E30 Zone

Hi Everybody.
Bought an e30 320i some months back now. And the Cam belt snapped after a few weeks ... So i figured may aswell put a bigger engine in

A week later i wrote off my 200sx s13, that had a BMW 525i engine fitted from an auto car, but was converted to manual before it went into the nissan.


A friend is doing most of the work as he fitted the engine into the nissan.. Obvouly the best man for the job ... We've got on well with the convertion :

Engine and gearbox bolted it.
Propshaft made up and fitted
Electrical wireing is 80% complete, its just temp guages inside the car that need finishing

So basicly, if the engine ran in the nissan it should now run in the BMW, but it does not . Ignition turns on, engine spins over on the key, but it wont fire atall.

We seem to have very good fuel pressure from the origional E30 fuel pump !

The engine will run however if easy start is sprayed into to inlet, it just wont run on its own fuel. After looking further into it we have found that there is no pulse on any of the wires at the injectors!

Someone told me a few days back that these engines have two crank angle sensors. 1 for ignition and one for fueling. Is this right, and where the injector pulse comes from ?

The nissan had fairly heavy front end damage so maybe this sensor was damage if the information ive been given is correct.

If im looking in the wrong areas here, any ideas as to why the engine wont run on its own fuel would be very much appreciated

Thanks everyone

What age is the engine? (What reg. car and what model did the engine originally come from?)

Hi i dont know much about the donor car unfortunatly ...
I know it was a 525i auto.
L reg (would be my guess)
its got the variable valve timing "vanos" !?!?

Any ideas ? thanks !

looks like this :

What colour label is on the engine ECU (413?)

Its not an EWS issue Brian, looks like a red label

Has the loom been removed? Crank sensor disconnected?

I will take some pics of the ECU if it helps ? The loom was attached to the engine at all times during the engine swap...

I've not touched the crank sensor. But the engine runs on easy start, so im assuming theres no problems with the fireing order "spark"....

A local mechanic thinks the pulse for the injectors comes from a different sensor, but he's not enirely sure about this



I dont have any decent wireing explanations I printed a 510 page PDF file, but the bits we need to know aren't very clear... So we're abit lost with the fuel delivery systems

Can i help you help me by photographing anything ??? Or can anyone think of any parts i could check or change ?

Thanks alot people

Wiring diagrams here: http://www.autolib.diakom.ru/CAR/BMW/ click on the drop down box.
Only one crank position sensor for both sparks and injectors.
Fuel pipes the right way around?

Thanks for the link ! that may well come in handy ...

Wondered about the fuel lines, but didnt want to question my mates inteligence. Think ill have to do that !

Thanks for your time, ill see how we get on next time we attack the problem

That's a problem answering tech. queries for someone who's new on here. I have no idea of the level of technical competence or knowledge, or even the level of general intelligence of whom I'm replying to!
I can get some idea from reading the person's posts ( a pass in this case), but it's difficult to judge at what level to pitch the reply.
It's a common misconception that the fuel pressure regulator controls the pressure of fuel fed to the injector fuel rail on a two pipe fuel feed system, but it doesn't. Fuel is fed directly to the rail at whatever pressure the fuel pump can manage, and the pressure is controlled by bleeding off the excess fuel and returning it to the tank.

Turn the engine over with the injectors out see if they are squirting.

The fuel line from ur fuel filter should go to the front of ur injector rail and the other fuel line to the back of injector rail. If that makes sense.

Perfect sense thanks mate. Not had chance for another look yet, but will investigate all this soon

I have just had a very similar issue... What AFM are you using?

My car would fire but die constantly until I matched the AFM with the ECU... I was getting fuel/spark I had power at all injectors but it just would not run... I then borrowed another AFM and bingo it went.

You may need the AFM from the 525i as the electrics coming from your ECU my not be compatible with the electrics in the AFM you are using, having said that what AFM did you use in the Nissan?

Thanks for that mate ! It is the AFM thats always been with the engine. But it was in a collision before the engine swap which wrecked the cone filter that was attached....

Could be damaged !!
Will try changing it

Bare in mind its probably something to do with what Brian and Dan where talking about with the ECU

Yea, im keeping all the above in mind for when i get chance to look into it again. I have tried a different ecu, but that didnt cure the problem. And my ecu wouldnt run the car that came off either :s. was a non vanos though. From an older car....

Probably completely different ecus, although the plugs were the same.

Yea vanos and non vanos differenet they use different ecu mate

A non vanos wont run a vanos and a vanos wont run a non vanos

U said the car had a crash, did it damage the crank sensor on the front of your engine?

I havn't had a good look at the sensor !.... But being as my mate has had the engine fire on "easy-start" ive disregarded that this may be a problem for the time being..

Have u checked for fuel squirting from the injectors yet?

All the parts That was running the engine are still on the engine?

U may just have fuel lines connected wrong mate and its not getting fuel to fire up on