Couple things: when checking the timing with a couple cranks, use the air pressure in the oil banjo connector to simulate oil pressure. If not, it thinks the lack of pressure is a signal and can adjust the intake angle. One I put the vamps controller back on and used 3 bar of air pressure, the timing held.

The root cause of all my problems seems to be my oil pump. I installed a Seems Legit pump and tensioner during the rebuild. The rings are never getting enough oil to seal, and no seal means no combustion.

I’m not saying anything bad about the Seems Legit oil pump-it seems to be a solid unit. It could be the O-ring on the pickup or other things. There is virtually no oil in the oil filter and no oil squirts if I crank it with the oil send sensor disconnected. With the car outside and no room in the garage, It’s been too hot outside to pull the engine again and tear it down in the garage even though I have AC in the garage.

Having oil pressure should be on the crank/no start guide.

I’ll update here for tribal knowledge sake once I get it to make oil pressure.

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Donald Foss
2003 E53 3.0i, 5L40e (for now)
- self-rebuilt engine, valves, SL oil pump
- ported heads, both sides
- N55 intake manifold, 70 lb injectors
- GTX 2860R-clone 60mm top-mounted turbo
- progressive slip diff
- under chassis cats
- extra sensors wired to Arduino
- 15" touch screen dash-mounted