craig96 0 Report post Posted September 10, 2022 Hi Guys, When I moved the car into the garage a week ago, a bit of an odd splutter just before shut-down. Now won't start at all. Cranking nicely, unburned fuel vapor at the exhaust, but nothing. All fuses good, Pump seems to be working. No error codes on my basic cheap OBD scanner. Any ideas? Failing that, any recommendations for a mobile specialist who knows their stuff? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jon dee 500 Report post Posted September 11, 2022 Might be worth taking a couple of minutes to check this... Cheers... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
craig96 0 Report post Posted September 13, 2022 Thanks very much for that, appreciated, tried it, Unfortunately no luck! So I'm stuck with the 323 in the garage for now. Crank and camshaft sensor my next thoughts, or complete ECU replacement (plus all the coding issues that go with it?) but really no evidence to go on without any error codes appearing so it would be a bit of a scattergun approach. Can anyone recommend a specialist in the Auckland area? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Spinner99 55 Report post Posted September 14, 2022 nooooo not the parts cannon! It's a pretty basic way to look at it and I'm ignoring timing etc, but fuel + air + spark = boom so it'll be one of those three things, but the cause behind it may be more fun to work out. It sounds like you have fuel under control, Have you got a way to check for spark? The flash way would be with an oscilloscope, but you can probably do it with a multimeter. The reasons behind no spark are likely ECU related and could be any sensor not working, a wiring issue, water damage or a million other things. And finally you could try disconnecting the mas airflow sensor. I *think* the engine computer will use known values if the MAF isn't connected so you could use that as a way to see if it's an air issue. Random question, but apart from moving the car into the garage, what was the previous run or two before that? e.g. were they short 30 second runs to get it in/out of the garage? Or a long drive? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
craig96 0 Report post Posted September 15, 2022 Hi Thanks for the response. Yeah, the parts cannon sure seems like a track I would like to avoid! Yes good call, spark-check will be next check to make. I do have an old oscilloscope I just need to retrieve from a local storage unit. Very Interesting your question about the previous runs before this happened. Yes, perhaps 5 runs that were all less than 20sec (Moving out/in/out of garage). Which is not at all normal for me, probably never done that before. What's are your thoughts? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jon dee 500 Report post Posted September 15, 2022 Could just be flooded if the plugs haven't been changed for a long time. Pull a couple of plugs and see if they are covered in wet soot. If they are you are probably due for a new set. Leave all the plugs out for a day or two and then try a new set (or clean the old set) and give it a try. If it starts, drive it until it gets up to temperature before putting the car away. Cheers... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Spinner99 55 Report post Posted September 16, 2022 10 hours ago, craig96 said: Hi Thanks for the response. Yeah, the parts cannon sure seems like a track I would like to avoid! Yes good call, spark-check will be next check to make. I do have an old oscilloscope I just need to retrieve from a local storage unit. Very Interesting your question about the previous runs before this happened. Yes, perhaps 5 runs that were all less than 20sec (Moving out/in/out of garage). Which is not at all normal for me, probably never done that before. What's are your thoughts? The reason I ask is one day my old E46 325i was a crank no start. What had happened prior to that was I wanted to mow the lawn so I started it up, pulled it out the garage and turned it off. Got the lawn mower out, mowed the lawn, put the lawn mower back, started the car up and put it back in the garage. Next morning I jumped in the car to go to work and crank no start. I didn't have a code reader back then and couldn't figure it out and had it towed to the local garage. This is 10 years old so hopefully I'm getting it all right, but my recollection is the mechanic said there were codes for misfires on multiple cylinders. The mechanic told me he pulled the spark plugs, put a squirt of oil in each cylinder, fitted new spark plugs and it fired up. His explanation was that during cold start up the car adds extra fuel, and he thought that the extra fuel had washed away the oil on the cylinder walls resulting in no seal between the pistons and the cylinder wall, which meant a lack of compression in those cylinders. His advice was if i ever started the car up to wait until the temperature needle moved before turning it off, and that advice did me well for the rest of the time i owned that vehicle I'm not sure if that will lead you down the garden path or help, but I see @jon dee is also thinking plugs could be the problem. My extra $0.05 is if you do decide to quirt some oil into each cylinder to use some type of tube so you don't get oil on the threads for the spark plugs. And be prepared for some smoke on startup too as that oil gets burned off. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
craig96 0 Report post Posted September 17, 2022 Thanks Guys! You were both right; spark. Now running. Very pleased 😃. I pulled the plugs, they were wet with fuel & soot gunge even after several days of not attempting a start. (Plugs not in fantastic condition to be honest, turns out they were original BMW plugs with 120k km on them). Brushed them up, dried them off & pumped a shot of engine oil into each cylinder via a plastic tube as @Spinner99 suggested and boom! Engine started (& yes, loads of smoke produced which was impressive). Engine light & a "misfire" code from one of the cylinders for a a few mins while warming up, then a good drive and now all seems well. Will purchase a new set of plugs next week, will see if I can find a more cost effective way than the $300 for a set from Repco. Thanks again guys, awesome. Good advice, really appreciated!!👍. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Palazzo 477 Report post Posted September 17, 2022 https://spareto.com/t/vehicles/bmw/bmw-3-touring-e91-323-i/spark-glow-ignition/spark-plug check the model, but I think that’s the right one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Spinner99 55 Report post Posted September 17, 2022 Oh awesome! Someone I knew once called Repco "Rip every poor c*** off"... Here's some other options. FCPEuro.com ~ $80 USD inc FedEx to NZ for a set of 6 Bosch FR7NPP332's (not sure if your an NGK or Bosch fan sorry). Runautoparts.com.au $141AUD inc shipping to NZ for a set of the same plugs. I've used FCP & Runautoparts before and can vouch for them. I found another website that was cheaper AND in NZ but I haven't used them and the google reviews are a bit mixed so up to you if you want to give them a try or not. $116NZD inc shipping from these people. https://jbhauto.co.nz/products/bosch-fr7npp332-double-platinum-spark-plug Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
