I have a 1997 e36 m3 that was working just fine two days ago. I let it sit for about a days worth and when I went to start it up yesterday it wouldn't start or even crank but the dash and radio would come on. The ABS and brake fluid light both came and stayed on as well. I left the battery unplugged for a coupe hours but same thing. I messed with the EWS and still nothing. The car came with a viper alarm system and was told that it might have something to do with that but I'm not entirely sure. Any ideas?
Moved to E36 M3 sub forum
Shogun tricks and tips for the E32 series are HERE!
Did you try charging the battery? Some other things to look at:
- dead starter. Try jumping the +12 on the starter lug if you can get at it, see if it kick
- dying battery. Charge it up or try boost, but sometimes boosting does not work on BMWs, especially if the battery get too low
- Alarm as you said ... maybe it has some disable feature?
Most aftermarket alarms that had a starter disable feature were usually tied into the starter Black/Yellow wire around the steering column. DEI Viper alarms use to be very robust but depending on quality of install and age, the relay could have stopped working.
My M had a no crank sympton and the only diagnostic tool I had was a basic OBD2 reader. Since it would be able to read any EWS faults, it is still able to clear DME faults and I was able to start the engine. The next time it would not start I was at home, and I used my laptop with DIS to read out EWS and DME faults. Both had faults, cleared them and the engine would start. I disabled EWS and have not had any no crank issues since.
Bookmarks