E36 Cranks but no spark, no fuel

[baklazansa]

Hello guys. Been reading about this problem for a long time now. Long story short - bought e36 320i (M50 single vanos) and it was running well at first, no problems with starting, running and all seemed fine. Everything started with first time car dying randomly on the road. Was going ~40 km/h and it just died. Tried many times to start again - no luck. Finally got the battery drained.. Friend came over to tow me home, before that tried to jump start it - and it started. Next day it started again with no problems, drove for about 30-40 mins and died again. After ~10th attempt to start it again (without jump start) it started again, drove for 5 mins and died again forever. Now its probably 2nd month I'm trying to figure what is the problem and after reading forums, trying various methods and changing parts still have no luck to start it.
At the moment car cranks, pulled away few spark plugs to check the spark - no spark. Also fuel pump is not making any noise with key in ignition. Jumped main relay and hot-wired it - in both ways pump starts up.

Ran diagnostics with inpa and got a lot of fault codes:
65- camshafts - sensor
55 Lambda probe heating probe 2
25 Lambda probe heating probe 1
83 engine speed/crankshaft position sensor
12 Throttle valve potentiometer
68 Tank ventilation valve
21 VANOS valve, electrical failure
27 Idle adjuster/ closing coil
53 Idle adjuster/opening coil
69 Relay fuel pump
18 EWS-code not present or signal failure

I know that a bunch of fault codes, but most of them was in the past and car ran without major problems..
PS. Car had aftermarket alarm system, but we had electrician that removed it.. Still after opening the car with the key it starts blinking. With corresponding alarm system remote control you can turn it off by clicking "unlock" on it. Also central locking still works with it.
Now what we have done so far after we scanned car for faults:
1. Measured CPS ohms and between 1 and 2 pins we got 890 ohms.
2. Replaced camshaft sensor - still got the fault code. Sensor was aftermarket, but not the cheapest version.
3. Pulled out few spark plugs to confirm for spark - no spark.
4. Synced DME and EWS the ISN code - synchronization as the software displayed was successful.
5. Triple checked all the fuses we could find - everything was fine.
6. Tried replacing Main and fuel pump relays from another e36 that runs fine - still nothing.
7. Been messing with EWS wires (two largest ones shorted), also now we have EWS emulator ready to be installed.

Also tried many other things that i cannot recall, because as I said, been on this for over 2 months at the moment and just ran out of ideas.
Had an idea to replace DME with a non EWS DME or buy "performance" chip that also removes EWS from the system, but don't want to waste money if that is not the problem..
Maybe anyone had this problem or someone knows how to solve it.

[alang1990]

1. Measured CPS ohms and between 1 and 2 pins we got 890 ohms..

Cps for m50 should be 540ohms +- 10% to account for heat and cold. Anything out of range pretty much leads to a no start, no spark, no fuel.

You also had a code for a fuel pump relay. That causes no starts to and is easy and cheap to replace. Like $15.

Codes stored will be deleted if the coded device does not produce problems for the next successive 60 startups. So they should have been gone within 1-2 months of daily use. So that's still too many codes on your system. After doing the above repairs, delete all the codes, restart the car, go for a short drive or a day of driving later pull the codes again and start checking and fixing whatever needs fixing.

[shogun]

Cps for m50 should be 540ohms +- 10% to account for heat and cold. Anything out of range pretty much leads to a no start, no spark, no fuel.

Are you 100% sure? The CPS for a EURO E36 320 with M50 is 12141730027 and that has 13 ohm, for example VEMO V20-72-0431, and the control unit is a Siemens MS40
resistance 13 Ohm ,type of sensor: passive Sensor , inductive sensor , 3 -pole
same with other like ERA http://alvadi.ee/en/kataloog/varuosa/13069459/bmw
Manufacturer: ERA Code: 550218 Product: Sensor, crankshaft pulse Cable Length [mm]: 720 for article number: 550218 Height [mm]: 24 Number of connectors: 3 Resistance [Ohm]: 13
BMW 3 (E36) 320 i M50 B20 (206S1) BMW 3 (E36) 320 i M50 B20 (206S2) BMW 3 (E36) 320 i M52 B20 (206S3) BMW 3 (E46) 320 i M52 B20 (206S4) BMW 3 Convertible (E36) 320 i M50 B20 (206S2) BMW 3 Convertible (E36) 320 i M52 B20 (206S3)
BMW 3 Coupe (E36) 320 i M50 B20 (206S1) BMW 3 Coupe (E36) 320 i M50 B20 (206S2) BMW 3 Coupe (E36) 320 i M52 B20 (206S3) BMW 3 Saloon (E36) 320 i M50 B20 (206S1) BMW 3 Saloon (E36) 320 i M50 B20 (206S2)
BMW 3 Saloon (E36) 320 i M52 B20 (206S3) BMW 3 Touring (E36) 320 i M52 B20 (206S3)

http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/1263031/

[alang1990]

Are you 100% sure? The CPS for a EURO E36 320 with M50 is 12141730027 and that has 13 ohm, for example VEMO V20-72-0431

Hi Shogun,

I'm just going according to the Bentley manual.

Anyway there is no spark and no fuel yet codes can be read which means the ecu is ok and the engine cranks which means ews battery and fusible links are ok. OP has replaced the dme and fuel pump relays with known good versions no dice.

The only thing left is the cps.

[shogun]

Bentley does not cover EURO models. Here, read this also, confusion about CPS versions http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...ing-Every-Year

Therefore he has to double check with the VIN for the part number and then has to find out the spec.
Especially when it comes to Siemens parts in the car like the ECU, then many parts are different too.

[alang1990]

The op in that thread did not close it out. And the report from a former bmw tech about being unable to read cps resistances when hot and cold
reliably is wild .

Anyway op in this thread here, please change out your cps,, if not for the reasons I've mentioned earlier, then for the basic fact that early 1990s era bmws have the cps as a known weak spot that leads to a no start issue at unpredictable times.

[baklazansa]

Thank you guys for your responses. I'll try to find original working CPS and replace it, also will install programmed EWS module emulator with corresponding ISN number.. This one is just in case.. Will install those components one by one just to see which one will do the trick.. IF will do.


I'll update as soon as something new will happen.
Thank you!

[alang1990]

If your engine cranks (whether it starts or not), your ews is not the problem. You have EWS2 which requires the entire ews system to work properly before the engine even turns over.

[XnWarden]

Ran diagnostics with inpa and got a lot of fault codes:
65- camshafts - sensor
55 Lambda probe heating probe 2
25 Lambda probe heating probe 1
83 engine speed/crankshaft position sensor
12 Throttle valve potentiometer
68 Tank ventilation valve
21 VANOS valve, electrical failure
27 Idle adjuster/ closing coil
53 Idle adjuster/opening coil
69 Relay fuel pump
18 EWS-code not present or signal failure

I know that a bunch of fault codes, but most of them was in the past and car ran without major problems..

Sooo..... Have you fixed these issues yet??? Why tf are you dicking around with ews and all this boatload of other shit when your car is telling you what problems it has and you are just ignoring them. It may have "run" before while these codes were present, but you can't honestly expect it to keep on running. Fix Your Damn car.

End rant.

Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk

[marvinstockman]

Will the car start and run, at least for a few seconds, on starting fluid? I also believe that if fuel pressure is not sensed, the spark is shut down. I also believe the reverse is true.