m52 won't start! update with pics

Post Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:22 pm

Car has been starting and running fine for weeks.... Take misses to town earlier, drop her off and go to college, come out of college and car starts fine. I drive to morrisons and now it just turns over and over but no fire!

Help me please cos this litrally is the last straw before I burn it out and claim the insurance. Can't take this no more!

Post Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:33 pm

sounds like a possible EWS drama to me. Are you runing the chip taped to the receiver ring or have you got it in the key and the ring around the ignition barrel mate?

Post Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:33 pm

Has it got enough fuel in it, and are you getting sparks at the plugs?

Post Wed Aug 31, 2011 5:06 pm

is the fuel pump still ...pumping?
ews clicking?

Post Wed Aug 31, 2011 5:17 pm

Plenty of fuel, fuel pump primes with ignition (new fuel pump- 2 weeks old!)

Lee- I have been running the car by putting the key in the transponder, e30 key in the ignition and start, the hook the key on wiper stalk....

Just strange all of a sudden it won't start??

Post Wed Aug 31, 2011 5:48 pm

Is the ICV buzzing? Pop a fuel line off the rail to make sure fuel is making it to the engine.

Post Wed Aug 31, 2011 6:04 pm

Everything is buzzing and clicking as it should although my ews has never clicked and I'm told by danthe some do some don't....

Fuel is getting there, pump is priming as it should...

I'm thinking ews has gone down because I haven't been running it with the key taped to the transponder! Next set I get I will be doing this..

How can I test the crank sensor? Although I'm leaning heavily towards ews!

Post Wed Aug 31, 2011 8:47 pm

e30-dk wrote:Everything is buzzing and clicking as it should although my ews has never clicked and I'm told by danthe some do some don't....

Fuel is getting there, pump is priming as it should...

I'm thinking ews has gone down because I haven't been running it with the key taped to the transponder! Next set I get I will be doing this..

How can I test the crank sensor? Although I'm leaning heavily towards ews!

I bet it's the crank sensor..

http://img860.imageshack.us/img860/2295/m52cpsplug.jpg

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=192510

Post Wed Aug 31, 2011 8:52 pm

funny you should say that craig mate..... after i rung kevo and had a chat with him about it he thinks the same.... i did have that thought with crank sensor but the symptoms are the same as when i had ews failure last time,,

however..... with a bad crank sensor it would have no spark ect the same as bad ews... hmmm lol

Post Wed Aug 31, 2011 8:55 pm

In short

YES

I was pulling my hair out because mine had the exact same symptoms,
if you can stick a multi meter on it and find out for sure, before you go and splash out on another ews set up...

I ended up buying a new one from BMW...thought it was cured, but it turned out to be duff, so they replaced it and it just sprung into life...

Post Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:11 pm

my e36 had that drama after id undone the chip and loop after fitting an alarm but not fancying paying for a chipped 2nd key when the alarm had immobilisation anyway. if it was something silly like even 5mm in the wrong direction it wouldnt fire up, or even facing the wrong way round. moving or turning it a fraction started it. bloody thing.. when id found the right way it got taped up tightly in that position

Post Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:17 pm

hmmm, i even got a lift back to the house to get my old ecu and ews in a desperate bid to try something...... and nothing! so that can go in the feckin bin lol

the cars felt wierd in a way for ages now, by that i mean sometimes the car felt like it was rocket powered but on other occasions i felt it was holding back or lacking a few hp...?..... crank sensor could well have been on its way out for a while then?

also after reading your link, for the last good week or 2 every time i start it, esp from cold, she revs up to 2k and then gradually setles down.....

shed any light on that mate?

Post Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:22 pm

Its all pointing towards the crank sensor mate...

if you test it and it fuked, get one from BMW but dont expect much change from £100

The revving up on start up, i think is fine, mine done that with the new sensor fitted, and it does it with the new engine fitted
so I dont think its a problem

Post Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:29 pm

okay thats fine with the rev thing, no worries..

£100?

kev said they are like £50 in GSF and when he bought one his car was fine

Post Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:04 pm

whipped out my crank sensor today to see if i could find anything sinister lurking and this is my findings after i pulled back the rubber shroud........

also it was cracked here to... cant determine if it happened when i was removing it as the bugger was tight....

another thing was someone had thread locked the crank sensor in!!! is this usual practice? i dont think so somehow....!
this is my problem, is it not??
what do you guys reckon? lol

Post Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:24 pm

Looks like its quite possible that the wires may have shorted together as they don't appear to have been insulated!

Wouldn't have thought that thread-locking in the CPS is necessary, if the bracket is in good condition, so obviously a bodger has been at work!

Post Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:33 pm

hi mate,, this is an original sensor in the sense that no wires have been joined ect.. and its been in the engine since i bought it, infact i never thought to check it lol... we dont until we get certain symptoms i suppose.

the thread lock thing did bug me as ive never known anyone to do that before?? its not a moving part so i cant see the sense in it....

looks like this sensor has been in the engine a good bloody while and well over due changing! with these wires touching or shorting is there any relay or fuse i need to check now?

btw, i will not be thread locking it back in

Post Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:48 pm

looks similar to where mine had a crack and failed, so seems you are on the right path with this one Ant

Post Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:54 pm

lovely... i hope so to be honest lee. ive had my fair share of loom-ecu-ews failure so a simple thing like a sensor will be a welcome solution lol

i will of course update this when its in and ''if'' she runs so that people can fall back on it

Post Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:59 pm

Shorting of the wires shouldn't cause any problems - after all, the CPS itself is merely a coil of thin wire inside.

Post Thu Sep 01, 2011 1:03 pm

okay, thanks. well thats a relief lol. i will just plug the new one in and she should be fine

Post Fri Sep 02, 2011 7:39 pm

changed the crank sensor and went to start the car but the battery was pretty dead so it turned very slowly and then click click click click form the battery..... propper dead!

does the car need to turn over freely to fire up? in the sense that the recess in the crank has to pass the sensor fast to get a pulse?
ive a bad feeling its ews failure now

unless i charge the battery and she turns free then fires up

ive heard of ews delete,, anyone shed any light on this please?

Post Fri Sep 02, 2011 7:59 pm

get a charger on it dude or some poor coont to push you

use 2nd gear to bump start

Dan did have a M52 ECU with EWS delete which was experimental, i used it in my car for a week or so to test it, but it was in limp mode due to an error code not being cleared. Maybe worth a PM to him to ask more....

Get the battery juiced up or bump it off first, i bet you are worrying about nothing

Post Fri Sep 02, 2011 8:00 pm

but if its ews fault..... again lol..... will a bump be pointless??

Post Fri Sep 02, 2011 8:01 pm

yes it would but worth a go

Post Fri Sep 02, 2011 8:10 pm

going out there now to try her once more with a bit of charge... hopefully i will be back with some good news

Post Fri Sep 02, 2011 8:29 pm

no go! ews failure yet a-fukin-gain