Could someone help now please.(it’s sorted and back home)

[ah]

Have you tried a spark plug connected to the lead from the king pin of the coil? Connect a spark plug to the distributor end of the lead from the king pin of the coil and lay the spark plug on the rocker cover. Try and start the car and see if you get a spark. If yes, then the issue is with the distributor / arm. If no, then the ECU is not triggering the timing circuit for the coil to create a spark. This is based on you have
12V on the green wire to the coil when the key is turned to position 2.

When mine was like that it was the CPS. As mentioned above I tried 2 new Meat & Doria CPS and they didn't work. I had to get an OEM one from BMW.

The thread I had on my issue is here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=281331

Might be worth a ready to give you some ideas.

Thanks for the info I’ll pass it on to my macanic.

[ah]

So there’s be major news today,I got dragged away from my work today by my mechanic,as I mentioned earlier his mum has had a 325i for many years and he’s collected a lot of spares,so he tried an old ECU he’d picked up,it was off a 325i but BINGO it started up,that’s not not only the news,my ECU we think has at some point in its life been sent back to Bosch because it had 8 small torque screws holding the main plug body onto the unit with a dob of red paint on them all,also a Bosch sticker which has not faded in the slightest,+ another smaller silver Bosch sticker with my vin number on it,all these characteristics were not on the one he put in my car.why was my ECU sent back to Bosch in the first place I wonder ?

[Brianmoooore]

Excellent news indeed! What's the type number of your ECU?

[ah]

Not 100% sure because it’s not in front of me but I seem to recall the last 3 numbers 0261 200 381

[ah]

Not 100% sure because it’s not in front of me but I seem to recall the last 3 numbers 0261 200 381

This isn’t mine but it’s exactly the same,does this mean this ones been back to Bosch or is this how it comes out the factory.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-E30-320i ... SwK7RgHgBV

[Brianmoooore]

That was the least reliable one, but the common fault was a failure of the idle control circuit, not anything to do with the engine actually running.
Your replacement can be another 381 or a 172.
Late E30 ECUs should all have the car's VIN sticker on them.

[ah]

Is 172 a better ECU than my original ? Oh and cheers for the info as usual.

[Brianmoooore]

Yes, rest of numbers the same. The 172 is the slightly preferred choice, because it doesn't ever suffer the idle problem.

[ah]

So another update,my macanic got my ECU sent off to a very repital company that he’s used many a time and had no problems with them at all,to be repaired.so the price is £165+vat and a years guarantee or I could maybe get one off of eBay etc and no guarantee,ok it got sent off.l had a day off yesterday so back into work today and bad news about my ECU they have opened it up and it’s got that many dry joints they can’t guarantee the repair,so they are going to sauce a new second hand one and test and repair any faults and send it back unfortunately the price has gone up a bit £249.

[Brianmoooore]

E30 era ECU faults are extremely rare, and I would have no problem in using a second hand one from ebay or whatever.
If the only thing wrong with your existing ECU is dry joints, then it's an easy DIY repair. The electronics in these ECUs is large enough to be repaired by nothing more than good eyesight and a decent soldering iron.
One of the problems that a commercial repairer will have, is that they are probably compelled to use lead free solder only, which puts them at a considerable disadvantage to a DIYer armed with 60/40 solder.

[ah]

I’ve got her back today,all sorted with a new second hand ECU with a years guarantee.I haven’t driven it or any E30 since the start of February,I’ve come to the conclusion that I wouldn’t arf miss it if I didn’t have it.

[Brianmoooore]

[Tzantushka]

Good outcome - what a journey though,