325i G Reg - WON'T START

[london_lad]

Hi Everyone,

Please help i am trying to find find out what the problem could be so that i don't keep spending money on things that i don't need.

Here is the problem:- The car will start and i would hear it ticking over to start and it will start for about 10 seconds and then shut off, i will keep trying to start it up again but no JOY!

I took it to my mecanic and he said it might be the distributor cap so i changed it for a new one that did not work, i changed the relay switch even that did not help..............what could it be?

[Guest]

hiya. I'm presuming he checked the basics first, ie enough petrol, fuel supply from pump, power to the ht leads, spark from the sparkplug, condition of the sparkplugs (wet, sooty etc). If all of these are correct, I would presume it's something electrical. Does it run? Does it sound okay when it's running? Does it make a difference if you prod the accelerator? Has it just happened, or has it been building up? If you can answer these, they will make the problem more descriptive and someone should be able to help.

[Quaser]

Idle control valve maybe?
Air leak (bellow to AFM!)

Where u based?

Q

[Brianmoooore]

Starts, runs for about 10 seconds and dies suggests that the fuel pump is priming the fuel rail when the ignition is first switched on, but failing to run when the engine is cranked and started.
Try linking pins 30 and 87 of the fuel pump relay socket (makes fuel pump run all the time) as a test.

[london_lad]

hiya. I'm presuming he checked the basics first, ie enough petrol, fuel supply from pump, power to the ht leads, spark from the sparkplug, condition of the sparkplugs (wet, sooty etc). If all of these are correct, I would presume it's something electrical. Does it run? Does it sound okay when it's running? Does it make a difference if you prod the accelerator? Has it just happened, or has it been building up? If you can answer these, they will make the problem more descriptive and someone should be able to help.

Yes we did check all these things but none of them seemed to be the problem. The does sound normal when started but wheni open the hood i smell petrol.

[london_lad]

does anybody know any technical websites, i want to change the fuel pump cos that is what i believe the problem might be.

[e30323i]

If you can smell petrol under the hood, you might have a leaky fuel line.

john

[M5pilot]

Fuel Pump easy to change.

Its behind the drivers seat under the rear seat. Youl find a plastic cover, remove it. Go GSF and buy a coplete fuel pump with asembly. It twists out, make sure you use the new washer.

Nothing technical.

[Brianmoooore]

One important thing missing from those instructions. Before removing the pump assembly by twisting it a few degrres anticlockwise, remove the fuel level sensor from the pump ( four small nuts and lift ), or the pump won't come out the hole.