Old Blue 2002 (1974 BMW 2002 Content)

[mechdonald]

Spaceballs

[mr2peak]

If/when the car gets boost, I'm changing the Ludacris sign out for a Plaid one.

[deutschman]

Oh are you now... I didnt know this was your car ; )

[mr2peak]

My sweat, my blood, your money, your tears. What really defines ownership anyway? ;)

Some days I just have to live vicariously

[kronus]

Now that the engine is in and I am wiring I have run into two problems. 1 the starter is not contacting the flywheel and just spins, and 2 the steering linkage is now not long enough to connect to the steering column even though it was perfect before the motor was in.
Is there a way to adjust the starter or do I just have to get a different starter? I mean it could just be that the starter needs some shims. Ill have to check it out on Monday. The steering linkage is a much bigger problem.

So it's spinning but not engaging the flywheel? Which flywheel and starter?

Could be the solenoid that pushes the gear out is not.. doing that.

[deutschman]

Yep its the solenoid, but its not because the solenoid is broken because I tried it with two starters and the both do the same thing.
Is it possible for the starter to be wired in such a way that it spins but does not get pushed out?
The wiring is really really kicking my ass right now. I am getting really frustrated with it. I cant find any good diagrams, and when I do they are often a bit different then the wiring I actually have.
For example, these are the wires I have coming from my starter switch. The manual says I should have a black/yellow wire which I do not have.

(from left to right) green, violate, green/white, black, red.
I know the red is the +power from the battery. Then there should be one wire that only gets power when the key is turned all the way (the power to the starter), and two or three other wires that give constant power when the key is turned one click (to things like the coil).
Then there are four other wires that are smaller gauge and are brown, brown/blue, brown/green, and brown/red. One or two of them are for the seat belt warning light but I am not sure what the others are for.

I really just need to know why my damn starter is acting so weird. I have got the solenoid to work and push the gear out, but then it does not spin. When I get the gear to spin the solenoid does not push out the gear, and the starter will not stop spinning after the key goes back to the regular start position.
Electricity sucks!

[deutschman]

Maybe its the fact that the "Painless" wiring harness does not have unloader relays for the starter in it?

[deutschman]

Got the motor to crank today! Now why dont I have any spark?

So the plugs I got from Blunt had the wrong sized nipples that did not fit in the spark plug wires. Right now I am running the spark plugs with out any of those metal nipples on them at all. Could that cause them to not spark?

[kronus]

So what was the starter issue?

OEM-style plug wires are meant to accept threaded-type plug ends. That wouldn't cause it to not spark. Check that you have 12V going to the coil when cranking.

[deutschman]

So what was the starter issue?

OEM-style plug wires are meant to accept threaded-type plug ends. That wouldn't cause it to not spark. Check that you have 12V going to the coil when cranking.

Yep thats what I thought. Ill check for the 12v. Is there a quick way to tell if the ecu is getting power?
The starter was just wired wrong. I am using a "Painless" wiring harness so everything is a bit different then stock. I was just missing on wire that had been routed to the wrong part of the car.

[deutschman]

On a little side note the girl friends car got the new wheels today!
VMR V718 wheels with some Hankook Ventus V12 evo K110 XL in 225/40ZR -18 front and 245/40ZR -18 rear. I am really digging it! Now the car needs some H&R sport springs to bring it down maybe an inch or so.

[e30_neverstock]

sick

[deutschman]

I am still having a hard time getting spark. The fact that I have a very limited understanding of how an ecu works and exactly what it does, mixed with the fact that the e30 engine harness is being mixed with a Painless wiring harness has me walking in circles right now.
I got a pin out chart of the ECU, so tomorrow I am going to start at the ECU and work my way forwards. First I just want to make sure the ECU is getting the correct ground and power. Ones I know that Ill work up to the wires that go from the ECU to the coil and see what kind of power they are putting out. Then coil resistance test, spark plug wire test, and points test. Man what a head ache.
I am asuming that the ECU dictates when the coil fires. Is this right? So if the ECU were bad the coil might not get power.
Does the coil get its power strait from the ECU? I think there is a yellow/black wire that goes from the starter solenoid to the coil. Man this shit rubs me the wrong way. So much to keep track of.
I know I have fuel at the rail. How does one check if the injectors are firing?

[kronus]

injector test: plug in a spare injector, put it in a solo cup, crank the engine, see if fuel comes out.

Do you have a Motronic 1.0 or 1.3 harness? They're fairly different and have different debugging procedures.

[deutschman]

Ill have to check.