Start, stumble, dies. Need ideas

[kaptainkrollio]

89 325is. Car recently would have hard starts every now and then. A few weeks ago I shifted on a freeway on ramp and the engine died. Pulled over, started right back up, thought nothing of it. Last week car died driving home. Pulled over, it would start, hit idle, then die. Had a 1222 code. New O2 sensor, so I wasn't sure what was going on. Cleared the code and towed the car home. Now I have a 1223. Tested the CTS, its good. Tested pin 45 @ the DME, no continuity. I also jumped whatever pins the Bentley says to test the injectors and had nothing. I cut out my C191 because its the most likely culprit and it looked like crap. Now I have continuity at the DME (most of the time), but the car still won't start and still throws the 1223. Even if the CTS wires have a break somewhere down the line the car should still at least start, even if it runs poorly, right? Are there any other tests for a bad DME? I get spark and smell fuel out the back and I have a brand new CPS and main and fuel relays.

Thoughts?

[bernzpeed]

first of all, welcome.

and secondly, it could be the engine/coolant temp sensor. just guessing with the 1223 code.

[kaptainkrollio]

Its showing ~2200 ohms. It was the first thing I checked.

[kaptainkrollio]

Well now it just started, but this throwing the same code. I'm suspicious

[devon.818]

sounds like a sensor.

next time if it doesnt start see if a bump start will do it.

then check for fuel/spark and come back to us

[kaptainkrollio]

I've had spark the whole time. Push starting won't work, I've tried. Didn't start again, checked for fuel, nothing. Jumped the fuel pump- worked fine. Tried to start one more - worked fine. None of the important sensors have been testing out of limits. Starting to think either the DME is one its way out or I have mice in my dash selectively eating the wires I need when I need them.

[bcausey]

Bad o2 sensor- unplug and see if that helps at all

[kaptainkrollio]

I did try that earlier. I've replaced it within the last year, but I suppose if there was another issue the O2 sensor could easily have been fouled.

I'm considering fuel pump. Sometimes it does take a little while to get the car started, but I've had that problem for almost 5 years.

[kaptainkrollio]

So there was a crack somewhere between the CTS and the DME that would change the resistance every time it moved. I cut out the bad wire and ran a length of good wire from the DME, which cleared the 1223 code. I've also found out that the connector to the fuel pump is very sensitive, which would likely be the cause my intermittent start problem. We'll see if fixing that changes anything.

Sometimes owning a 22 year old car is just so rewarding!

[kaptainkrollio]

Seems to be working ok now. I'm sure I'll be back in a few days.

[surapple]

have u changed ur fuel filter, had same problem till i changed mine...

[Kershaw]

main relay?

[kaptainkrollio]

Main + fuel relays and fuel filter were replaced within the last month.

[603Racing]

My e24 had similar issues. The external (high pressure) fuel pump was bad... just barely bad if that makes sense. I could get the car started sometimes, but it would always die within 10 seconds. It wouldn't hold pressure, but I didn't know that until i put a fuel pressure gauge to it. New pump fixed it.

My e30 had hard start and really rough idle issues last week. The FPR was bad, it was dumping fuel straight through the vacuum line to the intake. New FPR fixed it.