Car wont start at all now

[formula driver]

I need help guys. I really need this car to be running by Monday. Im gonna try to best describe what has gone wrong. First the car was hesitating mildly then it got worse starting backfiring and hesitating real bad. I could cut the car off and it would start right up fine and idel fine but it would hesitate at about 2000 RPM. Now the car wont start at all.

Im geting no spark. I removed and cleaned the spark plugs bought a used coil and installed it still no spark. I set a spark plug on top of the valve cover and got no spark when I turned it over. I wired up the negative side of the ignition coil. Grounded it and I was getting a weak spark. The spark wouldnt jump a full inch. It wouldnt spark at all until I grounded it. Is the coil supposed to put out a strong spark????? Anyone have ANY idea what my problem is???? I need this car on the road. Thanks alot for anyone's input.

[formula driver]

Can someone plaease help me with this?????

[BahnE30]

replace the coil....

[formula driver]

replace the coil....

Replaced the coil. Still no fire. What drove you to tell me to replace the coil?????

[mikeedler]

my M3 just had a problem like that kinda. It turned out that the wiring harness for the motor was bad and had corrosion in it. where the ground wires met for the impulse sensors "crank reference sensor" try that or the main DME relay. it took a few months to finally fix mine and a whole bunch of money spent on things the car didnt need. good luck!

[formula driver]

my M3 just had a problem like that kinda. It turned out that the wiring harness for the motor was bad and had corrosion in it. where the ground wires met for the impulse sensors "crank reference sensor" try that or the main DME relay. it took a few months to finally fix mine and a whole bunch of money spent on things the car didnt need. good luck!

Im pretty sure I found my problem. The wire to my refrence sensor was torn out. I did the same thing you did. Ive already replaced a bunch of different parts. I cant beleive nobody here thought to tell me to check the refrence sensor.

[jht3]

check the reference sensors!

if they are plugged in wrong or bad they can cause a no-start or intermittent problem. also the main relay and OBC code relay box. sounds like you've fixed your car though, congrats!

i'm chasing an intermittent hesistation and have an entirely new ignition system and reference sensors. i thought i'd finally fixed it w/ a new coil (generic from advance auto), but that died this week and i'm back to my old "bad" coil. i'm going to buy a new bosch coil. if this doesn't finally solve it, i'm going to look for a new engine harness. very frustrating :evil:

[arsevader]

my M3 just had a problem like that kinda. It turned out that the wiring harness for the motor was bad and had corrosion in it. where the ground wires met for the impulse sensors "crank reference sensor" try that or the main DME relay. it took a few months to finally fix mine and a whole bunch of money spent on things the car didnt need. good luck!

Im pretty sure I found my problem. The wire to my refrence sensor was torn out. I did the same thing you did. Ive already replaced a bunch of different parts. I cant beleive nobody here thought to tell me to check the refrence sensor.

Get a Bentley! It's all in there.

Time and time again, people replace parts without testing them and wonder why it costs so much to run these cars.

James