BMW E36 328i Turbo project - having trouble starting engine...

[Jackmcl]

About 18 months ago I began the project, with very little background in this type of thing; but I'm a quick learner!

First of all apologies if I sound like a complete newbie - I'm out of my comfort zone when it comes to electronics and programming, so please keep it simple with the VEMS language - I'm still very much at the bottom of the learning curve here!

I'm having trouble getting her to start, but first I'll start with the spec:

M52 aluminium block / cylinder head
ARP head studs & Cometics 0.140" MLS head gasket



Custom made exhaust manifold


Single Vanos - (haven't got as far as wiring this in yet...)


M50 manifold


and custom made pipework from turbo outlet through intercooler and into intake manifold.
Front mount intercooler and aftermarket oil cooler


Currently using a cheap universal turbo for the mock-ups - I have a Holset HX40 waiting to go on, once I can get the thing running!
38mm external wastegate with screamer pipe


Vems loom going in




and powering up



Basically - the engine cranks on the key, but I'm not getting any ignition...
I loaded a config file base map sent to me by @gunni and he's currently taking a look at it for me to help me get it started
Does anyone have any suggestions?

[stroft]

OK. Can you see rpm during the cranking ? It should be around 200rpm.

[Jackmcl]

Yeah, the rpm gauge shows values, can't remember the exact figures I've seen during cranking but around 200rpm sounds about right. Is it meant to show exactly 200?

[gunni]

Hi Jack. Where are you located again? Maybe I should just visit to help you get it going.

[Jackmcl]

I would love you to Gunni, but I'm in Guernsey in the Channel Islands, so wouldn't be just a quick trip down the road! You'd need to come via ferry or airplane 

[mattias]

Use the error report tool (Help menu in VemsTune) to publish a triggerlog (Tools menu), and vemslog of cranking the engine. Do that and chances are greater someone will chime in and help.

[Joof]

I've seen you received a bit of help on bmw .co.uk forum and you're obviously in good hands with gunni but I thought I'd throw this out there...

Are you triggering the dme relay?  (Otherwise you won't get fuel pump or coil power)

Good luck!

[Jackmcl]

Thanks for the responses so far guys, tomorrow I'm hoping to get a spare hour or so to work on her.
First step I'm going to hard wire the fuel pump to test if its issues with the feed to the pump.
Then I'll try to do a triggerlog.

Joof - I probably sound a bit dim here as I'm not fully up to speed with how this works, can you elaborate a bit more on this 'triggering the dime relay' point you made. What am I meant to be looking for here? What mistake could I have made?

Thanks

[Joof]

As an illustration of the concept and So we're on the same page (I'm looking at page 120 of this http://wedophones.com/Manuals/BMW/1996%20BMW%20318is-c%20-%20320i%20-%20325i-c%20-%20328i-c%20%20Electrical%20Troubleshooting%20Manual.pdf) 1210.10-b 

Pin 55 Output to DME -relay signal (Engine control module relay) needs to activated otherwise the coils, injectors and fuel pump will not receive power.

This is for the MS40 box (I don't know what type of DME they used originally on your car, as from briefly looking through that manual they also have the M3.3.1
 dme pinout.  For the m3.3.1 it is showing as pin 27 from the original dme harness. (page 134, 1210.13-a)  But again you'll need to verify for your model.


I wired this into one of the p259 channels and I set this in the waterpump function of VEMSTune.  When the key is on and vems is powered up it grounds that relay providing power to the fuel pump relay, coils + injectors.

Did you do something like this?

[Sukhoi]

I can see v3-twinshieldharness in photos, so why would he use the Stock DME relay! I would connect the stock relays in case am using the stock harness! in this case the blue 2.5mm wire will be the wire that activates the fuel pump.

[Joof]

oops!

I didn't even look at the pictures  Sorry for the useless info

[Jackmcl]

That's right Sukhoi, I ordered the twin sheild harness from the vems website and indeed used the blue wire from the 'new' relays to the fuel pump.
I hope this is the correct way to do it?

Unfortunately a friend helped me with the wiring for this (actually he did most of it for me...) this friend now lives in Australia, so is unable to help me finish it ( although I doubt anything he did was incorrect, as he is very competent at ths sort of thing) but I'm having to trace back over a lot of it to make sure...

[Jackmcl]

Thanks for the effort though Joof.
I was just starting to understand your suggestion, and getting excited that it may be a solution!

[Sukhoi]

Its better to do as Mattias says, post the logs.

Jackmcl <- are these knock marks on piston #1?

[Jackmcl]

Sukhoi - I don't think so.
I ran the engine initially on the standard engine management, on (very) low boost with the standard headgasket for a very short period of time (so i suppose it's possible they're caused by this - but hope not.)
When I stripped the head off after this, I noticed quite a build up of soot on all pistons, but these marks were not present. And as the build took some time, it spent a while with all pistons exposed to the air - I assume this is when these marks appeared, maybe a build up of some form of corrosion...? They buffed off quite easily before I put the head back on...