840ci, wont start! Tried everything!

[Snailmaildale26]

Hello everyone, I'm pretty new to the forum as this is my first BMW so I'm a bit inexperienced with the 8 series, and I'm only 16 so my budget is tight. Anyways, so I purchased this 1995 BMW 840ci with the m60 V8 about two years ago when I was 14 and spent everything I had on it, I've always kept a tight schedule on maitnence and have always been buying OEM when I can (i know these cars are picky in some cases). And I've had no problems with the car at all. But about 2 weeks ago i drove it till about nine o clock at night and I'll admit I was working it a little but everything was fine, no codes, no lack of power nothing. And I let it sit outside overnight and it drops below freezing, and the next morning I try to start it to go to school it just cranks! At first i thought it was the common flooding issue, I pulled the spark plugs and coils, got new sparkplugs, charged up the batteries, put everything back together and nothing, I followed the process for a flooded M60 on meeknet and still nothing. I tried to see if it was throwing any codes (I have one of those peake code readers) and I got nothing. Then I replaced the cam and crank sensors with OEM ones and still nothing, after that I pulled plugs and coils again and they were wet, so I tested for spark, and there was no spark. So i tested all of the relays related to providing spark (mainly the three located next to the dme). They were fine, so I went in the back by the battery to check the fusible link, and it looked great. So at this point I'm at a loss, my older brother is a mechanic and he mainly works on Japanese cars, but i figured I would ask for help, he said he has no idea what it is. Ive looked through almost all previous forums to find a solution but cabt find anything. If someone could help me that would be amazing, I'm currently driving my project car to school, but I want my baby back. 👌

[TerryY]

Have you pulled the fuel pump fuse? If not then every time you turn the ignition on it is adding to the flooding.

[Snailmaildale26]

Have you pulled the fuel pump fuse? If not then every time you turn the ignition on it is adding to the flooding.

no, thats a good point I'll do that. but it still does not help me with the lack of spark.

Could the DME be fried? Doesn't it control spark? Is there a way to test it?

[R Shaffner]

Don't know whether any of this applies to you or not...

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...ends-are-wrong

[mbarrett635]

I’m not an expert on the M60, but I do know that a bad fusible link often looks good to the naked eye. You should check continuity with a multi-meter or continuity tester.


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[Pneill316]

Was just gonna say fusible links too when I saw the title. Just replace to eliminate the possibility, I couldn’t tell that it was bad on either of my 2 8’s, so assume if it’s original it’s needs replacing, plus super cheap.

[ltbrett]

You do not have EWS. You might have a bad fusible link. You might also have missed the spark. I'd double check your test procedure to make sure it is valid and solidly connected. Test more than one cylinder.

Brett

[olinjohnston]

You do not have EWS.

01/1995 production+ 95s do

[Timm]

If your plugs were wet with fuel then you should have a spark as the injectors only fire if you have sparks. The sparks on the M60 are feeble during cranking, yellow and difficult to see.

My immediate thought was that the engine is still flooded - and they are real bears to start once flooded and take a lot of fiddling to get them going again as detailed in my procedure:

https://www.meeknet.co.uk/E32/Flooded_M60_Start.htm

The giveaway signs are a smell of petrol and the engine cranks quietly and quickly as there is no compression - so if you have them then the possibilities are that it is flooded. An additional factor can be the failure of the Fuel Pressure Regulator diaphragm - this can be checked by pulling off the vacuum pipe that runs to the PCV and checking it for fuel - I'm fiddling with it here:


https://youtu.be/qyxzL7OFz6k?t=260

[rjjablo]

If your plugs are all wet, I would just put a new set in. not that much $$

And it will give you cylinders a chance to dry out

[ChrisFuture8]

What year is your car and does it have an EWS module? Although not an 840, but I once had a 1999 540i that wouldn't start after I reconnected the battery cables to the battery. All other electronics worked except the starter wouldn't crank.Turned out, the connection of the battery cables blew the EWS II module. After a lot of testing, searching, and troubleshooting, I determined it was the EWS module that was not working.That was my first encounter with an EWS module failure ever. I pulled the module and shipped it out to get it reflashed. That fixed the issue for me.

[8eights]

Can't you just put a 93-94 404 DME in that car to test?

[amurphCA]

Timm,

Do the M62s have the same potential to be flooded or is it just the M60s?

[Timm]

They don't seem to - the new version of DME software sorted it out - it no longer squirted fuel in every time the key was turned.