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DISCUSSION => Electrical => Topic started by: SIEM on August 10, 2018, 01:41:45 AM

Title: What coil to what cylinder?
Post by: SIEM on August 10, 2018, 01:41:45 AM

Hello everyone.

I just bought my first car a 1992 e36 318is.
The car was misfiring and ideling very rough so i decided to replace the sparkplugs and wires.
When removing the sparkplug wires it started to rain and headed inside. After the rain i wanted to proceed with the replacement but i lost track what coil needs to be conected to what cylinder.
Can someone help me out?

Thanks Siem

Title: Re: What coil to what cylinder?
Post by: DesktopDave on August 11, 2018, 06:00:25 PM

If you're talking about the coil to engine, just match them up. Coil output 1 goes to #1 plug, closest to the radiator. Just match them up.

I'm not sure when the E36 went from individual coil packs to the 4-in-1 coil pack. If you have the individual coils like an E30 does, and the the little stickers have fallen off the individual coil harness plugs, you're going to have to track them back to the DME. Do you have the ETM for your car? Here's a link if you needed to download them:
http://wedophones.com/Manuals/BMW/

If the '92 318i ETM I have is correct, here's your wiring setup:
Cyl #1 coil grounds to DME connector pin 25
Cyl #2 is pin 52
Cyl #3 is pin 24
Cyl #4 is pin 51

Just grab your DMM, run a continuity check from the DME harness #25 pin to each individual coil plug. Work your way through them. My DMM has a tone for continuity, if yours is like that just listen for the buzzer. Otherwise set it to ohms and look for a 0 ohm reading.