1995 540i won't start

Yes from factory as poster mentions. Tell me more.....P-L-E-A-S-E :^).

Been at it for 5 hours and still NOTHING.

Rick in Ohio - headed to bed as it's 1:30am

Originally Posted by M540FELLA

+1 I think 540i came with them from factory.

Originally Posted by M540FELLA

+1 I think 540i came with them from factory.

If the security system (ews2) was defective, there would be no crank or there would be crank but no spark or fuel.

Usually theres just no crank thats it, and if your battery, fusible link and starter are checked and found to be alright, then the ews2 system is at fault.

Originally Posted by robertobaggio20

A. 8 coils do not go bad all one go. One might go bad enough to be essentially useless. The engine will still start, but run badly.

You spent a LOT of time focusing on fuel delivery, which was pretty much confirmed good by the third or fourth post. I am suggesting that the spark is not as strong as you think. If the OP is having wet spark plugs, one of two things is happening. 1) The plug is not firing a strong enough spark to light the mixture or 2) The plug is firing at the wrong time.

I am not an expert on this engine, I only ever owned an M62 740iL and never had these issues. So, I am not as full of suggestions but, it seems fuel and air are present. Why isn't the plug lighting the mixture if it is firing, and doing so at the right time?

B. There wouldn't be much fuel in the oil pan due to his troubleshoots, but even if there was, the way to evacuate it is by driving the vehicle. As the oil heats up, the fuel will vapourise, and get expelled by the crankcase ventilation system. If this works for water, and it does, it works just as well for fuel which vapourises more easily. I doubt oil will be significantly denatured by contact with that little fuel, to be rendered useless essentially.

I think you SERIOUSLY underestimate the damage that can be done by having fuel in the oil. You have no idea how much has slipped into the crankcase. I suspect a fair amount given the amount of "testing" and cranking that has been done. I had a freshly rebuilt engine go because it was set too rich, fuel diluted the oil, one of the rod bearings spun.

You do not know enough about the quantity of fuel dumped, it is bad advice to tell somebody they should ignore this. I know from EXPERIENCE.

C. I suspect that this gentleman knows the difference between a strong and a weak spark. And once again, if it worked fine one week ago, no problems and no hint of problems, it cannot all go south at one go like this.

D. That still leaves experimental error as the likely suspect in this case. Unlikely suspects would be intelligent sabotage by jealous non-540 owners.

I think you are probably on the verge of burning up the starter. I do not see how the ignition system could be working properly and not light the fire. My experience with plugs is that they need to be burned clean. Just dry from sitting does not always work. Leave the plugs out overnight, or dry the cylinders however you choose though for the record that was NOT my suggestion.

I would be holding the throttle plate open when you try it next as well. I am not so sure about wide open, unless you can let it close quickly should the car fire. You want to avoid big rpm on a cold start.

It may just be flooded and the focus on the fuel system first has made it worse. I wish I had a better suggestion.

I am not familiar with the ews system either but agree that with cranking, spark and fuel it probably isn't that. Is it possible though that the way the ews functions is to alter the plugs firing order as a way of not providing spark for starting?

Good Luck

1. Alright OP (original poster or original post, depending on the context of its use), snowsled7 has had a motor go bad on him due to fuel in the oil. I don't think its a big deal and I can't accept his explanation about the rod bearings spinning (how does that happen?) but well that's his experience and its your call.

2. I am glad that snowsled7 agrees with me that timing is the most likely issue, as opposed to crank, air and fuel. I don't know if you have ohmed out the cps, but perhaps that's the next step. Perhaps it is bad enough to mislead the ecu on timing but not bad enough to fail such that spark is not relayed by the ecu. If this is the case, it would be the first time here that we've encountered this. If I were you, I would just get it replaced anyway, if you've never replaced it. It would go bust on you anyway, along with the fuel pump and its relay, these are common bust items for our car and usually there's no forewarning before it happens.

3. I agree with drying the plugs. I believe firing it with a propane torch is what he suggested so I would go with that. Just a quick flameout on the tips, after all the spark plug lives in a 1000 degree environment all day anyway.

4. Just a wild and wacky idea...squirt 1cc of clean engine oil into each chamber. This will artificially seal the piston rings and enhance your compression. This is otherwise known as the wet test (when doing compression tests). Just 1 or 2 cc max with a syringe will do, in all 8 chambers, then do SLOW 1/4 cranks to sorta let the oil flow all around the piston ring.....hmm....actually, this might not work as you've got a V engine and the oil might just pull along the bottom of the ring. Ok unless someone else here thinks this is a good idea, please scratch this as unviable.

5. Please follow snowsled7s idea of burning your spark plugs and your combustion chambers, reinstalling them and then, starting her up.

6. If that doesn't work, my only suggestion is to get a new oem cps, as that's the only thing in your car that can conceivably mess with the timing. You did say that at times it appeared as if it wanted to catch. Sound suspiciously like a timing issue.

7. You might want to disconnect your cps's switch, contact clean it and the cps's leads (you can spray it directly this time, and of course please use a toothbrush if you have that), and reconnect it. Just in case it helps.

Today is a new day. Good luck.

Originally Posted by snowsled7

Leave the plugs out overnight, or dry the cylinders however you choose *though for the record that was NOT my suggestion.

Always punch above your weight.



rgds,
Roberto

Bearings spin when the oil film between them and the crank breaks down (sometimes due to fuel dilution) and the shells come into contact with the crank journal causing the shells to rotate out of their set positions in the rod or cap, which causes rod knock. Run it too hard and it will sieze sending parts through the block. That is how that works

My experience with cleaning plugs is to torch the heck out of them. On our sleds, the old two strokes would foul plugs. Burning them real good gets rid of the residue and ,makes them usable again.

I would be looking into how that ews system works myself. My internet guesses are ews or just plain flooded.

New Idea on this:

Still not starting, but I have found that 'IF' I pull the fuel pump fuse and crank it with 'try' to catch a little bit then stops....but it actually had me thinking it was 'trying' for a few seconds. Then I can put the fuse back in and crank and get nothing. Pull the fuse again and crank and it will 'try' for a second or two....this scenario can be repeated pretty easily.

Another thought: about 8 years ago I had to replace the Positive Crankcase Ventilation Valve (CCV) because it started smoking SO BAD. That fixed the problem. BUT, years later.....to present time.....it's will blow a puff of smoke almost everytime I start the car....so I figure the CCV is starting to go bad again. Last time I replaced it the area below the intake was FULL of oil and the oil was being sucked into the intakes to the cylinders.

Here we go.......I'm wondering if while sitting in the garage for a full week without driving the oil has accumulated to a level that it's being sucked in with the air thus causing the car to not start?

Any thoughts on the above?

Also, in troubleshooting I pulled out the rubberish foam from behing the engine against the firewall. On the back of the plastic intake manifold there are 2 vacuum nipples. The small 1/4" one has a rubber cap on it and points aft. The larger 3/8" nipple has a 90 turn in it and is barbed on the end. There was NO cap or hose on this.....it's just hanging in the breeze and has some oil dripping from it. It possible something was connected and got pulled off with the insulator blanket. What goes here and why is oil dripping from this nipple??

Rick in Ohio

Originally Posted by BMR_LVR

.... Wild and crazy longshot thought - Wonky DME causing injector/spark timing issue OP, don't suppose you have a friend with a 540 that you could swap out and try his DME do you?

DISREGARD THIS SUGGESTION I MADE. In the discussions of EWS, it just dawned on me that you have a 95 model, thus it has EWS and someone else's DME would not work for you. Sorry about that.

Originally Posted by snowsled7

I would be looking into how that ews system works myself. My internet guesses are ews or just plain flooded.

OP's problems can't be EWS. EWS doesn't have anything to do with spark timing. If EWS is activated, then the engine will not crank over - turn the key to position 3 and nothing happens. It will act the same way if the EWS system fails so it's not EWS.

I must say that I have been watching this thread with much interest as it has me completely stymied. I too have a hard time figuring out what could have happened to cause this from just sitting for a week. Most perplexing is that OP has spark and fuel, but as I said in one of the first few posts, and as snowsled7 has surmised, it's as if the spark and fuel are not being coordinated at the appropriate time

Just found out that this is part of the CCV system. I'm going out now to see if I can find the hose that is 'supposed' to be attached to this???

Rick in Ohio

Originally Posted by rv6rick

New Idea on this:

Any thoughts on the above?

Also, in troubleshooting I pulled out the rubberish foam from behing the engine against the firewall. On the back of the plastic intake manifold there are 2 vacuum nipples. The small 1/4" one has a rubber cap on it and points aft. The larger 3/8" nipple has a 90 turn in it and is barbed on the end. There was NO cap or hose on this.....it's just hanging in the breeze and has some oil dripping from it. It possible something was connected and got pulled off with the insulator blanket. What goes here and why is oil dripping from this nipple??

Rick in Ohio

Hey guys,

I just looked at the back of the intake manifold where the Crankcase Ventilation Valve is (CCV) and investigated the 'missing something' on the back of the manifold where I have a 3/8" nipple that is open to the atmoshere. There is NO hose or connection that goes to it. I looked at a video and it says something about a 'jet tube'. Should this be unplugged and open as it was, plugged, or should it go somewhere. Again, 1995 540i with M60 engine.

I'm really thinking this CCV thing over as after all of my troubleshooting and following ALL of your advice that's the last thing on my list. I'm 'thinking' that maybe the lower manifold is full of oil after sitting and it's sucking into the intakes of the cylinders with the air??????

This is the CCV on the back of my engine:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-540i-740...-/221069175793

You can replace it from the back of the engine but then you can't clean up all of the oil so I'd bite the bullet and pull the manifold.

What do you guys think about this? Am I an idiot or is this logical and worth persueing??

Rick in Ohio

Originally Posted by rv6rick

Hey guys,

I just looked at the back of the intake manifold where the Crankcase Ventilation Valve is (CCV) and investigated the 'missing something' on the back of the manifold where I have a 3/8" nipple that is open to the atmoshere. There is NO hose or connection that goes to it. I looked at a video and it says something about a 'jet tube'. Should this be unplugged and open as it was, plugged, or should it go somewhere. Again, 1995 540i with M60 engine.

I'm really thinking this CCV thing over as after all of my troubleshooting and following ALL of your advice that's the last thing on my list. I'm 'thinking' that maybe the lower manifold is full of oil after sitting and it's sucking into the intakes of the cylinders with the air??????

This is the CCV on the back of my engine:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-540i-740...-/221069175793

You can replace it from the back of the engine but then you can't clean up all of the oil so I'd bite the bullet and pull the manifold.

What do you guys think about this? Am I an idiot or is this logical and worth persueing??

Rick in Ohio

1. A CCV systems failure should only lead to poor running and fuel economy, not to a no-start situation.

2. Your CCV system is located at the back of the intake manifold while the air intake is located in the front, with the cylinders to each side from front to back. Thus incoming air would not have to make its way through any oil accumulating there first before hitting the chambers. So too much oil shouldn't be the problem.

3. In any case, those nipples are unconnected on your engine, as you've described. That means there's no way for oil to pool itself on the intake...am I right ?

4. If I were you, I would find the hoses that are missing and securely fasten them back into the ccv system as best as I can, or at least find some temporary and reversible way to cover those nipples securely first. Best to reduce the number of variables that we have to deal with while we troubleshoot.

5. The key thing, in my opinion, is that your engine seemed to want to catch, when you had REMOVED your fuel pump's fuse. This was not noticed when the pump was active. This is counter-intuitive, as removing the fuse stops the pump and deprives the engine of fuel which means it should really not be able to fire up.

6. When you pull the fuel pump's fuse, there is still some pressure in the fuel rail, although this will surely be less than stock. The fuel injectors will still open and close as instructed by the ecu, during cranking, and due to the latent pressure, some fuel still makes it into your engine. I just did this experiment, I shut my engine down, pulled the fuel pump's fuse, and started up. The engine started up fine, and ran for exactly 5 seconds before dying. This was on a hot engine. I'm going to try that soon on a cold one to see if there's any difference (if memory serves me correctly, as I've done this before, there should be no difference in observations.)

7. It sounds like your system is overfueling itself and screwing up the combustion metrics as a result, which is plausible. That's why when it is deprived of some fuel pressure, it starts to catch.

8. You say you have a T fitting etc into the fuel line and you can monitor pressure. Is there something on that which allows you to VARY the fuel pressure, or reduce it ? Or could you invent a quick and dirty way to accomplish that for different pressure points ?

9. Could you check your fuel pressure regulator's vacuum hose and see if it is cracked or suspect in any way ?

10. I'd still run out and get the cps if there was a store I could buy one at over the counter, if I were you. $90 oem or thereabouts.

11. Another target in terms of precise fueling would be the caMshaft position sensor. This is not required to start the car (I've done so with it disconnected), but it informs the ecu on cam positions which helps it determine injector timing, I believe. Would you like to disconnect the switch for your cam sensor and see what happens ?

12. If this doesn't work, please reconnect the sensor, and disconnect the air flow meter on your car, and ensure that everything else including temp sensors etc is connected (and error codes deleted as best as is possible), and start the engine. We recently had unexpected issues with two or more sensors disconnected simultaneously...re the icv, throttle position switch, ects (engine coolant temp sensor), ats (air temp sensor), maf,

12. Let us try new things today, that were not tried yesterday.

13. After every new experiment, re-read your error codes in case something new and useful pops up.


Keep at it sir.


rgds,
Roberto

I think pulling off the intake manifold would likely be a very bad idea. Will probably create more problems than it solves. But capping off the ccv nipples might help some. Perhaps on your engine, vacuum leaks do contribute to a "perfect storm" situation. That being said, please advise if they were actually connected through the insulation that you just pulled off. If they were, then they are surely not a factor in all of this.

You can keep the insulation off for simplicity, but cap off these two nipples to prevent vacuum leaks mucking about with the troubleshoot.

Originally Posted by rv6rick

I have 2 codes using the stomp test - mass airflow sensor and air temperature sensor. Neither of these would keep the engine from starting.

Rick in Ohio

Actually, they might, if they go together. We pretty much tried exactly this on an 1995 M52 engine. Engine didn't start until we persistently cranked and throttled up, and then it started, coughed violently, and died. Stupid bmw engineers.

Is there someone here with a 540i who can conduct a disconnect test on their car ? If so, please disconnect the maf and ats. They are easily accessible, judging by realoem's diagrams. Then start the car and let us know if it starts and how it behaves during idle etc.

Then reconnect one, then disconnect is and reconnect the other, and repeat the experiment both times noting startup and idle.

After that, please connect it all back and delete the error codes via the stomp test.

That would be a real big help to the OP. We need correlation with a working engine. It might really help.

rgds,
Roberto

Thanks,

These 2 codes have been ON forever and the car ran fine so I think I can rule this out. If I'm wrong then I'm all ears. Plus I haven't had a 'new' code other than the 1444 since I cleared them all per the suggestions here.

Originally Posted by robertobaggio20

Actually, they might, if they go together. We pretty much tried exactly this on an 1995 M52 engine. Engine didn't start until we persistently cranked and throttled up, and then it started, coughed violently, and died. Stupid bmw engineers.

rgds,
Roberto

CPS ohm out numbers ?

You were correct on this and again...I'm grateful for ALL of the advice and comments received from the group.

Roberto called me up on the phone a handful of times to help me out with this problem. I feel like were old buddies now....thanks so much.

I am now ruling out this idea of the Positive Crankcase Ventilation Valve. I thought it might have caused a layer of oil to have built up on the bottom of the intake manifold. Per Robertos advise I jacked up the front of the car 'thinking' that 'if' there was any oil in there then it would run to the back and 'free up' any oil contamination in at least the front 4 or 6 cylinders. I cranked the engine and still nothing.

So, I pulled the intake snorkel from the MAF sensor to the throttle body then wired the butterfly OPEN and took a photo of the inside of the manifold with my iPhone. It was bone dry so that saved me a LOT of wasted time and work!! Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you!!

I pulled out the Crank Position Sensor (CPS) and found some gunk on the bottom and cleaned it up. I tried to test the ohms to see if it was in range but my multi meter gave up the ghost. So, I'll bring my good Fluke multi meter home from my shop on Monday so I can test it. Also, I called Auto Zone and ordered a NEW CPS for $87 bucks that is returnable if it doesn't fix my problem. The CPS will not be here until Tuesday evening so I will have a full report Tuesday night.

The thinking is that the CPS could be bad.

Please educate me here:

-I have GOOD SPARK....no ifs ands or buts!

-I have AIR and plenty of it.

-I have fuel and it's getting to the cylinders via the injectors with NO doubt via my barbecue flame test

-When I spray starter fluid into the intake the engine could care less.

-I have 54lbs of fuel pressure on the fuel rail

-The ONLY hope I have is when I pull the fuel pump fuse and crank it WILL act is though it is 'trying' for a few seconds then quit. I put the fuse back in and crank and get nothing, then pull the fuse and crank and it 'trys' for a few seconds again. Repeatable every time.

So, I'm back to the timing of the spark. What does the crank sensor (CPS) really do and does it come into play with my symtoms above?

Rick in Ohio

Originally Posted by robertobaggio20

I think pulling off the intake manifold would likely be a very bad idea. Will probably create more problems than it solves. But capping off the ccv nipples might help some. Perhaps on your engine, vacuum leaks do contribute to a "perfect storm" situation. That being said, please advise if they were actually connected through the insulation that you just pulled off. If they were, then they are surely not a factor in all of this.

You can keep the insulation off for simplicity, but cap off these two nipples to prevent vacuum leaks mucking about with the troubleshoot.

Ok. I have one last far out in left field thought/suggestion. It probably only has about 1% chance of being the problem … but … I am out of all other ideas.

Let’s review. Rick has spark, fuel, air, compression … all of the necessary components for an internal combustion gasoline engine to run. What is in question is the timing of the spark and fuel in relation to the position of the piston in its cycle. Otherwise, his engine should fire.

His CPS is sending a signal to the DME which in turn is sending the signal to the fuel injectors. This has been confirmed (at least as far as I can tell). The pulse for the CPS is generated when the toothed vibration damper turns and the gap passes the CPS. Therefore, the impulse will always occur at the proper time in the stroke of the piston. Ideally, and in proper functioning, the vibration damper is held in one constant position in direct relationship to the crankshaft. The damper is connected to the crankshaft via a hub that is connected to the crankshaft sprocket.

Now, here is my 1%’er possibility and the possible culprit. The crankshaft pulley (and by default the vibration damper) is held in the correct position/relationship to the crankshaft only by a woodruff key. See the below diagram:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...34&hg=11&fg=18

If that woodruff key has sheared or suffered metal fatigue and has only slightly deformed, the vibration damper (which the CPS generates the pulse from) will no longer be in proper relationship with the crankshaft thereby causing the DME to generate the spark and fuel at the wrong moment of the piston cycle. It would only have to be off by a few degrees.

I have heard of this happening before, but never on a BMW. That’s not to say it couldn’t happen. Also, it just wouldn’t make sense for this to happen after the car had been sitting. I think I may adjust my percentage to 0.1% possibility.

I assume that this would be a laborious venture to look at since the serpentine belt, vibration damper and likely the crankshaft pulley itself would all have to be pulled to inspect it. I think that this would have to be one of the very last things to be investigated.

Anyway, I sure wish I could come up with a solution for you Rick. I will certainly chime in if I can think of anything. I would love for it to be something as simple as the CPS.

Rick, please remove your belts, and possibly your clutch fan, grab that damper, jiggle it about firmly and see if it is lose in any way. You can probably do this to some degree with the belts on as well.This is a good suggestion by Steve. If it feels suspect, then you might need to remove it and inspect the wood. It is certainly plausible.

Another thing to do would be to take a good close look at the cps in relation to the dampers teeth passing just under it, to see if the rotation seems normal. I think only the starter can rotate this and you can't otherwise rotate the crank by hand, so somebody will have to crank the engine while you do this.

You need to be very careful if you're doing this with the fan clutch in there. If I were you, I would take it out to simplify the troubleshooting process, for what its worth. You can also shoot video while you're doing this, and study the video later at leisure and on your pc's screen (or post it here ) with software that can slow down, speed up, and loop the motion.....that would be vlc player.

This reminds me that I need to share a quick and dirty method of removing the fan clutch, without any need for holding tools etc. Just a long No32 wrench or a short one with a pipe fitted over it. Another post.

Ok, the M50 525's cps ohms out at 540ohms +- 10%. Somebody in another thread was talking about how his CPS's resistance was 460 ohms, which is way below the 490ohms minimum. And yet his car did start up or have spark ?

Basically, what happens if the crank sensor still has electrical continuity (i.e. is not dead), but ohms out badly ? Does it send slightly off signals to the dme ? Just off enough to nearly but not start the engine ?

In trying to educate myself further on the function of the CPS, I came cross the following paragraph in Wikipedia:

"The crank sensor can be used in combination with a similar camshaft position sensor to monitor the relationship between the pistons and valves in the engine, which is particularly important in engines with variable valve timing. This method is also used to "synchronise" a four stroke engine upon starting, allowing the management system to know when to inject the fuel. It is also commonly used as the primary source for the measurement of engine speed in revolutions per minute."

I know that the camshaft position sensor had been discussed previously, and we all, for the most part, agree that a faulty camshaft position sensor usually will not prevent the engine from running. However ... in light of the above information, I think that it makes it more of a possibility.

Rick, have you checked the resistance of the camshaft position sensor(s)? Heck, I guess you have two, but I'm not sure. That shows the level of my understanding of the V8.

Anyway, the correct camshaft position sensor resistance on the M50 is 1280 +/_ 10%. I have ohmed out a known good one to get the specs since it is not in the Bentley.

Hey, its worth a shot. It's free to check it if you have a digital multimeter. If one has failed, it may cause this problem

Originally Posted by rv6rick

Hey guys,

I just looked at the back of the intake manifold where the Crankcase Ventilation Valve is (CCV) and investigated the 'missing something' on the back of the manifold where I have a 3/8" nipple that is open to the atmoshere. There is NO hose or connection that goes to it. I looked at a video and it says something about a 'jet tube'. Should this be unplugged and open as it was, plugged, or should it go somewhere. Again, 1995 540i with M60 engine.

I'm really thinking this CCV thing over as after all of my troubleshooting and following ALL of your advice that's the last thing on my list. I'm 'thinking' that maybe the lower manifold is full of oil after sitting and it's sucking into the intakes of the cylinders with the air??????

This is the CCV on the back of my engine:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-540i-740...-/221069175793

You can replace it from the back of the engine but then you can't clean up all of the oil so I'd bite the bullet and pull the manifold.

What do you guys think about this? Am I an idiot or is this logical and worth persueing??

Rick in Ohio

Hi -- you're saying you have an outlet on your CCV plate that is not capped? I believe you have a gross vacuum leak. I'm surprised the engine won't even cough, but you may have some other contributing factors. An open CCV port on my '95 certainly made it all but undriveable.

The CCV outlets simply take vacuum plugs, or caps. See this REALOEM page for reference, Nos. 7 and 8: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...98&hg=11&fg=40


Another thing about the CCV is that there are aftermarket ones out there that fail prematurely. The wise M60 owner pops for the OE part in this case.

BTW, you may note that the CCV part number listed on the eBay page you referenced does not match the number of the part on the realoem site.

Originally Posted by Mr._Graybeard

Hi -- you're saying you have an outlet on your CCV plate that is not capped? I believe you have a gross vacuum leak. I'm surprised the engine won't even cough, but you may have some other contributing factors. An open CCV port on my '95 certainly made it all but undriveable.

The CCV outlets simply take vacuum plugs, or caps. See this REALOEM page for reference, Nos. 7 and 8: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...98&hg=11&fg=40


Another thing about the CCV is that there are aftermarket ones out there that fail prematurely. The wise M60 owner pops for the OE part in this case.

For Rick's sake, I hope you are right (praying)

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the latest info.

YES....the LARGE nipple on the back of the plastic intake manifold was NOT plugged in any way other than the foam insulation partially blocking it as I could see a crease in the insulation from the nipple. But, I agree that would be big trouble. I capped it today but no joy on getting this thing to fire up.

Also great thinking on the harmonic dampener where the thing could have spun or shifted position on the crank. I'll look at that shortly as I think I can use a mirror and flashlight to get a view of it. If not I'll use my iPhone like I did to see the inside of the intake manifold. That pic was worth a thousand words and 5 hours of wasted labor!!

I'll have my GOOD Fluke multi meter back on Monday night and will take the advise of checking the resistance of the CAM SENSOR as well as the CRANK SENSOR.

Will report on all of the above.

Anybody want a CHEAP 540i?? Come pick it up and it's yours! Bring your own tow truck!!

Rick in Ohio

Errrr...picture sir ?

And please disconnect both your cam sensors if you have two, keep your crank sensor connected, and start the engine. Lets see if the default settings work.

Sorry, i didnt read EVERY word in this thread, its very long and I'm not familiar with the M6x engines anyway.

When you have tested for spark, i assume you have tested both banks? also assume that the engine has coil packs and you have tested every single plug? if it has one coil per bank like the M70 engine im familiar with, you only need to test any random plug.

also, while testing for spark, how long are you cranking the car for? if it is a few seconds, it may not be enough to check adequately for spark, because the ECU can shut the car down if it notices a problem with itself, which cancels the spark.

I have just joined this forum but have perused it a few times before...always good info.

RV6Rick,
Like you my only car (and sense of well being is dead...I am hanging on every step you are taking as I am going thru the exact same thing right now with my '94 530I wagon...We've taken every step you have even going so far as to disconnect all electronics and use ether and still nothing. There is good spark (even put new plugs in), did Roberto's "the flooded car start", fully chg'd battery with back up car, et; there is fuel [too much], plenty of compression [after squirting some oil into the cylinders]... my very patient friend who is a pro has suggested that the flooding (wet plugs) is merely a symptom of secondary issue and that the primary issue may be a timing jump and which would require doing the timing chains...big job. He didn't go straight there but got there after 2 long days of trying everything else


robertobaggio20 : thanks for so much info. I would love to know what you think of the timing jump causing this absolute refusal to start. My friend feels this no-start no-matter what, and he's tried everything...is very rare and odd.

P.S.
I have read every word of this thread and believe we have done everything suggested so far. To ad a little history in the event it helps...this car has run amazingly well for the 6 or so years I've had it (with the exception that over that time I've had to replace now all of the major junctions in the cooling system and recently had a bypass done to the heater core as I just didn't have $ to replace it just now.) My girl has 213K miles. Just a couple of "hmmm, what was that?" type of iffy starts in past couple few weeks, then 4 days ago turned the key, got a normal sounding start that didn't complete, turned the key again and a whole section of sound missing from the normal start and it just whirred...hasn't started since.