher-load situations (see video), and now if it happens it even seems noticable revving in neutral. fuel delivery? I was thinking fuel pump, but then just now I got an audible knocking from the area of the transmission as it stuttered in first gear, perhaps driveshaft vibration or something like that? guibo and CSB are new.

    I'm at a loss, in more ways than one. dealing with the ever-nearing doom of a qty 24 lifter purchase on top of either DIY'ing it (never done cams before) or paying for the labor has been rough enough.... now I have new problems with no idea what the cause could be. I spend way too much time researching problems on r3v and bimmerforums. does anyone want to buy a very clean alpine S50-swapped 4-door? it's like I'm being teased with how nearly the car is to being great, and I don't have the time to put in to get it there. at this point I definitely could have bought a 100k mile E46 M3 and simply maintained that. facepalm doesn't begin to describe...
    Last edited by butters; 01-22-2012, 04:22 PM.

    #2
    Did you wire in a MIL? Are there any codes present?

    Comment


      #3
      there's a weird story for that too..... yes the wiring job is great, nando spliced the harness, no adapter present and the diagnostic plug is in the factory location.

      to answer your question, no codes are present.

      in the past, normal circumstance would be the car running well cold, warming up to a 850rpm idle, and if I sat at a light or idling for more than say, 20 seconds, the MIL came on. stomp test - 1216 TPS code - fire up again and it's gone. new TB had a TPS in it, I hope to not see the 1216 code anymore.

      Comment


        #4
        injector harness ground in good condition??
        I saved 15% on my Bimmer parts by switching to ...



        Comment


          #5
          well, it's interesting that this didn't throw a code.

          it got bad enough that I was sure I wasn't running on all cylinders. disconnected the #1 coil connector, no change in stumbling... bingo. disconnecting it did throw the code. pulled the coil - standing water. likely dripped in off the hood one of the many times I've opened it with the car all wet. dried everything up and swapped the coil out and all seems normal. the new TB and new coolant temp sensor really helped the idle behavior. what remains of the stumbliness I hope will turn up in a smoke test as a vac issue.

          injector harness ground is absent, I'm waiting on it as well as hardware for my coil cover from the motherland, should be here any day.

          so that video is what driving on 5 cylinders under load sounds like. hopefully the audible knock did no harm. sorry for the frustrating rant of a thread...

          Comment


            #6
            I had the same problem this morning - Was at a 1/4 tank and figured it was bad gas or something. Filled up and after a short drive it went away.

            Comment


              #7
              Dude it's choking on fuel. When was the last time the filter or pump was serviced?

              Get a FP tester and hook it up inline on the feed to the rail, start car and it should go straight to 40~lbs. git the butterfly and it should rise to almost 50psi off idle. if it rises and then starts dropping and the motor cuts out, get a ew pump and filter.

              I like the $50 autoteq 255LPH 140psi pumps on ebay. Feed 60 psi constant to the S52 with 3.5" maf and 24lb 4 pintle injectors.
              Originally posted by 325Projectz
              don't listen to the diagram... listen to mr. swiss.
              :nice:

              Comment


                #8
                pump is likely factory, I should put it on my "list". fuel filter is new.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Could you cliff notes your diagnosis process into a bullet system? Thanks.


                  Check for your 3 major needs.

                  Fuel
                  Spark
                  Air

                  I would start with fuel pressure.
                  Past Car : E30 S50 6 Speed 5 Lug 3.73
                  Current : Z3 S50 OBD2 (Smog Legal) 6 Speed BBS RN Dual Ear Diff
                  ___________________________________________
                  BNB Designs
                  Engine Swaps, Fabrication, Innovation, General Repair
                  Richmond CA
                  Julian 848-248-8029

                  Comment


                    #10
                    I had a problem with a misfire. Ended up being my own fault. Took the injector haress off and when i put it back on, i bent one of the injectors pins.

                    How is your vent for the fuel tank hooked up?
                    1985 325e M50TU(Sold)
                    1991 318is Slicktop (Sold)
                    1990 325is Brilliantrot S50/5 Lug Swapped.
                    1992 525i Manual shitbox Winter Beater

                    Comment


                      #11
                      You don't have many problems. You should take a break.

                      Find a good enthusiast in the philly area. If you were on the west coast you could bring it to the shop (well you can if you want to ship it)
                      Past Car : E30 S50 6 Speed 5 Lug 3.73
                      Current : Z3 S50 OBD2 (Smog Legal) 6 Speed BBS RN Dual Ear Diff
                      ___________________________________________
                      BNB Designs
                      Engine Swaps, Fabrication, Innovation, General Repair
                      Richmond CA
                      Julian 848-248-8029

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by TimKninja View Post
                        How is your vent for the fuel tank hooked up?
                        this vent has been set up per the E36 OE. ran to the charcoal canister, which was hooked up to the purge valve. I installed a new TB which had the purge nipple capped, and decided that I would try it out as-is and have one less opportunity for a vac leak. I'll probably reconnect the purge line to the intake once everything is sorted.

                        Originally posted by jrdeamicis View Post
                        You don't have many problems. You should take a break.

                        Find a good enthusiast in the philly area. If you were on the west coast you could bring it to the shop (well you can if you want to ship it)
                        I wish I could take a break but it's my daily. I set myself up for this, thinking I could swap it in no problems, and then thinking a rebuild would solve all the problems I had. wrong.

                        I'm in portland OR now, and I've had lucky finding a few good enthusiasts, but it still comes down to time and money.

                        new TB & ECT sensor have finally provided proper idle & warmup functionality. problem of a *shaky* 600rpm idle now comes into play. I didn't tweak the idle set screw on the new/used TB hoping that I could idle my engine at the normal speed. perhaps a vac leak is to blame, but considering that I'm relatively steady at 600-650rpm I don't see how. I need to address my noisy valvetrain, and then just drop the car at a good shop to diagnose the little nitpicky things. I'm frustrated because I've simply gone beyond an already-high budget and the car runs far from perfectly. pretty much stems from a mystery motor and then trying to fix things one at a time rather than doing all of the "while I'm in there" things. a lesson learned the hard way.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          I have similar problems with my rough idle and stuttering...only when my ICV is plugged in. if I unhook my ICV my engine runs/operates near perfect. see what happens if you unhook it, keep me posted. thanks

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