Will Not Start - No CEL Illumination in Key Position 2

[llll1l1ll]

Hey all,

'88 325is here.

I have this rather annoying problem. I turn to position 2 (ignition on) and normally the CEL illuminates and then I'm good to crank. However, now it's not illuminating and thus my car won't turn over. Some other times it will begin to turn over and then just stall. It takes a good 2-5 minutes of sporadic cranking or simply waiting. Once the CEL comes on, car runs like a top.

My question is, and it's really just out of pure curiosity, what could be causing this? I have a less-than-one-year-old CPS installed, a brand new TPS installed, a 173 DME. The only thing I could think of is a bad CPS, but I don't know why it would go bad as the wire isn't even routed through the belts and stuff of the water pump area. I'll check the fuses in a minute and also will investigate the ICV.

If it's any consolation, I noticed the preemptive strike of this problem about two weeks or so ago when the car cut for half a second and the CEL blinked. It did this a couple of times over the next few days, and then the starting problem appeared.

Thanks in advance,

Peter

[jlevie]

The CEL not coming on when the ignition is probably an important clue. The cause could be a bad bulb, a problem in the cluster, or a wiring problem. But it sounds to me like it means that the DME isn't powering up. The could be from any of a number of causes:

Bad main relay
Bad fusible link
Bad ignition switch
Bad code relay (if the car has the 13 button OBC)
Bad connections in C101
Bad DME ground (on the right shock tower)
Bad DME

[llll1l1ll]

I'll give the DME another shot and possibly look into a new DME, as my current DME is more than likely faulty. It won't allow me to do stomp tests even though it's a 173.

Maybe I'll spend more than 30 bucks on a new DME this time :]

[jlevie]

The failure of the stomp test could be the DME, but it is more likely to be a problem with TPS. For the stomp test to work, the DME must alternating activations of the idle and WOT switches in the TPS. If the TPS is bad or mis-adjusted and either of the switches isn't closing the stomp test won't work.

[llll1l1ll]

The thing is I just put the TPS in. Maybe I put it in wrong (although it really seemed to only go on one way)?

When the throttle is closed and you go to open it, there is a click. That's the only click. I put the TPS on so there was a click when the throttle is closed, and then once it is just even a little bit open there is another click until it stops. I thought that was the correct way to put it on? It really only seemed to want to fit that way.

It could be the connection on the TPS, as the plug for it had a little coolant spilled on it when I had a leak in the same area.

[jlevie]

The idle switch in the TPS is supposed to close when the throttle arm is 0.030-0.060" off the throttle stop. The WOT throttle switch should close before the throttle plate is wide open. You really need to use a meter or test light when adjusting the TPS.

If the TPS is correctly adjusted and the stomp test still doesn't work, Pull the DME connector and use a meter on the TPS input pins to see if the signals are reaching the DME.

[StereoInstaller1]

No CEL i s most likely a bad main relay.

Make a jumper, bypass that thing, you will know in seconds.