We've just finished building a 325 track day car http://www.xworksmotorsport.com/bmw1.htm and after some frantic late night working, got her out for the first track day last monday. We got 5 laps in before the engine died
and has refused to start since.We've tried to find where the problem lie's but have hit a bit of a brick wall and would be extreemly greatfull if anybody can offer some advice.
First up, the manner in which the engine decided to give up. As mentioned the car had completed 5 laps without missing a beat and then while exiting a corner and proceeding down the straight the engine started to misfire very badly on all cylinders, loosing all power, so the clutch was depressed to save any damage if the belt had gone. The engine would idle ok as we rolled into the padock but spluter, backfire and misfire if any throttle was applied. When we parked up we tried to see if pulling plug leads would identify if it was specific cylinders which were giving problems but the misfires and backfires seemed to be in every one. All this time the engine would still idle ok. The engine was then turned of to check a few more things and it has never restarted.
When we got the car home we now found we have no spark from the coil and the injectors are not being triggered. There is 12v going to the coil but the ECU does not seem to be triggering the negitive at the coil to create a spark. The coil has been checked on another car and has proved to be ok. There is power to the ECU. The engine management is of the earlier type with the 2 sensors in the gearbox bellhousing for TDC and engine position sensor and we are starting to think that maybe one of these sensors has died. Unfortunatly we don't have any info on how to check these sensors. We have checked the 3 wires from the ecu to each of these plugs on these sensors for shorts or breaks and all seems well, however we don't know of any way to check if the ecu is receiving any signals back from them. As things stand we are left with the choice of replacing these two sensors at a cost of Ԛ£150 or buying a replacement ECU and hoping this cures the fault as there is no second hand bits to be found in the scrapyards around here to try cheaply.
Can anybody suggest anything else to try or a way of checking these sensors. Any body know where I might be able to get some diagnostic info for these early type management systems. Or does anybody know the number for the Samaritans
