Bimmer freaks I got issues.

[ryogenetic]

Yesterday hopped in the ol bimmer to drive to work and she would not start. Now when It comes to cars I consider myself a good mechanic. But this has me baffled. So when I got home from work I changed the distributor, rotor, plugs and wires. The problem is I seem to be getting no power to my ignition coil an that wiring dissapears into a bundle so I cant track it. Any thoughts?

RYO

[krusty the klown]

I'm not going to claim to be an expert, but it may be that a safety mechanism that shuts down the ignition and fuelling has shut down and is not un-shutting!!

Do you know if it's trying to fuel the engine?

Some cars have an accelerometer that automatically shuts the ignition and fuelling off in the event of a crash. My folks had an old Jaguar Soverign 4.2 and the mechanism was always playing up (amongst other things ). The mechanism automatically engaged when the ignition was off, so you'd find that the car would totally refuse to start when you got back in. A strategic kick in the right place sorted it out!

Might be worth checking whether your car has such a system and whether it can be temporarily by-passed for testing purposes.

Good luck!

[ryogenetic]

I will take a look. The car is getting fuel but I got no spark. and no electric going to the coil. BTW I was looking at a schematic it doesnt appear to have such a device. I am tinkering with the on borad computer it seems to be the only thing I havent changed.

RYO

Your coil could have very well died. That's usually the case if the coil appears to be getting no power. Check your ground to the engine block also.

-Whir

[golfcart]

If it's an automatic - did ya shift it out of park and then back again to make sure it was fully engaged? Yeah I know it's dumb, but sometimes the simplest things are overlooked

[SxyTidBit]

I don't know much about cars but it seems to me if the car isn't getting any juice at all, them it is probably the starter that's giving trouble. Get out your juice tester and start testing the plugs and stuff. There is a device you can use to check the starter in a car without taking it out, cause a starter is a Beech to put back in. But what the heck do I know, I'm just a chic.

[ryogenetic]

Heres where i am at. The car will crank over no problem, however it will not fire. checked the plugs and wires they work fine on my other bimmer. distributor and rotor are new as well but cant think up a way to test them. The car has plenty of juice just none of it is getting to the coil. tried unpluging my onboard computer and starting the car it behaves the same cranks but no start so I am thinking it is the comp. but I am open to other suggestions. Going to run outside and check my ground strap to the motor.

RYO

BTW 5 speed std. could never get a auto bimmer thats blasfemy!!
LOL

[ryogenetic]

Ground is connected and secure. Probably should mention that about 40lbs of snow fell off the roof onto the car during the night. checke all the connections and fuses but no luck.

RYO

[jnas]

Im not sure if yours is the same but on my older cars that had the coil that is like a cylinder with 2 wires and the wire to the distributer I would connect a wire from the positive side of the battery to the + side of the coil and see if that worked.

[Knothead]

Some years ago, I was screaming around on Mulholland Hwy. in a friend's '71 MG at 3 in the a.m. when the thing just DIED. By dawn, I had eliminated every possible reason why...it just wasn't getting any juice, so I started backtracking...

What I found: The genius designers had put a set of ignition points...over the REAR AXLE...and they had gotten out of adjustment!! So I re-set 'em, best as I could (matchbook cover method... ) and got her home.

Just a possibility...