Messages

1

Electrical / Non-Start electrics HELL

« on: December 12, 2009, 07:24:01 AM »

Hi,
I went through a non-start problem some time ago that is documented on this site, see:
http://www.m42club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8474
If you go to post #26 you will read that I made my own test light to get the fault codes, it worked a treat except for giving me the code that nothing was wrong!
Good luck,
David

2

Electrical / Car won't start - not CPS or Fuel pump

« on: May 26, 2009, 05:22:57 PM »

Indeed, thanks to everyone who put their ideas forward to help me get my head around this problem!

3

Exterior / Original BBS 15" are a good choice too!

« on: May 22, 2009, 05:49:37 AM »

I have 2 sets of BBS 15" tires, one for summer and one for winter, I think they look good and they aren't overly tempting for thieves either!:)

4

Electrical / New pump installed and car is ALIVE!

« on: May 20, 2009, 11:04:08 AM »

Hi all,
Finally received my fuel pump from ebay germany, quite a big savings over the local aftermarket suppliers or BMW as it's not the entire assembly, only the pump, a new filter for the pump and a short piece of rubber tubing and 2 clamps. Just replace all the pump bits from the old pump assy with the new and carefully put it back in the tank. Problem solved!

5

Electrical / I have found the problem...finally!!!

« on: May 09, 2009, 11:08:58 AM »

Sorry I haven't written anything in the last 2 days, but we've had bucketloads of rain here and as I'm working outside I didn't wan't to be out there in it.

First, thank you CobraJet for your advise, I too suspected the CPS except I decided to try one last thing before pulling it off of the car today.

As I mentioned in an earlier comment I had removed the fuel pump and applied 12V to it directly to verify that it worked. After that I didn't really give it another thought, but then I found another thread that recommended using a rubber mallet to hit the top of the pump while cranking to see if it will make any difference. Well...this was the trick wasn't it? As I cranked and softly rapped on the top of the pump the car suddenly came alive, but as soon as I stopped rapping on it it would die. A few more attempts to verify what I was seeing and I actually made the pump continue operating on it's own! I was so pleased about this I had to bring my wife out and show her the new trick to start the car, she found this to be highly amusing and suggested we not get a new pump as it's more fun to use a mallet to start it, haha!:D:D
I find it interesting that a pump will work on the bench and convince you it's OK, then once it's back in the tank it goes back to misbehaving.

This exercise while genuinely frustrating at times, has had a few extra benifits as I figured out,

• how to make my own fault code display, mentioned in an earlier comment,
• I figured out why my brake warning light was going on and off all the time as the bulb holder was too loose in the instrument panel,
• I found my car isn't chipped - but still surprisingly quick in that case,
• and electrical tape on the wiring harnesses makes a sticky mess when you unwind it!

Only thing to do now is get a new fuel pump!

6

Electrical / Car won't start - not CPS or Fuel pump

« on: May 06, 2009, 04:31:14 PM »

DesktopDave

I'll be pulling the CPS tomorrow for a closer look, luckily I don't have A/C on this car! Thanks for your comments, I sympathise with your code woes, I actually get 1444, which isn't funny, haha!

7

Electrical / Car won't start - not CPS or Fuel pump

« on: May 06, 2009, 04:23:49 PM »

Jimmy Lewis

Yes, sounds definitely like you can relate to my situation, everything I test keeps turning out to be good and yet the car won't start.
Was planning to go through things again from the beginning, but perhaps I should just pull the CPS and have a more detailed look at it, perhaps I can even affect the ohm readout while moving the sensor about.

The other thing that keeps nagging me is the Main Relay, it works because pin 30 is transmitting power to pin 87, yet the current doesn't flow through from pin 85 to pin 27 of the DME (see the very first entry of this thread for the diagram). Did this also happen to you?

8

Electrical / Car won't start - not CPS or Fuel pump

« on: May 06, 2009, 08:28:25 AM »

After some surfing of the net I came to believe I could create my own fault code light by using Gunni's pinout guide below.



According to what I've read on other sites I only need the fault code signal, which looks like it comes from pinout 8 and then a switched 12V signal connected to a 12V bulb and I should be able to perform the test. I tried it earlier today, but I was taking the advice of a guy with a 320 instead of the 318is, his fault signal was on pinout 15. So, I'll be investigating that again tomorrow. If it works, that will be a breakthrough for anyone else like me, that doesn't have this already wired up to his car. Does this sound correct to those of you that know a bit about these systems?:cool:

Today, I wired up my own fault code reader as I had planned. I opened up the ECU/DME cable harness, found the brown wire at position 8, added another wire to it and soldered this all together. I then attached the other end of this added wire to a 12V bulb in an old bulb housing that I had. From the bulb housing's other connector pin I hooked that up to the + side of the battery. I then reattached the DME, reattached the battery main cables and proceeded to turn the key on and do the stomp test. To my great delight, it actually worked after having to try the stomp routine a few times. To my even greater dismay, the only code I get is 1444, NO FAULT, how can this be?
Does this at least give my DME a clean bill of health if it supplied codes??

Hopefully this is a bit better, otherwise I can take more pictures of it tomorrow!I'll also check where the rubber hoses lead to/from this.



Next, I thought I might as well take a look at the ICV since I don't have any solid clues from the code reading exercise. I must admit that I had misidentified the black cylindrical item as the ICV, I found the ICV around the corner from that, attached at the back end of the intake manifold.
Once I removed it I applied 12V to it and could see the little door very, very quickly move as it is meant to. So, no problem there either.

I guess I'll have a look at the AFM next....

Question to the forum, could my CPS still be the culprit even if it gave me the correct ohm reading???:confused::confused:

9

Electrical / Car won't start - not CPS or Fuel pump

« on: May 05, 2009, 03:47:52 PM »

That socket for the circle-with-arrow on the back of the cluster still just holds a bulb. There should be a small bulb hanging off the harness that the white connector is on that goes in that hole.

Not sure if the euro version is as well equipped as your version, I didn't see a connector with a bulb anywhere in the vicinity when I had the instrument panel out earlier today.

That doesn't look like my ICV, but it could be - does it have a rubber hose that leads to the intake manifold? It's hard to tell from the picture - have a bigger version?

Hopefully this is a bit better, otherwise I can take more pictures of it tomorrow!I'll also check where the rubber hoses lead to/from this.



Many thanks for your reply and interest, nice to know I can get some feedback, especially with these problems that aren't so quick to diagnose!

10

Electrical / What do you think about this idea??

« on: May 05, 2009, 02:40:48 PM »

Hello, I'm back from the weekend and ready to move ahead with the diagnosis of the problem, but I think I've hit another snag. Have a look at the back side of my instrument panel in the following two pictures.





I was hoping that the hole with the circle and arrow would be similar to the other light receptacles, but as you can see it's quite different. My question to the forum is, what is that receptacle supposed to look like, are there wires attached to it? If this is indeed something coming off the wiring harness I think I might be out of luck with using this as a diagnostic tool, hoping someone can shed light on how this is supposed to look.:confused:

After some surfing of the net I came to believe I could create my own fault code light by using Gunni's pinout guide below.

Motronic Control unit      
   Function   Color
1   Fuel Pump Relay   BR/GN
2      
3   Injectors 1-3   BR/WT
4      
5      
6   Ground   BR/OR
7      
8   Check Engine light   BR
9      
10      
11      
12   TPS Signal 5v   BR
13      
14   Common 5v   GY/BU
15      
16   Camshaft sensor input   YL
17   Fuel rate output   WT
18      
19      
20      
21      
22      
23      
24   Ignition cyl 3   BK
25   Ignition cyl 1   BK
26   Power Input   RD/WT
27   Main Relay control   BR
28   Ground   BR/OR
29   Idle Speed Control   WT/YL
30      
31      
32   Injectors 2-4   BR/WT
33      
34   Ground   
35      
36   Charcoal Canister control   BR
37   O2 relay control   BR/GN
38      
39      
40      
41   AFM Input (5v)   GY/YL
42      
43   Common 5v Coolant and TPS   BR/BK
44   Camshaft sensor input   BK
45      
46      
47      
48      
49      
50      
51   Ignition cyl 4   BK
52   Ignition cyl 2   BK
53      
54   Power Input   RD/WT
55   Ground   
56   Start Input   GN/YL
57      
58      
59   Refrence output (Ground??)   GY/WT
60      
61      
62      
63      
64      
65      
66      
67   Crankshaft input sensor   BK
68   Crankshaft input sensor   YL
69      
70   O2 Input   BK
71   O2 Ground   YL
72      
73   Speed Signal input   BK/WT
74   Engine Speed Output   
75      
76      
77   Air temp input   GY/VI
78   Coolant temp input   BR/RD
79      
80   Diagnostic voltage   GN/BU
81      
82      
83      
84      
85   A/C Input   BK/GY
86   A/C Input   BK/VI
87   RXD Diagnostic   WT/YL
88   TXD Diagnistic   WT/VI


I did these yesterday as I was working on my adapter for my standalone I´m installing, Although I will probably cut up the adapter as it´s only held on with  solder and well I wasn´t getting the perfect soldering as I wanted,

I figured I´d throw these on the board for you guys,
This is directly based on the E30_92.pdf file,
the 91 one was empty of all information,

Enjoy

According to what I've read on other sites I only need the fault code signal, which looks like it comes from pinout 8 and then a switched 12V signal connected to a 12V bulb and I should be able to perform the test. I tried it earlier today, but I was taking the advice of a guy with a 320 instead of the 318is, his fault signal was on pinout 15. So, I'll be investigating that again tomorrow. If it works, that will be a breakthrough for anyone else like me, that doesn't have this already wired up to his car. Does this sound correct to those of you that know a bit about these systems?:cool:

11

Electrical / Car won't start - not CPS or Fuel pump

« on: May 05, 2009, 07:30:25 AM »

The buzzing I'm getting is constant with the key in the ON position. I'm not sure if it's the fuel regulator or the ICV, it is located very near the firewall. Here's a picture, perhaps someone can confirm what this is, it's the black cylinder in the center of the picture thats buzzing.





If that's not the ICV, where is it and if it's not buzzing could that be causing my problem?

Also, still need someone to verify that that black thing is the ICV, please give me an answer if you can.

12

Electrical / Another twist to the story!

« on: May 05, 2009, 07:04:55 AM »

Ok, thanks for the inputs, but, just to verify, is it the apostrophe or the circle with the arrow that will give the code?

 

Thank you!:)

Circle with the arrow

Hello, I'm back from the weekend and ready to move ahead with the diagnosis of the problem, but I think I've hit another snag. Have a look at the back side of my instrument panel in the following two pictures.





I was hoping that the hole with the circle and arrow would be similar to the other light receptacles, but as you can see it's quite different. My question to the forum is, what is that receptacle supposed to look like, are there wires attached to it? If this is indeed something coming off the wiring harness I think I might be out of luck with using this as a diagnostic tool, hoping someone can shed light on how this is supposed to look.:confused:

13

Electrical / Car won't start - not CPS or Fuel pump

« on: April 30, 2009, 04:03:51 PM »

Great....too bad I'm going out of town tomorrow and won't get to investigate this till next week, I'll be back though with any updates after that. Can't wait to say, " It's fixed, I found the problem!"

Thanks:D

14

Electrical / Car won't start - not CPS or Fuel pump

« on: April 30, 2009, 03:09:33 PM »

Ok, thanks for the inputs, but, just to verify, is it the apostrophe or the circle with the arrow that will give the code?

 

Thank you!:)

15

Electrical / Car won't start - not CPS or Fuel pump

« on: April 30, 2009, 11:41:47 AM »

Had a look inside the Motronic box, couldn't find any soldering problems, nor did I see any leaking capacitors or anything else that seemed suspicious.
Had loads of helpful suggestions from the neighbors like, " Why not tow the car to the dealer so they can read the fault code?" Kinda defeats the purpose of fixing it as cheaply as possible, as I'm currently out of work I really don't want to spend money if I don't have to, especially now that I have the time to investigate it myself.

However, with regards to reading the fault codes, I understand that there is a stomp test that will give a coded reply. I was wondering which of the instrument lights gives this code, is it number 7 in the picture?



Thing is that, that has never lit up as long as I've had the car, so I'll have to see what's wrong with that in order to find out what's wrong with the start issue. Can someone please confirm that number 7 is the one that gives the codes up?

Thanks:o