Bericht
door raymondw » 10 feb 2010, 13:36
Well Gents,
The all expected milestone was reached yesterday evening. I first crancked engine 42243748 to pump oil through the engine until the oil pressure light turned off. I then connected the DME, fuel pump relais and ignition coil ground lead after which the long awaited moment neared. I felt the tension and asked myself, (1) was this worth the 14k Euro investment and (2) Does all go well?
Then we started the engine; a brief moment of doubt; but then I realized that the fuel had to be pumped around first as well so it took another 10sec or so before 42243748 bursted into life. There was a small dejavu moment about a missing part, but that was corrected immediately. We then checked and topped up all the fluids, crancked the engine to build up oil pressure again and started for the second time. This time, 42243748 bursted into life immediately.
There is a hughe difference compared to the behavior of 42243748 that I knew before. Timing-chain is silent and can hardly be heard; the engine does not vibrate at all; idle-speed is constant and can be adjusted properly; the irregular throttle behavior disappeared and the injectors can be heard ticking as they should do. The idle running characteristics is much smoother then the 190k km S38B36 in my E34S ///M5. I'd rather compare the idle-running behavior with a well-running M30B30. In fact 42243748 idles smoother then the 180k km M30B35 in the E32 735i. Engine 42243748 truly sings, instead of blurking like before the engine failure. We kept 42243748 idling for about halve an hour to warm it up; check for leaks; to allow trapped air to escape and to verify the proper operation of the thermostat.
Now I have an engine that is as close to new as possible, I have more respect for the engineers that designed and manufactured this landmark of engineering. The running behavior before and after the rebuild is a huge step forward, proving that the bulk of the current M88/S38 engines have aged gently, during which they develloped some symptoms that some might describe as character.
All in all, I am satisfied with the results of this milestone. It allows me to close the bulk of the existing issues, but as I found some others (operation of the coolant-temp gauge), #231 is not ready for recommisioning yet.
To be continued.