Hi Everyone,
I recently purchased a 1989 BMW 325i, and am working on it with a friend (much more knowledgeable than I about cars). It is pretty beat on the outside but we drove it the 35 miles home with absolutely no problems. It started and ran amazing, rebuilt engine and transmission, new clutch, everything sounded great, left overnight after running without any leaks. Today we got it up to work on it for the first time (oil change, degreasing the engine bay, and hooking up the headlights, the lines of which had been completely cut. I resoldered the wires to the plug, covered them with heat shrink and the turn signals worked perfectly. We went out for a quick parts run and the car was able to get out of the driveway but stalled at a stop sign about a block away. It turns over but won't start. Any ideas what I should check or where I should start?
Thank you,
Newly Nervous E30 Owner.
I'm betting that when you degreased the engine bay maybe some of the solvents or water got into a plug someplace? Maybe in the distributor.
I would also ask if you put fuel in it. Old German fuel gauges have a tendency to not work very well especially if they've been sitting. Maybe you're just out of gas lol.
The obvious first steps would be to check for spark and for fuel getting to the engine
In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
That makes sense, I only used a little bit of soapy water in a spray bottle but it still might've gotten somewhere it shouldn't have. It definitely has fuel, as did half the tank yesterday, and the fuel gauge is reading properly. I'm going to check for spark and fuel tomorrow, I think I head the fuel pump going but I'm not sure. Thank you for the reply!
Welcome to e30s! These are fun cars when you figure them out. My first bit of advice is get the Bentley manual. It’s worth the money. Second, join some e30 specific forums. Rev3 is a pretty good one. Just ignore the flamers....
Check for spark first.... it’s easiest. If no spark Check to make sure you didn’t bump the crank position sensor on the front of the motor.
Thank you! I'm already having a blast even with the issues. I was just about to order a Chilton manual, but I'll go with the Bentley manual instead. I'll hop on those other groups and try my hardest not to take the flamers too seriously haha. I'm going to check spark and fuel tomorrow. I didn't even think to check the CPS, that is really likely it, we changed the oil filter today and it was wrenched down so we might've knocked it.
Make sure you check the fuel pump AND ECU relay.
During my E30 days, those two relays would randomly go out.
Tbelt? Becareful about cranking away.
I just checked and it does have fuel but not spark. Checked the spark plugs slightly wet with fuel, but looked fine. Timing belt is good. Going to replace ECU relay.
Also just check all the electrical plugs in the engine bay. old German electrical plugs are notoriously finicky because they get brittle and can come loose easily. Just because they look good on the outside doesn't mean much. pull any plugs that you can see apart and make sure they are not corroded on the inside. If one of them got jostled loose when you were cleaning the engine bay it could cause the condition
Have you checked for power at the coil? Power at the crank position sensor, And the resistance of the crank position sensor? If you have fuel I think your problem is from the ecu on. .... not the relays back.
I had an '87. Clean your ground connections. I had an out-of-nowhere no-start, it was bad grounds. Not saying that's definitely it, but it's good preventative maintenance.
jnbentley26 said:
Just changed the main relay and still no luck. I've seen some people talk about the fusible link, but I can't seem to find it.
The fusible link is in the wiring in the trunk that goes to the battery. If it's bad, you won't get electrical power to anything in the car OTHER than the starter, IIRC. So if your dash lights are coming on, fusible link should be fine. I know people talk about it, but in my experience it really only goes bad if you have a major short circuit in the system.
FIXED! It ended up being the Main Relay, I didn't give it enough gas while starting it up for the first few times, so I thought it hadn't worked, but it ended up fixing it. Just drove it around town and it ran and started beautifully. Thanks everyone!
