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Ron Stygar Carl Buckland Dale Beuning Forums Help
From digest.v5.n46 Tue Jul 30 06:25:31 1996 Well, I got the car started. Hooray! Now there's a host of other "minor" things that need fixing. However, the problem turned out to be interesting and not covered in the FAQs (I don't think) so let me tell you what I found and hope it helps someone else out someday. After my first few posts, I did a little basic checking. Didn't find anything. However, once the Bentley manual came, I suddenly had a whole new lease on problem solving :-) Since I wasn't getting spark (at first), I started checking the usual ignition suspects. I started looking for sensor malfunctions. The first check was the sensor that watches teeth go by (the pulse sensor) and gets crankshaft position. It checked out fine but in the process I discovered something VERY useful. On spark plug wire #6 is an inductive pickup to sequence the fuel injectors. This is only mentioned in a very tiny little "NOTE---" in the Ignition chapter (section 5.3). You'll miss it if you haven't been careful in your reading. Anyway, to make a long story short (ha ha), I discovered that the wire from the pickup to the harness had frayed and was shorted against the engine. I taped and sealed it shut with some RTV, let it dry for a bit and then tried starting the car. Voila. I suddenly had spark and a few cranks later the car fired. You'd never guess such a little thing could keep the car from starting (or maybe you would :-) Didn't run great at first but got better as it ran longer (methinks I have the adaptive 1.1 Motronic unit). Anyway, now I've got a running '87 325iC and can fix all the other little odds and ends (OBC display out, service control board rechargeable batteries need replacing, and the usual other little problems). Thanks to everyone for tips. A question now: The manual claims the Rear Lights Check Relay is in the luggage compartment near the power antenna. Well, I can't seem to find it at all. Can someone be more specific about where I should look?? Is it maybe somewhere else in the convertibles? That little red light on the Check-Control console is annoying :-) Thanks.
Jim TenCate, 87 325iC, Los Alamos, NM |
