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Thread: Turns over, doesn't start, ews dme key tumbler swap

  1. #1
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    Turns over, doesn't start, ews dme key tumbler swap

    Hi everyone Im new , I want to ask you guys for help as I believe someone may have gone through this already. I have a 2000 BMW 323i that had been sitting for bout 9 months before I came along and bought it. The car had no key but the key cylinder looked like it had been messed up, there was a shiny wire hanging down, I later found out it was the antenna that communicated with the ews. So I ordered a ews , dme, and key tumbler with key from another 2000 BMW 323i since I had seen on YouTube you could do a direct swap and the car would crank. I began to drill out the old cylinder since it's the only way without a key to do it. I got most of it out ,enough to use a screw driver to turn the inside mechanism of the steering column. I connected the new key and cylinder to it's sensor and left it hanging to the own position. The key switch was disconnected already so I decided to to just plug it in and use the screw driver straight at the ignition switch. Swapped the ews and dme and the car turned over but no crank. I put like 2 gallons of gas in the tank , nothing. I tried giving it starter fluid which I left the main tube on of the filter may need to try again without it. It turned over no crank. In 3 occasions it sounded like it cranked for slpit second but then nothing. When I switch it on the cars gauges don't do anything also , so this is where I'm at. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!!

  2. #2
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    Turns over, doesn't start, ews dme key tumbler swap

    ‘Crank’ and ‘turnover’ mean the same thing to me

    So your car cranks and turns over but does not fire/start running?
    Or it does not crank, does not turnover and as result does not fire/start running?

    I think the DME has to be aligned with the ‘new’ EWS.


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    Last edited by bluptgm3; 02-20-2019 at 11:06 PM.

  3. #3
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    yea lol sorry i wasn't clear. it does crank (turnover) but doesnt fire. well i got the ews, dme and key cylinder from the same donor car, and it showed in a video that all i had to do is swap them. do you think i would still have to align the, if so how would i go about doing that?

  4. #4
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    What are you using for a key?


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  5. #5
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    If it cranks, it's not a key issue.
    It's either a dme-ews alignment issue, or your crankshaft position sensor isn't reporting rpm.


    You shouldn't take on this work going by YouTube videos and speculation. You need proper diagnostics for finding out the cause, and for eventual alignment of dme-ews rolling codes.
    -Abel

    - E36 328is ~210-220whp: Lots of Mods.
    - 2000 Z3: Many Mods.
    - 2003 VW Jetta TDI Manual 47-50mpg
    - 1999 S52 Estoril M Coupe
    - 2014 328d Wagon, self-tuned, 270hp/430ft-lbs
    - 2019 M2 Competition, self-tuned, 504whp
    - 2016 Mini Cooper S

  6. #6
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    I have the key and key cylinder hooked up to the sensor that reads the key, however it's just hanging on the side because I haven't finished fully drilling out the last bit of the old cylinder. I have the ignition switch off the column and I'm using a screwdriver to turn the switch. Do you think it's more likely the dme and ews need to be aligned vs the crankshaft sensor, if so is the dealership the only spot I can do it at ? Also Thank you for assisting me guys. It helps getting more information.

  7. #7
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    The dealership isn't the only place.
    You can do it at home (as well as scan for codes) with a windows laptop and the setup I put up here:

    https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...xperimentation


    Everything you need is in the first post. You need the usb-obd cable (inpa K+dcan cable) AND a 20-pin port adapter.

    Then you would go into the MS42 dme section, and read codes. You can also align the dme-ews from there, if needed.

    At this point it could be either or.
    If you crank the car, does the cluster show some rpm on tachometer? (No rpm reading suggests to crankshaft position sensor)
    -Abel

    - E36 328is ~210-220whp: Lots of Mods.
    - 2000 Z3: Many Mods.
    - 2003 VW Jetta TDI Manual 47-50mpg
    - 1999 S52 Estoril M Coupe
    - 2014 328d Wagon, self-tuned, 270hp/430ft-lbs
    - 2019 M2 Competition, self-tuned, 504whp
    - 2016 Mini Cooper S

  8. #8
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    The gauges on the dash don't do anything when I turn over the key switch. Not even when I would put in accessory and I checked my other e46 that when I put it in accessory mode the gauges all cycle. So would that most likely be the ews and dme not aligned?

  9. #9
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    No, that doesn't specifically mean a dme and ews problem.

    It means you desperately need proper diagnostics of that car. A lot seems to be going on.
    -Abel

    - E36 328is ~210-220whp: Lots of Mods.
    - 2000 Z3: Many Mods.
    - 2003 VW Jetta TDI Manual 47-50mpg
    - 1999 S52 Estoril M Coupe
    - 2014 328d Wagon, self-tuned, 270hp/430ft-lbs
    - 2019 M2 Competition, self-tuned, 504whp
    - 2016 Mini Cooper S

  10. #10
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    Well I shall do what I can with what I got. Thank you everyone for your help, if you have any other suggestions please let me know.👍

  11. #11
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    Hey guys , I have more info on the car to c if this might help u guys on helping me narrow it down. The donor ews dme and key tumbler came off an automatic e46 while mines a manual. Could this cause the car to not want to cycle gauges and not turn on?

  12. #12
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    While I believe that will be an issue once it is running, it should be a minor issue getting it running.


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  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by R Shaffner View Post
    Yes! This did help actually. I think I might have miss aligined the new dmw and ews. I'ma try to get them aligined and go at it again hopefully this solves it, I'll let u guys know👍

  15. #15
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    Can someone direct me to someone who can do my dme and ews alignment and program my dme automatic to manual? Thank you

  16. #16
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    Did you figure it out?
    Did you try INPA to align ews-dme?
    Theres also a utility called ewssycc
    Let us know what happened

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