1985 325e no spark, odd start situation

[lonestar22]

hey guys,

my 1985 325e is not getting spark. I have replaced cap, rotor, plug wires, ignitor coil, and still no spark.

HOWEVER, when i wire my pos and neg terminals on my coil to my friends e30's coils and start the car, it fires and idles and when we rev match, the engines rev fine together. I know that sounds a bit retarded, and im not really sure how we came up with it, but it works, and the motor is good.

now, my problem is how the heck do i get my car to start without the help of my buddies. When i unplug my car from his, it dies instantly.

halp.

[jlevie]

That is the most inventive way that I've ever seen of diagnosing a no-start condition. It tends to make me think that your problem is a wiring fault resulting in no power to the coil or the ground signal from the DME not reaching the coil, or a bad DME. Of those I'm most inclined to suspect a lack of power to the coil.

[lonestar22]

this was my buddy posting up about his e30 he just picked up... we figured it out a few ours later when our other friend with an 86 'e' showed up. the ecu was bad.