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Weird Starting Issue (that has fixed itself for now...)

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    #1

    Weird Starting Issue (that has fixed itself for now...)

    I've probably put about 50 miles on my e30 the past week. Prior I did not really drive it that much. Well I drove it home from work and then a couple of hours later I started it up to go somewhere and it started as it should. Literally about 5 seconds later the car died and refused to start after a couple of cranking attemps. A day later I hopped in and tried to fire it up and all it would do is turn over and not start. So two days later I was replacing the tail light bulb. The first thing I tried to do was start it and there was no luck. So I replaced my tail light and all and turned my headlights on and what not just to check my other lights. Then I decided to see if it would start about 20 minutes after the intial attempt, so I turned the key and it fired up on the first try and stayed alive like it normally should. I drove it around the block and there wasn't any problems that I could tell.

    Any idea what caused it not to start?

    I'm afraid to drive it now because I don't want it not to start like it did away from home
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    #2
    I had a fuel pump relay that did the same thing to me.

    What sort of E30 is your E30? On my old M20B20 Jetronic the fuel pump relay is unique, but apparently on Motronic cars the fuel pump relay is swappable with the horn relay, and both are orange? Next time it happens swap relays and see what happens. Blow the horn first.;)

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      #3
      Originally posted by SubDad View Post
      I had a fuel pump relay that did the same thing to me.

      What sort of E30 is your E30? On my old M20B20 Jetronic the fuel pump relay is unique, but apparently on Motronic cars the fuel pump relay is swappable with the horn relay, and both are orange? Next time it happens swap relays and see what happens. Blow the horn first.;)
      Mine is a 87 eta. M20B27. I'll have to see about the relay thing. Heck maybe it won't happen again haha

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        #4
        I drove it yesterday for about 20 miles. No problem but I'm still wanting to figure out what it was so it won't happen again. Any other ideas?

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          #5
          start replacing stuff, start with the little things and work your way up to the bigger ones. Fuses, relays.. ect. Also use the search function for no start issues.
          sigpic

          1999 528it - Daily Driver “Dad Wagon”
          1991 325is - 2.8L Budget Stroker Garage Slut
          1991 318is - Sold
          1986 325 - Sold

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            #6
            Hey Andrew - Sorry to be totally off topic, but wasn't your car listed on Craigslist a few months ago? Is that when you bought it or were you trying to sell? I saw yours when I was shopping for mine.

            As far as starting goes, there's been 2 times where it took an obnoxious amount of cranking to start mine, but the car was fully warmed up and eventually fired up and drove normally. I haven't done anything special except basic maintenance since then and it hasn't happened since. Weird...
            1989 325i Lachssilber Sedan
            5-Speed Swapped
            M30B35 Swapped
            MegaSquirt MS3X

            1987 325i Lachssilber Sedan
            260k OEM Automatic Daily Baby

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              #7
              Originally posted by EatsHondas View Post
              Hey Andrew - Sorry to be totally off topic, but wasn't your car listed on Craigslist a few months ago? Is that when you bought it or were you trying to sell? I saw yours when I was shopping for mine.

              As far as starting goes, there's been 2 times where it took an obnoxious amount of cranking to start mine, but the car was fully warmed up and eventually fired up and drove normally. I haven't done anything special except basic maintenance since then and it hasn't happened since. Weird...
              Yeah that was the original ad. I bought it from that ad.

              That has happened to me before where the car took forever to start. It would do that and act like it was flooded, but this current issue is something different for me.

              I don't drive mine much since I already have a daily, but soon I am gonna do a full tune up and go from there.

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                #8
                Pull the distributor cap and look at the points and rotor. Mine had an incident a few weeks ago where it would start fine, go a few blocks and die, over and over again until it wouldn't start. Tow it the rest of the way home and it started and ran fine two more times after a periods of waiting. Let it sit for a few days and it wouldn't start at all. Checked a ton of stuff and nothing worked until I sanded/cleaned the points and rotor.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by M3PO View Post
                  Pull the distributor cap and look at the points and rotor. Mine had an incident a few weeks ago where it would start fine, go a few blocks and die, over and over again until it wouldn't start. Tow it the rest of the way home and it started and ran fine two more times after a periods of waiting. Let it sit for a few days and it wouldn't start at all. Checked a ton of stuff and nothing worked until I sanded/cleaned the points and rotor.
                  I'll have to check that out. Thanks!

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