E36 328i - Starting Issues

[Massnz 2]

Hello

In the process of getting my 1996 E36 328i back on the road, it's been off the road for a year and a half while I throw parts at it after a head gasket replacement.  Drove fine 6 months ago when i shifted houses and has been started up on a 3 month basis with no dramas.  Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, had an endless cranking issue where I was intermittently getting fuel pressure to the rail (verified by the schrader valve) which was temporarily fixed last weekend by replacing the Crank Sensor and Fuel Pump (was the fuel pump).  Ran the car for about 30 seconds, seemed to be a little rough at idle so i shut the car off and left it for a couple of days.  

Now when i go to start, it almost catches but seems to buck, backfire and pop.  I notice the tach needle spiking all over the show up to about 3 - 4k which to me suggests either:

1. the engine rotation speed is being misread (if the new Crank Sensor may not have been installed correctly)
2. there's some ignition issues causing the engine to surge as it semi-catches (fuel delivery issues/spark)

I'll be going through the following, but any additional suggestions/second opinion would be great to save me chasing too many ghosts.

• Check the Crank Sensor is installed/seated correctly (i assume if it hasn't been seated close enough to the crank pulley it'll get murky readings and mess with the timing?)
• Clean the injectors with a bit of brake cleaner (injector(s) might be stuck open?)  A couple of injectors have missing pintle caps  (first 2 from the front of the engine) which may not be helping, I have bought replacements which i'll fit
• Purge the fuel lines of any stale fuel with a bypass of pump relay.  Car had around 1/4 of a tank of fuel which may be an issue, I've so far chucked in 10 litres of fresh 95 to try dilute any stale fuel.
• Purchase a compression test kit and verify all cylinders.
• Remove fuel pump relay and try an Ether start.

 

[BM WORLD 1283]

replace the cam sensor too .

check and clean plugs , will be all fuelled up

[Massnz 2]

Thanks, well it turns out the it was the simplest of fixes.  A couple of injector harness connectors weren't fully connected, i pressed down on the wiring bank and *click* *click*.

Just need to sort out the ticking, rough idle and exhaust "putting" noise.

[BM WORLD 1283]

2 hours ago, Massnz said:

Thanks, well it turns out the it was the simplest of fixes.  A couple of injector harness connectors weren't fully connected, i pressed down on the wiring bank and *click* *click*.

Just need to sort out the ticking, rough idle and exhaust "putting" noise.

good work

lifter ticking ?

old oil ? try a oil flush and oil lifter treatment , new oil and filter .

rough idle , air leaks , vac hoses etc , sticky icv , faulty pcv etc

[Massnz 2]

Thanks, I pulled all the plugs and found they were dirty/slightly rusted as it appears water managed to get past the coil packs...probably from washing the car without the plastic engine trim.  #6 was really bad.  Cleaned them up and now the ticking is gone and the car seems to be in better shape.  

The only thing left to solve is what appears to be a vacuum leak as you suggested, rough idle/backfiring but completely smooths out as soon as i hold the throttle open slightly (1000 rpm +).  Will be an easy fix, there are a couple of areas where I took shortcuts putting the intake components back in which is almost certainly letting in unmetered air.