Help! Car wont start after 5 speed swap

[deeze30]

Ok so today we finally removed the cancer in my e30 after long days of work put in i can now say i have a 5 speed BUT to my excitement for the first time, i put in the key, stepped on clutch and nothing.. Car does not even turn over, no sound, no clicking or anything. Brake fluid light flashes intermittently while i crank the key but thats about it. Im thinkin maybe battery is low? But i can still roll windows down although car hasnt been ran for 2 weeks almost due to swap. What else can it be? Does it have to do anything with the swap itself? Maybe bad starter? Another thing is my clutch is way too soft not sure if thats normal. I need help guys, so excited to drive my e30 as stickshift and now that im all done i cant :(

[James Crivellone]

Ok so today we finally removed the cancer in my e30 after long days of work put in i can now say i have a 5 speed BUT to my excitement for the first time, i put in the key, stepped on clutch and nothing.. Car does not even turn over, no sound, no clicking or anything. Brake fluid light flashes intermittently while i crank the key but thats about it. Im thinkin maybe battery is low? But i can still roll windows down although car hasnt been ran for 2 weeks almost due to swap. What else can it be? Does it have to do anything with the swap itself? Maybe bad starter? Another thing is my clutch is way too soft not sure if thats normal. I need help guys, so excited to drive my e30 as stickshift and now that im all done i cant :(

Under the knee bolster follow the wiring from the ignition switch to a connector (usually clips to the steering column itself)

On that plug is a Black/Yellow wire. Now if you follow that you will see a secondary harness that plugs into that, this is the automatic transmission harness. As you no longer have the gear selector the relay stays open on that harness (the car does not think it is in Park)

Simply Remove the automatic transmission harness, and plug the Black/Yellow wire directly into the ignition switch. If you remove the auto harness you will be left with one Black/Yellow wire, simply plug that into the same spot you removed the other side of the automatic harness from the ignition switch and you will be good to go.

[deeze30]

Under the knee bolster follow the wiring from the ignition switch to a connector (usually clips to the steering column itself)

On that plug is a Black/Yellow wire. Now if you follow that you will see a secondary harness that plugs into that, this is the automatic transmission harness. As you no longer have the gear selector the relay stays open on that harness (the car does not think it is in Park)

Simply Remove the automatic transmission harness, and plug the Black/Yellow wire directly into the ignition switch. If you remove the auto harness you will be left with one Black/Yellow wire, simply plug that into the same spot you removed the other side of the automatic harness from the ignition switch and you will be good to go.

Is it this one? Theres just so many wires down there not sure thats the one. Also that blck and yellow wire leads to more wires bunched up together which then leads to a relay instead of a connector. Also i have not wired up the reverse light wiring harness yet, does this make a difference?

[James Crivellone]

Is it this one? Theres just so many wires down there not sure thats the one. Also that blck and yellow wire leads to more wires bunched up together which then leads to a relay instead of a connector. Also i have not wired up the reverse light wiring harness yet, does this make a difference?

Yep, thats the one, unplug that, and go to the ignition switch harness, unplug the black wire there and plug this one in.

[deeze30]

Yep, thats the one, unplug that, and go to the ignition switch harness, unplug the black wire there and plug this one in.

okay what i did is i did the reverse light wiring harness near the shifter and i unplugged that blk and yellow wire. basically followed this guide by NOKE325 here http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=108141

and she starts! :) but now it seems like i have a bigger problem... i'm not sure if we bled the clutch enough because clutch is soft and ALSO when car is running and i press on clutch and try to shift the gear to 1st 2nd or any of the other gears it does not seem to engage for some reason but if i try to keep the shifter on 1st 2nd 3r 4th or 5th position by holding it with my hand the car moves slightly like it wants to go and RPM goes up. The car seems like it wants to move its just seems like its not engaging. Not sure if i messed up somewhere during the mating of getrag260 to flywheel,clutch and PP side of the engine.

[James Crivellone]

okay what i did is i did the reverse light wiring harness near the shifter and i unplugged that blk and yellow wire. basically followed this guide by NOKE325 here http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=108141

and she starts! :) but now it seems like i have a bigger problem... i'm not sure if we bled the clutch enough because clutch is soft and ALSO when car is running and i press on clutch and try to shift the gear to 1st 2nd or any of the other gears it does not seem to engage for some reason but if i try to keep the shifter on 1st 2nd 3r 4th or 5th position by holding it with my hand the car moves slightly like it wants to go and RPM goes up. The car seems like it wants to move its just seems like its not engaging. Not sure if i messed up somewhere during the mating of getrag260 to flywheel,clutch and PP side of the engine.

His guide is pretty solid, although I just remove the harness instead of keeping it like him.

Either option works

[deeze30]

His guide is pretty solid, although I just remove the harness instead of keeping it like him.

Either option works

Do you happen to have an idea of my second problem? been a great help tho thanks

[jlevie]

The clutch isn't disengaging. I would say air, but you did bleed the clutch so I'm going with a bad master cylinder. If it was used part the odds of it being bad go up.

[deeze30]

The clutch isn't disengaging. I would say air, but you did bleed the clutch so I'm going with a bad master cylinder. If it was used part the odds of it being bad go up.

Is there any way to troubleshoot if my master is actually bad before i buy a new one? I read somewhere that you can crimp the rubber hose from the slave and if pedal is hard then master is good but if soft then its bad.

[deeze30]

i uploaded a vid on youtube just to show a bit more of the problem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EadYrb7BcE&feature=youtu.be

[jlevie]

Is there any way to troubleshoot if my master is actually bad before i buy a new one? I read somewhere that you can crimp the rubber hose from the slave and if pedal is hard then master is good but if soft then its bad.

If you don't see a leak in the soft lines or at the slave cylinder and the clutch has been bleed, the only possibility left is the master cylinder.

[deeze30]

she runs guys! :D i simply removed the slave cylinder off the bellhousing and pushed the rod down flat with my hand as far as i can and slowly let off and all i heard was bubbles coming from the reservoir. Now i can definitely say that my pedal is in operating condition, started her up, depressed clutch, put in gear and off i go :mrgreen: I gotta say that this was my first 5 speed and it was quite the experience and made me get to know the car better. I've a motor swap before on a del sol, my first car, but for some reason this swap took longer than i expected. I can officially say that i now drive a 5 speed e30 :up:

[phillye30fanboy]

I just did an M50 + manual swap to my 1988 325 that was an automatic. Do I need to do this as well? The M50 came from an automatic E34 if that matters.

Remove the connector with the solid black wire that goes into the last spot on the ignition switch plug and in its place put the plug with black and yellow wire that has the same style connector into that last slot.

gives you this

Am I Correct?

[phillye30fanboy]

It worked, this got my baby to crank. Happiest kid ever right here, thanks guys!