My 1st bmw is making me go CRAZY. Help me before I BURN IT

[1st318ti]

Hey guys my name is Adam . As the title states this is my first bmw and my first 318ti and it is kicking my behind. Let me give you some backstory first on my 1995 bmw 318ti.

I bought the car for $200. It wont start. it have ews2 problems. So i ordered a non performance chip from midnight tuning and it wanted to start! I replaced the fuel pump and filter and it fired right up. I drove it and it needed work but it ran. I then did more maintenance. I did oil change, spark plugs, valve cover gasket. And it was running PERFECTLY. I then quit carrying tools bc i had full trust in the car. drove it over a few hundred miles.

Then one day I was driving normally then it just randomly died out on me and wont start again. I got it towed home and scratched my head . over the next few weeks it continued to scratch my head. I got one code and that was 1215 maf. I tested the maf and the wiring was good but the resistence for the sensor was bad. So I replaced the maf. Still wont start. Then i test the throttle position sensor on the throttle body and those resistence readings were inconsistent so i replaced that. No start. I get frustrated

I then pull the intake and check the idle control valve. Found it was stuck. Cleaned it and reinstated. Still wont start. I check fuel at the filter and at the fuel rail all good. I then check spark. Good spark on all cylinders. NO problem there.

I pull the intake again and pull the fuel rail and injectors, soak them , clean the rail , and cleaned everything. Put everything back together. STILL WONT START. I clean the cam position sensor and connector. still no start.

I spray brake cleaner in the intake while my wife cranks the car and get it to start and run a little . It ran for a while then died and wont start again. Then i try to crank it again and it wont even CRANK NOW .
I CANT EVEN GET THE CAR TO CRANK NOW. NOTHING. NO STARTER ACTION AT ALL!!!!!!!!

I need real help and suggestions. I am at my wits end and very frustrated. I wanted to take the car to a car show in  July but i am starting to feel like that aint going to happen. I dont want to randomly change parts out but truly fix the car. please and thank you for reading this !

[gearheadE30]

If you have spark, that means your cam/crank position sensors are working at least on some level. The fact that it fired up on starting fluid/brake parts cleaner and ran for a bit further tells me that the ignition side is probably fine.

If you have no crank, start from one end of that system and work your way to the other. While I'm not as familiar with E36s, the I think the setup is similarly straightforward aside from EWS which I believe just disables spark. The car will still crank with an EWS fault. Start with the battery. Got a good charge? 12.5V or more is what I'm looking for here. There is a fusible link off of the battery that can fail, so the next step is to check that you have battery voltage at the large lug on the starter. This will be constant battery voltage all the time; it's not switched. Then find an extra set of hands and check the voltage at the small starter solenoid wire when the key is in the crank position. It should be at battery voltage when the key is in that position, and 0v otherwise. If this checks out, your electrical system on the car side is good and you probably burned your starter up. You can further check this by using a screwdriver or something (make sure your body is isolated from it and you aren't touching the car AT ALL) to briefly connect the large lug on the starter and the coil wire. It should crank the engine when you're doing this. You're just bypassing the electronics in the car to see if the starter works with this test.

Let us know how this goes and we can go from there.

[1st318ti]

Thank you I will check all those things. I have tried taking a day from it to relax a bit. I'll start back on it after work today. I'll be sure to keep you updated!

[dioderon]

Hope you got it fixed as this thread is a a few weeks old.

You checked the fuel rail and injectors,  but was your fuel pressure at the rail within spec?   I have an M20B25 in a 325is that had a similar issue, and while I was getting fuel to the rail the fuel pump was not providing nearly the pressure required to operate.   should be around 45psi.   Just seems to me like a fuel delivery problem.  Please let us know the verdict.

Ron

Oops,  should have finished reading the post when you said it will not even crank anymore!   No suggestion there beyond GearHead's suggestions.

[DesktopDave]

Congrats on your car...sounds like you really got a deal! I hope it's fixed too. If not, and you torched the car, I want to see the video!

EWS is a PITA, no doubt about it. And for $200 I'd be thrilled that it rolls, let alone runs! Stick with it, you're closer than you think. These cars are great once they're running well. Did you check if Midnight Tuning deleted your EWS? I believe he does that but I'm not 100% sure which chips are OK. Also be sure you don't have the infamous water leak right into the DME compartment.

Did you check the resistance on the crank angle sensor? Those don't set codes but will certainly prevent the motor from starting.

Sounds like a battery issue to me. I've noticed that BMWs are really sensitive to battery voltage. I've had situations where the car wouldn't even turn on unless the battery was in decent shape. Do you have access to another car & jumper cables? I have a handy little lithium jump pack that really puts out some amps!

I've also seen a lot of BMWs with pretty crappy grounds. Disconnect the battery, check the negative wire at the battery clamp and the main chassis grounding lug. If it's even slightly corroded, brush it clean with a wire brush or battery tool until it gleams. Don't put any goop on it, just bolt it back in clean & dry. Also check the ground strap off the block and engine mount. If that ground strap isn't good it can't carry enough amps for the the starter. Flex it a little to test it out, they can corrode from the inside out.

Did you check for solid +12VDC power at the starter terminal, '+' positive jump starting terminal, and/or primary alternator terminal?

[Fillbilly]

In my limited experience, definitely check/replace the grounds. They are relatively cheap (unless you buy genuine OEM) for good ones. Mine looked fine but I had a few gremlins. When I went to change them, especially the motor to chassis, it was completely corroded on the inside. Check for lost wires too. I had a fog light wire that was dangling and shorting out my headlights somehow.

[1st318ti]

So I was able to figure it out. First the crank position sensor was no good.  After testing , I replaced both cam and crank sensor . I did the cam sensor for the heck of it. I went to try and start the car but it did nothing. Long story short I found the fuel pump to be the issue. I made a video to help explain what I did. The E36 Lives Again!!! | Project BMW https://youtu.be/fitm4yyRGm4