Hey R3v, need some suggestions on one of my buddies cars.
The car is a 1990 325i (was an automatic originally but should not matter for the problem at hand) with a 1997 S52 engine swap. It is kind of a long story, but the swap was originally done by a "shop" into his 1st E30 before he bought it. After an unfortunate wreck, he bought the 1990 auto complete car and I swapped over all the engine/driveline/suspension bits from the wrecked car which I parted out (red 4dr some may remember). During my swap I found numerous things that weren't done correctly or at least adequately enough for me and upgraded them for him.
Anyway, since my swap process into the 1990 chassis, the car has run very well and needed very little. Just recently though it had some charging and starting issues which proved to be a bad alternator. Problem went away until recently when it would just rapidly click when trying to start. Jumping or charging the battery made NO difference. Swapped in a good battery but the only difference was that instead of clicking the engine turned over but very slowly and seemingly with a lot of resistance. Got some smoke off the starter so naturally I concluded the starter was shot.
So, I bought a new battery and a new starter and it was starting great for about a week until it did the rapid click thing again. Now it rapidly clicks every time again and jumping/charging the battery still has no effect. The car pop starts and runs just fine with a push down a hill, but as soon as I shut it off an go to restart it, it just clicks. I did find a melted ground wire which I replaced, but nothing changed.
Ive done alternator, battery, starter, and the ignition switch. I never touched any of the wiring harness during my swap so I am worried that possibly the shop that built it originally might have half-assed something in there that is causing the issue? Any suggestions/recommendations would be appreciated or any similar issues and their solutions.
Thanks!
Z
For reference, these are some old pictures but the car in question is the white one which now has the S52. Red is the wrecked 4dr engine-and-bits donor:
The car is a 1990 325i (was an automatic originally but should not matter for the problem at hand) with a 1997 S52 engine swap. It is kind of a long story, but the swap was originally done by a "shop" into his 1st E30 before he bought it. After an unfortunate wreck, he bought the 1990 auto complete car and I swapped over all the engine/driveline/suspension bits from the wrecked car which I parted out (red 4dr some may remember). During my swap I found numerous things that weren't done correctly or at least adequately enough for me and upgraded them for him.
Anyway, since my swap process into the 1990 chassis, the car has run very well and needed very little. Just recently though it had some charging and starting issues which proved to be a bad alternator. Problem went away until recently when it would just rapidly click when trying to start. Jumping or charging the battery made NO difference. Swapped in a good battery but the only difference was that instead of clicking the engine turned over but very slowly and seemingly with a lot of resistance. Got some smoke off the starter so naturally I concluded the starter was shot.
So, I bought a new battery and a new starter and it was starting great for about a week until it did the rapid click thing again. Now it rapidly clicks every time again and jumping/charging the battery still has no effect. The car pop starts and runs just fine with a push down a hill, but as soon as I shut it off an go to restart it, it just clicks. I did find a melted ground wire which I replaced, but nothing changed.
Ive done alternator, battery, starter, and the ignition switch. I never touched any of the wiring harness during my swap so I am worried that possibly the shop that built it originally might have half-assed something in there that is causing the issue? Any suggestions/recommendations would be appreciated or any similar issues and their solutions.
Thanks!
Z
For reference, these are some old pictures but the car in question is the white one which now has the S52. Red is the wrecked 4dr engine-and-bits donor:
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