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I didnt realize I left this thread this long... I just got busy with other minis and sort of left this sitting in the corner...I will get to it hopefully soon
Well....I'm back on this to finish what I started a while back...installed some trim pieces back, and ordered some other parts I had used on other projects. In the upcoming days I will be getting it back in shape to trouble shoot and perhaps do my first run in the drive way....Stay tuned!
after putting some parts from my countryman to test the car, it ran rather smoother than last year (yeah it been a long journey :( ) reading the fuel rail pressure at 600kpa, I knew there was something wrong with either the sensor or the pump. I bought few new ones and another used one that i picked up from my parts supplier, i started with the new one since they arrived the same day I went to pickup the used one. I ran the car and the pressure was still 600kpa. I thought maybe this sensor is faulty since it cost me $18 from ebay! So, I put this used one in, aaaaand, the car did not start!!!! i checked the codes and many more popped up like throttle valve, accelerator pedal, 5v bus 1 & 2 & 3....Oh man that killed my day. as a matter of fact, it killed the ECU :(
so now the car is on hold till i get another set of ecu/cas/key to run it. I also need to source a good known cheap continental HPFP.
the set is supposedly coming on Sat...I'll report back hopefully with a video
Well well well....here we are with some positive progress and a new discovery. Got the ecu set on saturday and started getting ready to fire it up. The good news is that it did start and idled rather on the high end as seen in the video. The sad part is that ecu came with bad circuitry. The codes were never present in the first set and even when i tried to fix the errors, they keep coming back...i also noticed when reading the battery voltage off of the ecu, it reads 61v!!!! So i know this set is also shot!
These are the sort of things that will start slowing me down!!! Another ecu is coming tomorrow so i hope it's kosher!
now, when they say necessity is the mother od invention, they weren't bluffing...lol
I actually married an N14 hpfp with N18 hpfp and now my pressure is near 8mpa. I will make a bracket to screw it into the head since the design is different.
Back to the novel...I was getting few stubborn codes after the fuel rail pressure sensor ordeal. three of which were oil related faults. I replace the oil pressure sensor and those codes were gone. Right now I'm battling four codes:
Charging system pressure too high (turbo boost)
Knock sensor emergency mode
crankshaft sensor signal missing
plan is to measure voltage to see if the wiring, sensor, or ECU is bad. Also the knock sensor will be replaced. I have a good working car I will use some of the parts from.
in general, these issues are related to the engine itself rather than interfacing with the car. once these codes are gone, The ABS is the next/last module to reprogram and calibrate.
Physically there are no issues. It is bolt on, pretty much.
As mentioned in the previous posts, i used a matching set of DME, CAS, and key fob (matching=all from same car). I have not coded them to my VIN yet since that's my last step.
I have been busy renovating the house and not done any work on the car :-( but soon i will get back to it.
Wiring wise, i used the N18 engine harness and slightly modified the plug that goes into the car. I will be revisiting that plug to fine tune it to minimize modifications.
Where you located?
What happened was I couldn't take the chance that the mysteries couldn't be solved so I remodeled my N14 engine with new internals and an N18 oil pump... Aside from the extra Vanos I hope it will run good. There is a wiring project to get the oil pump to work. It's like wiring up a tachometer. I'll have to look for the correct voltage source to make the solenoid work. Send more pix. I swiped a couple of yours to remind me of where things go on the engine. Do you have a pic of the vacuum apparatus under the intake manifold?
What happened was I couldn't take the chance that the mysteries couldn't be solved so I remodeled my N14 engine with new internals and an N18 oil pump... Aside from the extra Vanos I hope it will run good. There is a wiring project to get the oil pump to work. It's like wiring up a tachometer. I'll have to look for the correct voltage source to make the solenoid work. Send more pix. I swiped a couple of yours to remind me of where things go on the engine. Do you have a pic of the vacuum apparatus under the intake manifold?
The N18 is a modified N14 engine but with extra inputs and output from the ECU. you can check newtis.info for these IO points but I dont think the N14 ECU can handle it because of mapping or software differences.
My mistake was dumping the stuff together and trying to make it work. I did not know if the engine was healthy from the beginning. I assumed it was. Also, the car was stripped and I never tested it originally with its own N14 engine. So, you can say this is like a junkyard build lol.
post #8 has pix of the back of the engine. Also newtis.info has documents illustrating the N18 and even N14 vacuum route.
Right now I'm still digging through these codes. I am still assuming my ECU is good so here are the two things I'm testing.
1- the crankshaft sensor:
according to ISTAD, I am supposed to get about 5.0V across the yellow and black wires, which indeed I do. black wire also is the ground connection. so when i touch the ECU case, I get a beep.
when I check the voltage across the signal wire (white) and ground, I also get 5.0V! the yellow and white are not shorted. When I switch to frequency, I get nothing even if i bring a metal to the tip of the sensor simulating the flywheel. My question is, What should be my reading on the white wire?
2- knock sensor:
I ohm-ed the sensor and got a fluctuating 300k to 500k. when i hold it in a certain position between my fingers, it starts to dip to 0 ohm. i have 2 more sensors and they dont behave as bad as this one. When measured the voltage across it while it was still on the car, i was getting 1.6V on both leads. I didnt know it was an AC voltage, but when i switched to Hz, it was not giving me anything. lastly, the black wire didnt seem to connect to ground.
anybody has more info on this?
I will try swapping the sensors and see if that at least knocks one or two codes out!
Right now I'm still digging through these codes. I am still assuming my ECU is good so here are the two things I'm testing.
1- the crankshaft sensor:
according to ISTAD, I am supposed to get about 5.0V across the yellow and black wires, which indeed I do. black wire also is the ground connection. so when i touch the ECU case, I get a beep. when I check the voltage across the signal wire (white) and ground, I also get 5.0V! the yellow and white are not shorted. When I switch to frequency, I get nothing even if i bring a metal to the tip of the sensor simulating the flywheel. My question is, What should be my reading on the white wire?
I got some time today to investigate. The reason I got no reading from the sensor is because it was DEAD!!! Apparently, the N18 can still start even if the crank senor is shot. I guess it uses other sensors to detect timing and such. I used my '13 MCS to test the two sensors I had, both were dead and to the trash they went. I found two others were still attached to spare engines I had. both tested good. So,I used one and instantly you can see the difference in operation. In a faulty CSPS, you get a delayed start and four codes, CSPS signal missing, turbo charging deactivation, super knock, and knock sensor! which takes us to point 2.
Originally Posted by MiniToBe
2- knock sensor:
I ohm-ed the sensor and got a fluctuating 300k to 500k. when i hold it in a certain position between my fingers, it starts to dip to 0 ohm. i have 2 more sensors and they dont behave as bad as this one. When measured the voltage across it while it was still on the car, i was getting 1.6V on both leads. I didnt know it was an AC voltage, but when i switched to Hz, it was not giving me anything. lastly, the black wire didnt seem to connect to ground.
anybody has more info on this?
I will try swapping the sensors and see if that at least knocks one or two codes out!
The measurements were within spec. I learned that knock sensor reading is actually in AC form. I also learned from point 1, above, that the knock sensor was just a subsequent code of the CSPS.
So, after replacing the CCPS, installing everything, clearing codes and adaptations, and recoding the ABS, I get this beautiful view
The only code I still have is related to waste gate valve...once I push the engine past 3k rpm, I get an error for the valve being stuck close! if i clear it, it goes away, If i operate the car below 3k rpm, it does not show up!
I got some time today to continue working on the car...Sometimes, you got to listen to the car and understand what it's trying to say. I was doubtful about the waste gate because when I ran ISTAD, it actuated the solenoid and was able to hear it clicking!!! Well, i decided to take it out and inspect it. I could see the valve physically stuck closed and it was dry and water had gotten inside and corroded the shaft:
Luckily, I had an extra one. after installation and revving the car numerous times, no codes popped
Now that we got the engine running, we are going to make a wiring harness that will go with the swap as a plug and play. I took a dead N18 ECU to utilize the male molex.
It may took messy, but it turned out nice. There were several wires that were not even connected to the ECU board. I decided to land everything for now for testing purposes. This harness is nothing but one-to-one match. the idea is to verify connectivity and car running at the current set up. once verified, I will remap it to make it a true N14 to N18 harness. That way the user doesnt have to cut or mess with anything.
Subscribed and looking forward to the end results. Also, if you do market the harness adapter, please let me know! I'm looking to do the N18 swapped myself. Awesome work!!!
Subscribed and looking forward to the end results. Also, if you do market the harness adapter, please let me know! I'm looking to do the N18 swapped myself. Awesome work!!!
Sure thing my friend.
I took a detour and scrapped the clubman. BUT i got another brown one with more options lol. This one in untainted and I wanted to make sure i cover all the issues that might pop with any one. I just finished remapping the harness. I will try it on this afternoon
Remapped the harness and all is working good. will be updating the modules software, reset adaptation, and calibrate the ABS module. As noticed, the car has changed. the blue one didnt have as many options and it was a salvage car. this one will be more marketable
Got the car registered and insured today. I'll start putting it together for a road test in preparation for state inspection. The only thing left is marrying the ECU to the CAS. I ordered E/F full scanner aka BMW explorer in hopes of achieving that. stay tuned.
08-02-2018, 09:19 AM
if it doesn't work, I'll order this one and return the other 
