e36 swings but wont start...can start rolling..any help?

[anton]

hi guys
a friend of mine just replaced a starter on a e36 325i around a 93 model.

before he replaced the starter the car wouldnt start.

it will swing..but wont start..the battery is fine! after replacing start still same problem,

it swings but wont start. pushing the car starts it. there is apparently no spark at the plugs?

any ideas? any help wouild be apprciated.

regards
anton

[stuartgallafant]

what do you mean by swing?

if there is no sparks at the plugs, how would pushing it make it start?

[dicko]

sound,s like the a poor earth on some thing in the ignition system check the strap going to the engine for corosion
If you get a volt meter and put one side on the negative and the other on different bits of your ignition system that should be earthed and the crank the engine the reading should still be very low no more than a volt
when your engine is cranking it is pulling a huge current and if the earth is bad it allow's the voltage on the negative side of things to creap up will make the starter slow but the ecu and ignition system are more sensitive so it might not fire at all while the large current is flowing
even run a tempory earth for the neg and touch it off the engine while its cranking
hope it s some help

[320Touring]

did you touch the earth strap from the sump to the passenger chassis rail?

if so, remove it, and clean it up with sandpaper- same for point on the sump and rail.

also try cleaning the contacts on starter motor

[Andyboy]

Ignition switch. When you're spinning it over, just back the key off a touch and see if it starts. Quite a common fault. If not, just replace it anyway as they go wrong internally. I had this on a 320i not long ago.