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Thread: e36 323 Will not spark

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Location
    São Paulo, Brazil
    Posts
    8
    My Cars
    1997 323iS

    e36 323 Will not spark

    Hello guys, Im Tiago from Brazil and i own na e36 323 for 5 years now. I have Always lurked around but never posted.
    However i am now on a total loss.

    Due to a steering rack repair, the car was stored in a (very humid) garage for about 20 days and in that time i did a VCG job.
    I had also removed the Throttle body to install a new column along with the fresh rack, but its all back and endlessly checked and rechecekd.

    After all bolted togheter, the car will crank, the pump will prime, the fuel rail and injector will pressurize (no pressure test, but injectors will buzz and vibrate, also i have tried to remove oine and fuel leaked from rail). And when i remove the spark plugs they are wet with fuel

    Next step was to scan it, i have cleaned all the codes generated in my tests and after the cleanup, no crankshaft or camshaft sensor error showed up, only "100 DME Control Unit -Self-Test Failed" keeps showing up after error cleanup. I heard on ms41 programmers fórum that this error should not keep the car from start.

    I also installed a crank sensor from a working 323 from a friend - no avail

    I have removed and cleaned the ground cable on engine block

    I have tested with a multimeter, in the + from one of the coil harness and the ground from the valve cover and i got 12v.

    I have removed the intake manifold and rechecked all of the harness for breaks or craks and all was good

    I have removed and cleaned the 3 contacts and cables goint to the starter motor but they looked fine to begin with.

    I have checked the cable and fusable link on the trunk - all good.

    I have removed the coils harness from the valve cover, opened the enclosure and cheked every wire - all good

    I also removed coil and spark plug from the cylinder, cleaned them by hand connected the coil to the harness and inserted the plug and cranked the car - no spark

    Also, prior to all of this saga, the car never hesitated to start.

    If someone could help it would be very much appreciated!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Aberdeen, NC (yes, again)
    Posts
    23,672
    My Cars
    E39M5, E500 4WD
    Hi Tiago, and welcome to the forum!

    First, I have to ask: when you connected the coil and spark plug and cranked the engine: Was the spark plug grounded? No ground = no spark.

    Forget the starter motor, since the engine is turning.

    Injectors should CLICK, not buzz and vibrate. Put a screwdriver on an injector, put your ear on the handle of the screwdriver, and have someone crank the engine. The injector should click, oh, maybe twice per second.

    It is very unusual for the injectors to fire, when the coils are not firing, so please be sure of this before hunting further.

    Chris Powell
    Racer and Instructor since, well. decades, ok?
    Master Auto Tech, owner of German Motors of Aberdeen
    BMWCCA 274412
    German Motors is hiring ! https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...1#post30831471

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Location
    São Paulo, Brazil
    Posts
    8
    My Cars
    1997 323iS
    Thanks for the help man. I Was under the assumption that Both Power and ground would be provided by the coil.
    Also the injector vibration i meant was at the same time the pump primes. I never Checked for clicking during crank.
    And i didnt knew the injection and spark was tied. I guess that makes sense as they are Both controlled by dme right?
    Well there is a lot of new things to check. Ill report back when i charge my battery and go trough this.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Arlington, VA
    Posts
    9,933
    My Cars
    2018 BMW M240i
    To add to what bmwdirtracer has written, the coils and the injectors get 12VDC whenever the ignition switch is in the run or start position. The DME provides the ground to the coils and injectors when they need to “fire.”

    Chris, please correct me if I’m wrong.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Aberdeen, NC (yes, again)
    Posts
    23,672
    My Cars
    E39M5, E500 4WD
    You're correct Mark. There's also the ground provided by the cylinder head, but it's the one provided by the DME (at just the right moment) that fires the coil.

    Tiago, the buzzing you hear is NOT the injectors, it's the idle air control valve.

    The injection and spark are tied together, because the engine computer (DME) is either trying to start the engine, or not trying to start the engine. 98% of the time, spark and injector pulse occur together, or do not occur together.

    When the coil "fires", it's producing a positive charge. That positive charge only becomes a spark if it has to "jump" to a ground....like across the spark plug gap, to the cylinder head. If the threads of the spark plug are not grounded, there's no where for the spark to jump. ( I have a spark plug that I use just for testing purposes: It has a ~70 cm wire soldered to the threads of the plug, and an alligator clip attached to the other end of that wire. I put the plug into the coil boot, and attach the wire to any good ground. )

    Chris Powell
    Racer and Instructor since, well. decades, ok?
    Master Auto Tech, owner of German Motors of Aberdeen
    BMWCCA 274412
    German Motors is hiring ! https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...1#post30831471

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Location
    São Paulo, Brazil
    Posts
    8
    My Cars
    1997 323iS
    Hi guys, just to post a closure and help others in the future, my issue had nothing to do with EWS or DME, it was a mechanical issue. My spark plugs were fouled (and old) and my cylinders were washed, so there was no compression and barely any spark due to the plugs. I have changed to all new plugs and lubricated the cylinders and the car fired. However on a side note, all the cranking to fix this issue costed me the rest of my battery life and killed my starter motor, which now has a short and works only when it wants, even with a 100amp battery.

    Thank you very much everyone who helped, i hope this helps someone down the road.
    https://image.ibb.co/eYyyLJ/323_sig.jpg
    1997 E36 BMW 323i Avus Mtech – 255k km

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Location
    SC, US
    Posts
    46
    My Cars
    1999 BMW 323i sedan
    I've recently changed the Crankshaft sensor and both Camshaft sensors in my E46 and it has a strong crank but doesn't start. I'm thinking that it's the fuel pump, or the alternator, but i'm not sure. Any ideas.
    Last edited by Kit2kay; 11-19-2020 at 08:41 PM.

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