C.Ross

haha ok so this morning after doing some reading on some uk forums, I decided to try another theory, and just took a shot at trying my valet key in the ignition... low and behold it worked. the car started.... so i turned it off, took out the key and tried my master key... nothing. At the end of the working day, went to go home.... tried my master key... nothing again, tried the valet key, it starts.... sweet, so i drove the car home using my valet key. After a short 5 min drive from work to home, i parked the car outside my house turned off the ignition, put my master key into the ignition, turned the key and... IT STARTED??!!!?? WTF? so fellas.... im waiting till tomorrow morning to see what it does but im thinking either a). it was a battery issue, once the car was running for a while the systems all fired up and charged and the EWS suddenly had a epiphany to remembering it has 2 keys in memory.... or . an intermittent fault with the master key transponder, which will plague me for the rest of this cars ownership

Hello everyone, it has been a long time since i have last posted on here (a long time since something has broke, coincidentally) anyway I have a issue which I hope someone will know what it is straight away. (1998 E36 318is MS) I had a flat battery last week, left the key in the ignition and the ignition on the whole day while i was at work, walked out to the car to the battery being absolutely dead. So i ripped out the battery at work, charged it up... found out that the battery was knackered so i organised another one. this process took a few days, so the car sat at work with no battery in it over that time. I put another battery in it today and turn the key to the 1st and 2nd stage of ignition, everything does as it should, lights on the dash come on... stereo fires up, fan cranks up... but as i turn the key to turn over the motor.... NOTHING. no clicking noises from relays... the lights on the dash dont change, nothing. Straight away Im suspecting the EWS II has forgotten my key... has this ever happened to anyone else or am i looking too deep into this. (oh yes I did have a quick glimpse at the fuse box, from what i could see no blown fuses) Oh and yes i did think it was a starter solenoid or starter motor problem.... so a few strong lads tried push starting unsuccessfully. I look forward to reading your responses.

welcome bud, haha sounds like your car has alot of character thats for sure.... good luck with the fix up

sadly in amongst all those fines is one for a charge for careless driving causing injury. Clearly the system doesn't work when you have an idiot constantly being a douche on the road unlicensed or whatever.... who then takes out an innocent bystander, too many times i have seen the innocent ones paying the price for another ones actions.... the government and police w@nk on about lack of funding or whatever, when common sense would dictate if they did step up their game, make penalties more hefty they would make the money they seem to lack, they would reduce the idiots on the road, and we all will be allot safer. It's kinda funny i am saying all this though, it wasn't that long ago i was young and foolish, and yes i have had my fair share of speeding fines, ( 3 loss of licenses and a careless use of motor vehicle charge ) and my fair share of idiotic accidents due to speed, but at some stage i learnt my lesson and found that it's allot cheaper (and safer) to play the game and abide by the law. When i look back on my past driving record the only thing i am proud about it is the fact that although i did come close to injuring another member of the public... I never did.

anyone know of one of these for the e36?

lol nice one

i had the same issue.... turns out you dont even need to replace the capacitor, it's just a dry joint (where the solder holding the capacitor breaks) therefor you just need to remove the old solder and reapply some new solder to joint, hey presto!

bought numerous parts of these guys now... awesome people to deal with. Keep it up team, love what you do!

Hey peeps Just putting this up to try and get some ideas off people, as I want to make some mods to the car yet not sure what, or what effect it would have on the performance/ engine sensor side of things. Ideas I have had and pretty much shot them down myself was * supercharging with a DASC (little mods required as no ecu tampering needed, But hard to come by - limited in stock and pricey) * cam grinding, would this require ecu replacement?? * shaving flywheel? i have heard some people talk about removing the catalytic converter... is this legal in NZ, and with this have O2 sensors would it mess with the computer? Without a cat converter does it sound bad? I've heard some sweet sounding 318 BMW's around in auckland, would that be they have had this done? Please if you have tinkled under the bonnet of your ride, please let me know what u did, how well it worked, what and costs were involved. If the mods arent legal in NZ please dont bother commenting lol, I want a legit ride not a Bogan mobile.

Ok so a few days ago my climate control didnt turn on when the car started and none of the controls worked either. The next day I started the car and after a minute or so it started working fine again untill I turned car off, when I started it again it wouldnt work. Did this for a day or so then I noticed it turning on and off by itself as I drove around town... When it sometimes turns off the auto light stays on as does the ac light but no control buttons would work. I also noticed yesterday that when its off the ac pump is stayin engaged.... All the pipes under the bonnet would freeze up to point when I turn car off the expansion pressure in those pipes continued to turn the ac pump after motor had stopped turning... I have now removed ac fuse so clutch in ac pump doesnt engage but does anyone know is it the computer or blower resistor at fault or what for this intermittent electrical fault?

that first pic was only a example that i got off google so people knew what i was talking about, mine arent painted they are standard black along with the bottom lip of my front spoiler, it's not often you do see them painted.... hell red... is that a factory color?

hey you guys are awesome, shows what that mechanic knows then.... Jack S@#T hehe, i knew it was stock, just glad someone knows how to look through those OEM parts lists

Can anyone please tell me a part number for a pair of e36 M3 Velocity splitters? A Mechanic company... not going to mention any names... Yet... are saying that they are aftermarket fitted, which to me doesnt make sense when they on the front of every standard E36 318is Motorsport... ? if you dont know what i am talking about se attached picture, these are attached below the front lip of front spoiler

Legend! is this my cars build sheet? How did you manage to get hold of that? You would be able to find out for me how much it would cost to get my alarm reprogrammed? I want the lock signal sent to the Central locking box extended to be around ten seconds long, So mhen i lock the doors with remote it will automatically close my windows and sunroof. I know it's possible as it will be doing the same as if i was holding the key in the door lock on lock position which winds up the windows and closes sunroof

Are you sure the EWS has been disabled? If you are still using the original key it could be possible that it is still active. The EWS works by the key sending out a RF signal to the EWS reciever when it is plugged into ignition. That way if the reciever doesnt recieve a signal when the ignition is turned, 4 system components of the engine do not recieve power. I have read in some cases when fitting aftermarket alarms, they have wired in a Second ignition somewhere under the dash which has a Second key fitted in it at all times. it is only "active" and sending a go signal to the EWS reciever for a few moments after the aftermarket alarm is turned off though, in order for the alarm system to keylessly start the vehicle (for cars with turbos to warm up in mornings etc) If the EWS is still fitted it is possibly in one of four places, Behind the Glove box (when removed glove box) in the boot in back left corner i think it is, or the passengers foot well area, i think? dont quote me on any of this.... most of the information i was reading up on was UK models as they are the only ones who seem to post anything about it on the net...?

yes you are correct there, EWS and EWS II are only the immobiliser side of the system though. It's the alarm side of things i am trying to work out there are multiple alarms fitted along with EWS or EWS II, the ones im thinking could be installed in my model are either the 3G mk1 or it's next follow on the 3G Mk2 made by sigma i know all this, but the thing is all the information on the internet is so vague it doesnt spell out which year they stopped putting the 3G mk1 into e36 and started the 3G mk2 and on that note it doesnt really state that it is based on a year, it could be based on an optional add on from factory as which level alarm system you had installed, like i figured out today, this alarm has the feature of rolling up my windows if i leave them open and even close my sunroof.

Hey thanks for the recommendation, cars booked in at arrow wheels next week. getting rims painted Charcoal colour? not sure what it is actually called it's something charcoal.

Hey people, Can someone please help me figure this out, I'm looking into which alarm is factory fitted to my car I found one site saying that "3G EWS alarms are fitted to all E36 M series" but that is confusing me as some websites refer M series as M3 only where as other sites mean motorsport series... does anyone know?

Haha, yeah i know that about the 255's they were on it from previous owner figured no point replacing till they wear out, the previous owner even had one 255 fitted to the front.. obviously thought he could rotate tires. oh and who ever was asking about the LSD in 318iS, they are optional factory fitted, not all have them, been doing abit of research into it, waiting to get hold of build sheet to see what options are and should be fitted exactly on my car... it wasnt under the rear seat? Also heres something interesting i found http://www.e38.org/BMWProductionData.pdf

it's interesting to see that most come with the style 32 rims.... i see this one has the standard set up rims with same size rim front and rear, where as mine came with a staggered rim arrangement, with 17 x7 on the front and 17 x8 on rear.... it makes me laugh when i think about it though, a little 1.9L motor with huge 255's on for traction.... maybe someday when i win lotto it will get the power plant to match the tyres

The motorsports come with different shocks i think, not sure whether they are the same as in the M3's but i know they are not the same that as what comes in a 318i. I'm sure there is a list of other things, I've had this car for 3 years and still learning new things about it.

yeah i'm not sure myself the net's pretty vague on it the whole e36 m tech kit which is why im asking, if anyone finds some good links put them up, would be an interesting read.

Could someone please enlighten me on what the difference is with a M Tech 1 and M Tech 2 kit is for a e36.

anyone know if there is still meets on once a month? i'm probably not looking in the right place for the right forum,

what are we talking about here?