euthorus

If you happen to have a 1994-1999 328i/s I would love to be able to take a look under your hood. I picked up a cluster of a project with sensor wires, connectors and vacuum lines ran all willy nilly and need to see where things actually should be. This is my first e36 and I cant seem to find detailed pics of what should be plugged in to where under the cover/intake.

Please let me know if you have a 2.8L in a running condition that I could take a look at, I am in the Kempsville area.

Thank you !

Yep4doors

Did you ever think to pick up a Chilton's or Haynes manual for your car? I'm pretty sure they have wiring schematics and whatnot you need to figure what goes where, diagrams are not that hard to read.

euthorus

Yes I did look at the diagrams but cannot for the life of me figure out how to read them and correlate them to the mess I got.

Yep4doors

I mean are you saying that your wiring harness is completely unraveled and all over the place? If you state what your direct problem is instead of a general everything is messed up what do I do I need to see you may get better results on what is going to be the simplest most effective way to solve your problem. Just a thought.

euthorus

The wiring is a mess. Essentially I have electrical connectors frayed, spliced, taped and just cut. The car is throwing 4 codes for crank, cam,ambient air and maf sensors which were all replaced. All of it appears to be centered around the IM area with the alternator, battery and starter being repeatedly replaced before me. The alternator is producing enough voltage but it's not reaching the battery or the ECU (red battery light on the dash). Some connectors (heater valve) are shorting out with the car completely off. I suspect that after I replace broken wiring the sensors are simply plugged in to the wrong connectors and I am likely missing a few ground straps - hence a properly wired car for a reference.

Yep4doors

The only thing I would recommend is removing your old wiring harness and get a new one that hasn't been tampered with that would be easier than trying to repair/replace faulty wiring and save you a bunch a time. That way as long as you have all your connectors in the right place you can start ruling out what isn't working. IMO it would be the quickest, easiest way of diagnosing your problems and defective parts.

I don't know your plans for this car and your mechanical capabilities but I would work on cleaning and replacing as much as possible as far as parts that deteriorate over time since a wiring harness isn't quite the simplest task in world.

ProbeGT-ZE

BWWAAaaaHAhaAHAahaaHhahahHAhAhA

euthorus

You are not helping Elric

Just finished checking/replacing a lot of connectors. Has anyone that had/has a 2.8L had to shop for an alternator because I am now noticing only 12.8V coming from the battery with the car running. There are two different amp rating for the alternators that fit this car 140 and 80. Do they mount differently ? If the po champ put on an 80amp when a 140 is needed that would explain what I am dealing with.

ProbeGT-ZE

I don't intend to! You should know better than to step foot into a euro car with electrical issues. Mr. "Hey my audi is awesome if it wasn't for the electrical problems everyone else seems to know about!"

Seriously though. I'm not an electrical guy. I hate it with a passion and steer clear of it whenever possible (see, I have my swap harness converted for me...unless it's an EG/DC Honda those are more or less plug and play for D/B series).

Fabrik8

I hope you got the car for free. I'd find new harnesses for it before repairing the hacked up old ones, else you'll forever worry about harness reliability.