1987 325e No Power to Injectors and And Fuel Pump

[Thrinmon]

Greetings BMW enthusiasts,
I recently came into ownership of a 1987 325e. I picked it up stupid cheap because the previous owner had too many projects and didn't feel like getting into this one. I have insofar been unable to make the stupid thing run, even though it apparently ran when parked (albeit in 2003) The car has spark and will occasionally sputter to life for a second or two if given a shot of starter fluid into the intake. I've tried replacing many parts (Fuel pump, relays, CPS, ECU) to no avail. The problem seems to be electrical which is absolutely not my strong suite and I have little experience with BMWs in general, so any help or advice would be much appreciated.

[dnguyen1963]

E30s are notoriously sensitive to bad grounds. I would check and replace any bad ones first. If the car has been parked, there is a strong probability that mice might have made homes in the car and chewed up the wires.

[Thrinmon]

Mice have definitely made themselves at home in this car at one point or another, though most of the wires I've seen have been in good shape (luckily). Though now that I think of it something did smell a bit funny when it turns over. I'll check back in after I look them all over.

[RobDog]

Check your OBC relay and jump the green and green/red wires if the relay is bad or not passing voltage through those 2 wires mentioned. Those wires provide power to the fuel injectors

[e30austin]

Fuseable link. Make sure the smaller wire, that goes with the large battery cable, at the power distribution block (at the firewall) has 12v going to it.

Otherwise, check all your grounds, confirm that your DME is a known good, working unit, look at jumpering the OBC relay box (to bypass the fuel pump lock out) and lastly...make certain you have good battery connections and a good battery!!!

[jbontke]

If you get 12v at the fuel injectors red/white wire, then the main relay (OBC) are fine. This is straight form the Bentley manual, I am in a similar situation.

There is a cold start valve (fuel injector) on the end of the intake that has a fuel line running to it. That should spray for 8 seconds and at least let your car run for a second or two. Sounds like you may not be getting fuel. If you jumper the #87 and #30 (look on relay for the exact position) prongs on the fuel pump relay, do the fuel pumps run?