80 BMW EURO E24 tech literature/manuals

[pancakeonmeface]

Hello, I just bought a 1980 E24 Euro spec. Picked it up from a guy who pulled the wires apart under the steering wheel..

I am having a hard time finding good wiring diagrams for this car.

Are later model manuals useful to use in relation to fixing this car?
What type of manual would be best?

I am trying to fix my ignition. Such a simple question lol..

The yellow/black wire that runs from the bottom spade on the starter, where does that hook up under the dash?

The car does not engage starter when you turn the key. Has power up to the key ignition, power up to the starter. Car turns over when you hotwire it (jump starter)

This black/yellow is the signal wire, so I am sure this is the problem.

Thanks for any input..

https://ibb.co/yB010Q9

I'm pretty sure this is the wire I am dealing with. It says PIN 50 on the OBC. That diagram is for later model e24. I just want to confirm I am dealing with the same wire, and set up.

[Bert Poliakoff]

Post 82 cars are different

[DesktopDave]

I couldn't get the IIB.co shortcode to work?

It's been a while since I had an early model, I'll see if I can't find some decent pics. Mine was also torn apart under the dash, took some time to get it running. That start signal wire is quite important, it runs all over the place. It does hook up to the ignition switch, as well as the gauge cluster, starter, and some of the injection components. If I recall correctly, the automatic cars had a black wire from the ignition switch to the transmission interlock relay, then to the black/yellow wire. Manuals have no inhibit relay, so the black wire from the ignition switch connects directly to the black/yellow start wire.

The E12 5-series is very similar to your car, it can be nearly identical depending on the build date. The E23 7-series also shares a great number of similarities, and even the E21 3-series has a resemblance. My old '81 633CSi had an early E12 chassis with one of the first-gen Motronics. I found E12, E21 & E28 manuals all relatively helpful in varying degrees to figure that one out.

I had a huge amount of trouble finding any wiring diagrams at all. I ended up using an E23 735i electrical troubleshooting manual (ETM) to finally get it going. You can find a lot of them here.

As Bert mentioned, the '82-on E24 models with the E28 chassis are quite different from the early E12-based models. They may look similar but they're a completely different car.

[pancakeonmeface]

I really appreciate the reply. You solved the problem!

The yellow/black wire goes from the bottom spade on the starter to the black wire (with the female spade connector) coming from the key ignition.

I have noticed the similarities between the E21 and early E24s.

Thank you for the links. It seems like every other one I clicked is expired!