another no start problem yadiyadiyadi please help tho

[tonytony]

So i checked the engine ground(from mounting arm to body?), coilpack ground, ecu ground(to the strut tower right?) what else am i missing? I have the small wire to the smallest nut, and the medium wire to the medium nut, and big fat black wire hooked to the starter and the alternator wire together, is that the correct way to do it(m20 starter)?

I get power in my keyless entry, my windows work, all the lights flash up....go to start the car and click, try again click. SO.........sounds like a starter problem, but it was working fine when pulled, does it just go bad from being moved around and possible dropped a tad? Can i just do it ghetto school wya and hit it with something? it doesn't even wanna turn over it just clicks once and that's that. What else can it be? sorry for the long post:( TIA

Found problem look at last post
tony

[DEV0 E30]

On the starter both positives (yes 2!) go to the big (13MM) terminal, the medium is only the ground, it doesn't receive a wire, only that small ground that is about 1 inch long.. (also is a 13MM). I think are grounding out your positive.

You sure you didn't switch the alternator excite wire and starter on/off wire?
They are the small wires that go to each. Starter on/off goes to the small (10MM) terminal on the starter. The alternator excite wire goes to the small (8MM) nut that is about 1-2 inches from the alternator terminals that are covered by that piece of rubber.

Is your oil pan baffle shaved? Or do you have an E34 M50?

[tonytony]

ok so i just tried to crank the engine by hand and realize i dont know which way the crank spins and the wires check out sorta. The ground doesn't have any wires going to it, the two big wires ( alt, and battery). but i cant' tell which wire is which for the 8 and 10mm wires. i recall those two wires have different size eyelets so i just put the smallest one on the 8mm and the bigger one on the 10

[tonytony]

i'm sure the wires aren't crossed, what do you mean by oil pan baffle? is that the baffle inside the oil pan? i sure hope not cause i really really dont wanna go through that shit again. So i'm thinking of taking out the starter and see if i can turn the crank, i tried to turn it earlier both ways and it didnt' move very much, how much leverage do i need? Also am i going to need to take the intake manifold out, seems like it would make life easier

[DEV0 E30]

Unless your M50 is from an E34, you need to shave the oil pan baffle, atleast most people have to do this. Yes it's inside of the oil pan. You don't need a lot of pressure, but it won't be extremely easy... you'll hear the cylinders pressurizing. I took out my radiator to try.

I've had to take apart my engine/car for the third time now after replacing my oil pan. First time shaved the baffle like the old one, put it back together, no go. Second time I take off a centimeter portion I forgot, turned the engine over a 1/4 or 1/3 and said yay, put it all together... another no go. Now I'm on my third time, I'm gonna rotate it a few times to make sure it's not catching. I don't think you'll need to take off the intake manifold, but it does make wiring up the starter much easier, watch out for the oil pan dipstick if it's in, first time I was putting mine back on it got in the way and made things a hassle.

[tonytony]

i think i found the culprit, when i took out the A/C pulley off the crank pulley the bolts ended up being too long and went through and dug into the block. when i was cranking the engine by hand metal shavings started falling on me, yay.......