Need advice on what to do with my car.

[Sagaris]

Alright so I went out and took a peak at that c191 connector and I was able to get the bottom part disconnect and had a look at it. The bottom half seemed to be in decent condition as far as I could tell, no obvious signs of corrosion at least. I was not however able to pull the top part out of the little metal brace holding the connector to the side of the engine. Is there a trick to this or something? I'm guessing it's probably just me not knowing what I'm doing but I don't know. And I should be checking mostly under the little rubber boots for corrosion correct?

Definitely check under the rubber boots. I have seen connectors with clean pins but moisture got inside the boot and turned the copper wires green.

I believe the top half of the C191 connector can be removed from the metal bracket by rotating it a little bit so that the tabs on it can fit through the slots in the bracket.

[shiboujin]

don't fucking hardwire it! It's one of my most favorite features of the late model E30.

[5Toes]

If its the c191, just hardwire it!

[idanity]

i used my gf's mascara brush to scrub up the lower c191 plug. b/c i didn't have any tiny brass brushed to clean it up a bit..but that was only temporary..if there is any corrosion, its below the plug, and there is a retaining ring on the lower part of the c191 plug.


btw..did you do a stomp test yet ?

[schtozo]

my engine died saturday night, troubleshoot indicated that i had 0 spark so i changed the tps with a brand new one and voila!

[LJ851]

Burn it with fire.






















Oh, and welcome to r3v.

[tjvan]

Alright so I went out and took a peak at that c191 connector and I was able to get the bottom part disconnect and had a look at it. The bottom half seemed to be in decent condition as far as I could tell, no obvious signs of corrosion at least. I was not however able to pull the top part out of the little metal brace holding the connector to the side of the engine. Is there a trick to this or something? I'm guessing it's probably just me not knowing what I'm doing but I don't know. And I should be checking mostly under the little rubber boots for corrosion correct?

[Sagaris]

I agree with checking the C191 as Jlevie suggests.

Sorry to hear you are having tough luck with the car

C191 repair info: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1597051

Example of a corroded C191: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=198461

I don't have the chassis-side of the C191 connector but I do have the engine side which is the electrical rail for the fuel injectors in case you determine that it is bad.


Troubleshooting a car can be infuriating, but it can also be very rewarding when you take a step back, think logically, and are able to track down the issue and repair it on your own. There are lots of people here including myself that are willing to walk you through step-by-step.

[shiboujin]

for starters and a sanity check, all your fuses are good right?

Here's the engine wiring diagrams: http://www.armchair.mb.ca/~dave/BMW/e30/e30_89.pdf

I can't find where the main relay hooks up to.. You can do like Cabriolet said and check that connector first. If that doesn't do anything, disconnect that connector and pull that whole harness out. You'll then check every wire end to end with what's called a continuity test. It's just testing that electricity gets through. If all those pass, then you'll do a resistance test. Each of those wires should have near 0 resistance. like 0.001mv or something redic small.




Actually, fuck it, lets start from scratch. Go to auto zone and grab yourself a spark tester. Verify you get spark on every cylinder. Directions should be on the back. From there, get a friend to crank the car over while you do this next part. Take a big long flat tip screw driver. Put the fat handle against your ear closing your ear off. Put the metal end against the body of a fuel injector. As the car cranks over, you'll hear a pronounced click now and then. Verify each injector does this.

While you're at that, order a fuel pressure gauge from Jegs. Like a cheap inline one. Verify you have fuel pressure. It hooks into the fuel line on the front of the engine near the thermostat housing. You might just have a dying fuel pump.

Fuck, pull up your back seat and give the passenger's side a good hard hit with a small hammer or something. You'll see a black pill shaped cover. Not enough to dent it, just enough that it shakes things up. If your car starts after that, it's probably the fuel pump.

Another simple check (before you yank the injector harness) is to pull off the injector harness from the injectors and check that you get 12v when the car is in the run position from one of the pins from each injector plug (not the injector itself).

IMO all this stuff is fairly simple and quick to test. Shouldn't cost you much. The fuel pressure gauge is always handy to have.

[tjvan]

In which case, a $10 relay could be all you need if the shop was truthful. We can walk you through the diagnostics if you are willing and have a multimeter.

I'm pretty sure my roommate has a multimeter, so I guess it's worth a try.

[Cabriolet]

under neath the throttle body is the injector harness connector. mine was loose and caused what you are seeing. it also could be corroded.

[shiboujin]

That's a very defeatist attitude. They mentioned the injectors weren't getting power. that's tripped via a relay. I don't recall which right now but it might be the main relay on the front of the driver's side shock tower. One of the prongs on it internally or externally could be dying.

In which case, a $10 relay could be all you need if the shop was truthful. We can walk you through the diagnostics if you are willing and have a multimeter. Thankfully, the late model injector harness is modular and removable from the rest of the engine harness. Making it much easier to test. I doubt your ECU is bad but it is possible. If it was bad, I still believe the injectors would get power.

[tjvan]

Alright so I just went over and talked to the mechanic again. He said that this time they actually didn't get any codes but he did tell me a few other things. He told me that they were getting a spark and that fuel was going to the injectors, but the injectors themselves are not getting any power and are not opening up to let fuel into the combustion chamber. He seemed pretty sure that it wasn't the cps because of those reasons (I honestly have no idea) and told me that the problem was either in the cars computer itself or in the wires leading off of it.

I also don't really have any experience in checking wires or anything of that sort so I'm not really in the best position to be doing this work myself.

[shiboujin]

I doubt the shop knows what they are talking about. I doubt they knew how to "pull codes" from the E30. Clearing the codes is just unplugging the battery for a bit then reconnecting it.

If it truly is the wring, a new main engine harness should be all you need. As yours is a 90, I'm very doubtful of this.

The injectors not getting power is a sign that something primary isn't working. Generally this is the crank position sensor. You can search around for a method to test and verify it's working. It shouldn't be too hard to access and check.

[jlevie]

Given the symptoms and what the shop reported, my first suspicion would be C191. It can be replaced.