Replaced my starter and... this happened

[markslc1]

Took the advice and kept my lower manifold in place for the starter replacement. A big pain, but its all in there. As I put things back together I notice an extra "plug" hanging under the lower manifold, with virtually nothing in reach to connect to. Its one of the many generic spring loaded connectors.

Picture Here

The lower plug (with one wire) goes to the oil filter housing. The other... I have no idea. This thread makes me think it goes to something called the "Intake Resonance Changeover Valve". Anyone know where that is exactly?

Looking for help from the M44 wiring harness gurus. Thanks!

[paul somlo]

What you're looking for is located on the passenger side of the intake manifold. Here's a picture:


You'll need to reach around the back of it, underneath the intake manifold and probably towards the front of the vehicle and feel for the connector.

Paul

[markslc1]

So. I should reach under the black plastic in the picture and feel around the bottom for the connection? Would I be able to see better from under the car ? I tried from below but that wire is very short. I can follow it all the way to the harness, which is maybe 6 inches in length away.

I'll check more today. Any other tips ? Thanks

[paul somlo]

I'm not sure about below - the last time I pulled the intake manifold, I was working from up top. I'll include that same picture with a red arrow indicating where you need to be feeling around. Also, here's a link showing what you're looking for on the backside of the "DISA", as it's sometimes called. Make sure that the connector in question is actually the one that goes to the DISA. In the picture that you linked, it appears there may be three wires, two white, one red, which would imply three terminals, although it's difficult to see exactly.
http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E36-318.../DISA/ES25477/

[markslc1]

Here is another photo with the plug cirlcled. Its a two wire plug. Its pulled about as far forward as possible in this picture. But it can be pushed behind the hose (rear) toward the starter if necessary. it just not a very long wire at all.


Which direction should I be looking for the plug-in?

[paul somlo]

Rearwards of the manifold support bracket toward the passenger side. The picture I posted with the red arrow along with the ecs tuning link should get you there. By the way, what color are the two wires that go to the connector? One looks like red with a white tracer, the other I can't quite make out.

[markslc1]

The 2 wire connector colors are Red/White and Brown /Blue. I put my hand down in that area and cant seem to feel anything. Maybe I need a mirror.

Looking at this thing, I really dont remember unplugging it (Ive been marking wires all along) so what would the engine run like if it was unplugged? It sounds like it opens up the long runners at high RPM. So I guess I would experience less power. What about a check engine light? I dont have one on, just wondering.

[paul somlo]

Those are the correct colors for the DISA connector wiring, just making sure. A mirror would probably help - if you haven't dealt with this before, it's hard to know what you're looking for and what it should feel like, but it's definitely there.

I don't know what the default state of the valve is, so I'm not sure what the effect of running with it unplugged would be. Not hard to find out though.

[markslc1]

Found it! That picture of the valve helped locate where the plug should go. Now I can put my car back together. Thanks!

I read that DISA being disconnected should cause
A) loss of low end torque, but the car runs fine
B) CEL light. ( never saw this).

I continue to claim that I didnt unplug this. I'd like to think someone else did and I'll see some extra torque when its back together.

[paul somlo]

Originally Posted by markslc1

I continue to claim that I didnt unplug this. I'd like to think someone else did and I'll see some extra torque when its back together.

That's entirely possible. You've probably already noticed that there's a spring loaded wire bail on the connector for retention - if that's working correctly, it won't come off again.

I changed my starter once, did it from below, wasn't fun. I've also pulled the intake manifold to replace the cooling hoses/connectors - that wasn't fun. And pretty much due to the connections to the starter.

Glad you nailed it, any more questions, just ask.

Paul

[markslc1]

I just did all that too. It's taken days to get to it all. Now I can finally put things back together. Thanks.

Next looks like oil pan gasket. Yuck.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[paul somlo]

I've been dogged by oil leaks for years now, seems I fix one, another one surfaces. Make sure it's not the valve cover gasket or the oil filter housing orings/gasket, or even the timing cover gaskets. If it really is the pan gasket, you might take a look at this post in the knowledge base: http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthrea...oil+pan+gasket. The original poster tackles this by raising the engine from above, but if you read the last post, I raised the engine from below. Curious, how many miles do you have?

[markslc1]

I'm doing the oil filter housing and valve cover gasket in this go round. I'm at 190k right now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk