From what I understand the carbon canister serves two purposes, to keep positive pressure on the fuel tank, and to also absorb the petrol fumes, so they don't linger and end up entering the passenger cabin.

It cranked when I bypassed the starter solinoid easily, but even with key on it won't actually run at all. The fuel pump dosen't seem to be running either. And it still won't crank with the key.

Thanks for all the help, I am going to try using a different earth strap for the block, I am thinking this might be the problem. The Battery is brand new, and I am def getting a good ground on the chassis end. Will try to bypass if all else fails.

I don't quite understand about grounding the solinoid, if you could elaborate a little that would be great. I am going to check the grounding strap again. What I am wondering, though, is if the engine wasn't properly grounded, then why would my icv hum when the key is turned? Unless it just needs + ...

Starter is grounded through engine block. Tried switching wires around a bit, and still nothing. Only when I use the green wire do I get power to the relays, so there is def something up with that. I am still at a loss, though. Wiring is not usually my thing, and although the wire diagrams help a li...

Are you sure its an earth wire? The one I have connected is a large positive (I think), it comes out near the positive terminal and goes across the blower motor to the starter.

Hey everyone, quite the awesome site. I post on R3VLIMITED.COM quite a bit, as I am across the pond a little bit :) I have an 87 325iS 5 spd with a 88 735iL m30b35 engine, harness (loom), e34 535i 5 spd. I have searched all the m30 articles, and here is what I am up against: I joined engine plug to ...