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E30 M52


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I will probably take you up on the spare sensor. 

Just to start covering my bases I began going through the suite of sensor tests in the E36 Bentley to check the resistance and reference voltage on the following sensors:
Throtte Position Sensor
Coolant Temp Sensor
Intake Temp Sensor
Mass Airflow Sensor (voltage and ground test)

Everything checks out good with those. Tomorrow I will start on the oxygen sensor +related wiring testing procedures. 

 

 

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I used the car to run some errands and put another few miles on with the o2 unplugged. I think I have full confidence in the cooling system now. After driving, I idled in the driveway for 5 minutes with no fan and the temp stayed at 200 F (92 C thermostat). Then I tried it in the garage with hotter stagnant air and no fan and with about 10 minutes of idling. It got up around 210 F slowly but switching the fan on brought it back down to 200.

 

The ellipsoid I cracked the other day has been replaced.

I did a little fine adjustment on the suspension by leveling out the ride height a bit with different spring hats and spring pads. Theres a little more to do on the rear but I have the fronts leveled with eachother. They were about 3/4” different before when measuring the fender to the ground .

I may have a new lifeline for getting the exhaust tucked up a bit more, and hopefully before the E30 picnic.

 

im content driving around with the o2 sensor unplugged for now but I do need to replaces these brakes pretty soon. 

 

Still no oil leaks on this engine which seems miraculous. The 24V definitely seems to have a little bit of design improvement in terms of sealing compared to the M20.

 

Drive by wire and automatic transmissions are deceptive. Despite being down about 65 HP from the VQ in my infiniti the M52 is a smidgen faster rolling acceleration runs, but in actual driving the infiniti feels much faster. You also end up getting 80% of the power at 60% of the throttle opening  as well as the kickdown sensation.

 

 

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I was about to go to sleep because ive been running on fumes the past couple days but somehow, whether through sleepwalking or poor judgement I ended up upside down under the dashboard taking the pedals apart doing something I should have done long ago.

my car was originally an automatic and when I did the manual swap I noticed my brakes werent as good after the swap. The clevis adjustment wasnt quite the same and I had forgotten about this when I did the E21 booster install so i kept the original clevis location/length. It adjusted  the clevis out 3 turns which ended up being a good guess as it was the maximum amount that it could be adjusted.  

It feels food to have checked that off the list because i wasnt looking forward to doing it.

im not expecting that it will affect my stopping power since its only changing pedal travel but it will definitely help with pedal feel as it wont feel like i have air in the brakes with the excess travel, it will keep the brake pedal higher for those times I want to act like a heel-toe-hero tooCB41B174-0F23-4C8A-AB9C-1A7C5A107609.thumb.jpeg.010b4ed53a515308f314e54d2d1169ca.jpeg

 

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Another trustbuilding exercise: I took it on the freeway, longest drive yet and man it actually pulls pretty nice! I think my power expectations have been met.

 

the brakes feel better after the tired late night clevis adjustment

 

A woman in a new yellow audi TT, vanity plate BEVS BEE did a ricer flyby on me as well

 

its a good day!

Time to take it to work tomorrow!

 

 

F14CCE11-3A74-4A55-A2F2-E48A3E309044.jpeg

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Heavy stop and go rush hour commute. Lots of time in 1st gear and lots of time stopped. It must have some air in the cooling system still. It crept up to 220 while stopped then within a few seconds of freaking out (225 is my “shut ‘er down” temperature) it dropped quickly back to 200. It stayed right at 200 for the next 10 minutes of stop and go traffic then shot up to 220 again and i pulled over to try and bleed some air out. I didnt see anything bleed out but for the last 15 minutes of stop and go it stayed at 200 and reached a max of 205

494B9E8B-F46B-4D21-A9EC-FCE2FCF0A823.jpeg

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7 hours ago, Jdesign said:

Bleed some more or pressure bleed it next? Congrats on you successful journeys!! It feels nice just hearing of such success, it must feel even better to be driving the success!

Thanks,  im still not enjoying myself in it like I should unfortunately and im burned out on working on it.  Perhaps it wont sell before I have a renewed interest in continuing this dream

11 minutes ago, jc43089 said:

Where are you bleeding at?  The expansion tank self bleeds the system while the engine is running.  I have found it best to never open the system unless cold.  You have the sending unit in the cylinder head?

Yes,  sending unit is in the stock location. I am bleeding it at the thermostat housing (E39 housing has a bleeder) and also running it with the cap off at an elevated idle while squeezing hoses to watch for a steady coolant stream back into the reservoir.

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nope, it looks as normal as can be.

I need to run the temp gauge to a dedicated power and ground to help ensure its not voltage fluctuation related. I am currently using a common power and ground for the 3 gauges. 

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Just giver.  I don't think you have a problem.

I had a mild panic attack last night.  I just hooked up a temp gauge in my e36 and my wife took it to go shopping and she called me on the way back and said she stopped and shut if off because the gauge said 250, the highest reading it shows, I told her just drive home thinking the gauge must be not working right.  She said it showed 250 all the way home on the highway and then dropped back to 200 right before she got home.  Weird.

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Head gaskets are an easy afternoon project. 
Ask me how I know.


Also, if you keep the cooling system closed, drive around for awhile, come back, let it sit overnight, then open the cap; that is my favorite way to tell of HG issues. If you get a small hiss of air, good to go, if you get a bunch of gurgling or coolant flowing out, bad news bears. 
Is that the definitive test? Nah, but it certainly can be a quick sanity check. 

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There is no head/head gasket problem.  You worry too much.  The obvious telltale sign is rough running or missing for a short time after a cold start.  The cooling system pressure pushes coolant back into whatever cylinder has the problem and keeps it from firing.

I have done a head gasket on a Saturday before.  The Saturday a week before I got married, I still hear about that...

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