New to me, '87 325. Yep, No start - United Bimmer Community

**mooware** · 10-11-2008, 09:16 AM

New to the board here, I have been searching and purising for a little while trying to find answers to my newly aquired 325e (1987)

A little history:

I got the car for $200, looks very nice, I mean really nice. The P.O. (Previous Owner), drove the car every day. It stumbled one day and he parked it. during the six months it sat in the driveway, it would occasionally start. The care came with a complete brand new exhaust system, O2 Sensor, Cap/Rotors Plugs. All this stuff uninstalled, except for the cap roter and plugs. The battery was removed from the car during this time.

After installing the exhaust and putting in a new battery, I tried to address the no start issue. It cranks and cranks, but occasionally will try and catch for a brief second.

I have checked for spark, which I do have on all cylinders. a strong spark

I removed the fuel pressure regulator and when cranking she shoots out gas, so I am getting fuel, I even tried another fuel pressure regulator.

I have shot starter fluid past the throttle body and still, there is no start or wanting to start.

I am not that familiar with these cars, so any help or direction would be appreciated.

It may be important to note that the radio says "code".

I may next make sure that the cap and wires are correct, as I did not install them.

**deco04** · 10-12-2008, 07:58 AM

immobiliser key battery dead maybe

**mooware** · 10-12-2008, 08:27 AM

Do you mean in the key, or in the car? I just have a regular key with no electronics in it.

sean

**mooware** · 10-12-2008, 05:01 PM

I think I found the issue..

Since I didn't replace the cap and rotor, I thought I would pull the cap to see if was wired correctly. Just for giggles, I turned the ignition with the dist cap off, and the rotor does not turn.

Uh, what am I looking at here for damage?

**Big Evil** · 11-23-2008, 04:16 PM

The rotor is bolted directly to the end of the cam shaft and there is only one thing that makes that turn. The timing belt. It's not a hard fix, but you'd better do it right. You have an interference motor which means if the cam and crank aren't in sync with each other you destroy the valves and pistons etc. Maybe why you got the car so cheap (hope not though). Get a book (chiltons etc.) follow the directions cross your fingers and hope for the best, I'm pullin for ya. One other thing if the engine light stays lit while your cranking it mean the ECU is not picking up a crank signal from the magnetic pickup on the front of the engine. That will also prevent it from starting and running.