E36. M50 wont start

Hi, Im new here and to BMW's. I recentlybought an E63 with M50 non vanos engine and ran it for a couple of days then it would not start, it spins over but that's all. After letting a garage look at it it was showing unknown fault so the alarm ect was removed and another ECU tried but nothing. On towing it home we put it in gear and it fired up no problem but wont run under 1000rpm hence why it wont start, Iv replaced the Idle Speed Control Valve to see if it was that but hence no. Has anyone any idea where I should look next please?

Many thanks
Brian

Thanks Paddy, I will strip the pump out and have a look. I did try the dreaded easy start to see if it would try to fire but nothing, it's annoying when the garage cannot find whats wrong and the cars old so not worth paying out lots of money on I wont let it put me off yet though as im sure they are great cars when they are running

Brian 

Well Iv checked the pump today and there was no power to it so went to the fuse and again no power? so I took power to the fuse from elsewhere and the pump started working but the car still wont start 

My next questions are: where does the pump fuse get it's power from (the hynes manual is useless) and should the air flow meter near the air filter click continual when I put power on the pump fuse?

Sorry to be a pain with this but if I dont get it running soon Iv decided to cut my loses and scrap it which is a shame as it is a good car apart from the above..

Thanks Brian

So you can find the relay, look at the fuse box on the passenger side rear
corner of the engine bay. The three relays are on the engine side of the
fuse box and are visible with the fuse box lid on. They often have a black
cover. The one nearest the front is the fuel pump relay. the middle one is
the DME relay and the back one is the lambda probe relay.

It has five pins. 86 is battery power, 30 is for the fuel pump relay feed,
87a is switched battery, 85 is the ECU's DME relay controller and 87
powers the injectors.



Edited by MBW1

The fuel pump relay has four pins, the DME relay has five.

It's a couple of years since I looked at a non vanos E36.

Sorry Iv been sorting out xmas and Im now redundent (one of the many) anyway I replaced the Fuel pump and DME relays as the were cheap but Im not sure the DME has power. I think this comes from 18 fuse but I cannot find where the power is fed from, I have to admit Im begining to think it wont run again unless it goes to a dealer at £100 an hour which I cannot do so it' looks like it may be sold as a non runner or I will strip parts off to sell and scrap the rest. Shame as it's not a bad car and a good engine.

If the service light is at red does this effect anything?

Its got to be said that I would have like to try a BMW for a change but if this one goes I would be unlikely to buy onother.

Brian

Edited by xl426

Not sure if this will help at all, but I heard that the LAMDA sensor when it goes, causes a lot of running problems between idle and about 3000 RPM and possibly starting. If you are driving above 3000rpm regularly you will not notice any problem really but when driving at normal cruising type speeds is where the LAMDA regulates the air / petrol mixture.

By the sounds of your problem, the pump has power and so too does the DME relay.

Did you pull out the back seat and turn on the ignition and hear the pump buzz for 2 - 3 seconds then stop, then try start the car? You should hear the pump buzz when priming ans buzz when the car is running.

Thanks for th ehelp guys as I need it,

 When we towed it back from the garage I got my son to try it in gear and it fired up but cut out as if you turn the ignition off when revs dropped to1000, we tried this a couple of times with same results but above 1000rpm the car sounds fine,

 I checked the fuel pump which did not seem to be running and still doesnt but on removing it and powering it from the battery it was ok. So I have replaced the DME and Fuel Pump Relays (although not sure what order these are in as the DME was at the front not in the middle) but this could have been the garage messing, 18 fuse which goes to the middle relay (DME) has no power (Still have not heard the pump running).

All the wiring behind the glove box is now on the floor. So will look closer at that as the garage cut the wires for the alarm ect in case it was those stopping it.

The car is a 92 320i and turns over fine but makes no attempt to fire, I know it's something small and simple as the car ran fine for 2 days then just would not start. Milage is 100000+ I think, as Iv said I have noticed that the service/inspection light is showing red (overdue) but I could find no reference to this?

I have got a replacement pump coming as Iv noted that there seems to be a lot of problems with these on the forum so was changing it just in case the pressure is low.

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP

Brian

Edited by xl426

Hi Paddy, sorry but I only get on here at weekends as I work away, the garage did the diagnostic but it came up as fault unknown, I dont know if they checked the other items, I will try to fit the pump this w/end weather permitting.

The crankshaft controls the spark, timing fuel delivery along with the camshaft sensor. I recently replaced my camshaft sensor, it will run (badly) without a camshaft sensor but starting is hot and miss.