The complete repair, rebuild, repaint, and v8 swap of my early model sedan

[JGood]

Did you check your engine ground? Just a thought.

Yeah, when I pulled the engine I actually grinded down the surfaces to fresh metal again, and the cable itself is brand new.

[dirty30]

Yeah, when I pulled the engine I actually grinded down the surfaces to fresh metal again, and the cable itself is brand new.

Well once again I'm out of ideas!

[kts]

And I have no idea what "ignition secondary monitor" means. I can't find any info on it anywhere.

I've had that same code forever on my E36. I also was unable to find really any information on it. Tried a lot of things and replaced a ton of ignition parts on the car and that code still shows up on my E36. In the end I just started ignoring it, it doesn't seem to be affecting performance or drivability.

Maybe you'll luck out and discover what it is, my car still throws that code even after new coils, boots, ground wires, etc. I have my fingers crossed you can figure out what it is since I've given up.

I can't remember but have you replaced the crank position sensor? I had a few of those Ignition coil codes when my CPS was starting to go and the CPS code only occasionally would show up. Eventually replaced the CPS and all the ignition coil codes disappears as well, minus the "ignition secondary monitor" code that just won't go away.

[JGood]

I've had that same code forever on my E36. I also was unable to find really any information on it. Tried a lot of things and replaced a ton of ignition parts on the car and that code still shows up on my E36. In the end I just started ignoring it, it doesn't seem to be affecting performance or drivability.

Maybe you'll luck out and discover what it is, my car still throws that code even after new coils, boots, ground wires, etc. I have my fingers crossed you can figure out what it is since I've given up.

I can't remember but have you replaced the crank position sensor? I had a few of those Ignition coil codes when my CPS was starting to go and the CPS code only occasionally would show up. Eventually replaced the CPS and all the ignition coil codes disappears as well, minus the "ignition secondary monitor" code that just won't go away.

I did, with an OEM part. I did that because the old one died within about 10 minutes of getting the car fired up when I first did the swap (which I found odd), and the car wouldn't re-start. Doesn't mean the new one isn't faulty though...

[kts]

Could be worth checking out with an ohmmeter to see if the new one is within spec. Being new and an OEM part I would think it's fine, perhaps its something else causing those Ignition coil codes. Have a spare DME to try as well? (apologies if you have already tried swapping DMEs, I know you did a lot of debug work and at the moment don't have time to search through your thread to see what you have tried.)

[JGood]

I think I figured it out. Check this out:

Ignition circuit monitoring
---------------------------

The task of ignition circuit monitoring is to detect misfiring cylinder-selectively (self-diagnosis) and to prevent damage to the catalytic converter. Exhaust gas emissions cannot deteriorate because fuel injection is cut out for the cylinder concerned.
The secondary circuit monitoring feature operates with a "shunt" (resistor in the common secondary ground line of the 8 ignition coils). The voltage progression at the shunt is transferred to the control unit for each cylinder.
If after successful ignition (cylinder-selective primary circuit monitoring ok.) the threshold voltage for misfiring detection (5V) is not reached, the defect code is set, the defect lamp activated (US models only) and the relevant injection output stage is switched off.

Info pulled from here:

http://www.bmw7resource.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6812.0;wap2

That resister they are talking about, I cut that out. It was located in the wire harness, just a small rectangle on one of the ground wires. I did this because on my friends m50 e34, that resister cracked in half, and caused the car to run terribly, and I wired around it on his car. It ran fine after that. I thought maybe this was the cause of my problems, so I cut it out and spliced the ground wire back together. I did this late last year right before tearing my car apart, and it didn't make a difference, but I never wired it back in because it didn't seem to cause any ill effects. I realize now that was a stupid thing to do, BMW wouldn't have put it there if it wasn't needed.

I bet that's why I'm getting these codes, because the monitoring system isn't functioning properly without it. So, now I need to wire one back in. Doh!

[Jean]

:) Get on it !

[bradnic]

NICE find. a quick question for you guys. wouldn't an ODBII setup provide more diagnostic info in a case like this? I've read Justin's thread a few times now and know all the trouble he's gone through sorting things.

not trying to cause trouble here btw. just trying to learn something.

[JGood]

NICE find. a quick question for you guys. wouldn't an ODBII setup provide more diagnostic info in a case like this? I've read Justin's thread a few times now and know all the trouble he's gone through sorting things.

not trying to cause trouble here btw. just trying to learn something.

OBD-II comes with EWS, which is a whole new world of hassles. The m62's also have milder cams, and a single row timing chain. And you'd need to swap a bunch of misc parts over to m60 parts anyway (water pump, for example). The only real benefit of m62's is the extra .4 liters of displacement and the OBD-II diagnostics. Everything else kinda sucks.

It's really not a big deal, nobody else has these problems, this is just my luck. I spent 3 years battling Vanos problems on my m50 swap, problems that nobody else in the world has. That's just my life, haha.

[JGood]

Well, I wired the ground wire resister back in, and all of the coil pack codes went away. But I still have the "secondary ignition monitor" code.

On top of that, none of the work I did this winter actually fixed anything. The hesitation is still there with the stock DME, and the stalling issue is still there with the DME that has the DUDMD chip in it. The only thing I haven't tried yet is a factory 6-speed 540i DME. That may be the next step. Maybe the tune on the DUDMD chip isn't agreeing with my engine, and maybe the automatic chip is causing the hesitation (maybe it's tuned to give slow throttle response in order to not damage the trans?) Just a thought. I'll need to think it over and see if I can find an e34 540i manual trans DME in the mean time.


I had a friend paint my strut bar, and repaint my rear wing since it cracks in it. Everything turned out great! Just had to do a little trimming of the engine cover.

[dirty30]

Well hey, at least it looks good!

[bradnic]

The only real benefit of m62's is the extra .4 liters of displacement and the OBD-II diagnostics. Everything else kinda sucks.

I guess that sums up current informed thinking - most of the M6X swaps out there clearly stick with M60/OBD-I.

I've got a M62TU on the way though - it was alot cheaper than several M60B40s I was looking at, probably because everyone wants the M60s. I'm also an electrical geek so not ready to give up on the EWS just yet. The drive by wire throttle's obviously a major concern. A functioning VANOS is appealing for the flatter torque curve and better fuel economy despite that added displacement. I'm not doing my swap for max hp.

So guess I'll probably end up OBD-1 in the end, but not ready to give up yet.

[bradnic]

Absolutely gorgeous Justin. Incredibly beautiful car.

[slammin.e28]

With EWS just get the coded key and attach the EWS chip from the key to the sensor ring. I have a friend who is running around with an EWS M60 in his e34 wagon like this. Reason being is I gave him a Turner chipped EWS ECU.

[bradnic]

With EWS just get the coded key and attach the EWS chip from the key to the sensor ring. I have a friend who is running around with an EWS M60 in his e34 wagon like this. Reason being is I gave him a Turner chipped EWS ECU.

Thanks for confirming this. That's indeed my plan for my M62TU, with the added VANOS headache, weak timing chain and cam compared to the M60 etc. All the M60 swap info I've read had scared the cr@p out of me.

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