1986 325e Hard/Long Start - No Spark

[dinanm3atl]

Our ChumpCar has had this issue and thought we worked it out but it seems to have come back. We are pretty good with E30s but we want to just take in some other items that maybe we just overlooked.

Car will crank forever. It will eventually fire. You can smell fuel. We have no spark. Coil is testing fine. Have power. Getting no juice out of the coil. Swapped coil. Same story.

So going to run through the whole system and figure it out. We did remove cap/rotor and it was destroyed. Replaced. Same deal. So anything we might over look or the obvious to check?

[jlevie]

No spark from the coil could be:

No power to the coil
Wiring fault between the DME and coil
Timing reference sensors
DME power or ground problem
DME

[dinanm3atl]

That is the list we have as well. Thanks!

[nebulous123]

No spark from the coil could be:

No power to the coil <-- it has power so prob not your problem
Wiring fault between the DME and coil <-- possible especially considering it eventually starts
Timing reference sensors <-- along with that make sure you have them plugged into the right ones, timing and reference, reference has the zip tie on it I believe
DME power or ground problem <-- wouldn't be getting fuel if that was the case
DME <-- ended up being the problem with mine, replaced it and the car started right up

otherwise I was gonna suggest the main engine relay. it doesnt hurt to swap it.