e30 starting problems

recently my car as been pink stickered( no longer legally allowed to drive on the road) so it has been sitting and not been getting much attention. When i go to start it after its been sitting you have to have your foot flat on the accelerator and turn the key for about 10sec then it will slowly fire up. its done it to me when the car has been cold and hot and also some times it wont start at all.
iv changed the in tank fuel pump, the fuel filter and the relay. what else could this be ?

wondering if anyone has had this problem or have any ideas, also i dont have alot of money to be buying new parts to see if that fixes it as im a poor teen doing a apprentiship lol

does it crank over fast or slow?

Originally Posted by bradi65

recently my car as been pink stickered( no longer legally allowed to drive on the road) so it has been sitting and not been getting much attention. When i go to start it after its been sitting you have to have your foot flat on the accelerator and turn the key for about 10sec then it will slowly fire up. its done it to me when the car has been cold and hot and also some times it wont start at all.
iv changed the in tank fuel pump, the fuel filter and the relay. what else could this be ?

wondering if anyone has had this problem or have any ideas, also i dont have alot of money to be buying new parts to see if that fixes it as im a poor teen doing a apprentiship lol

You really need a fuel pressure gauge to troubleshoot these cars.
If you have a lot of miles its a good idea to replace certain parts for reliability anyway.

The E30 has a cold start valve that needs to be checked.
The idle control valve is somewhat easy ti check and clean also.
Vacuum hoses that are brittle or leaky need to be replaced.
Then you could replace the high pressure fuel pump and the fuel pressure regulator.

Originally Posted by downhiller

does it crank over fast or slow?

it seems to crank over normal when you turn the key. just wont start unless foot on the pedal, once its running its fine it doesn't feel like it lags, one time it sputtered a bit on the motor way but it came right when i shifted down gears.

Originally Posted by Bking

You really need a fuel pressure gauge to troubleshoot these cars.
If you have a lot of miles its a good idea to replace certain parts for reliability anyway.

The E30 has a cold start valve that needs to be checked.
The idle control valve is somewhat easy ti check and clean also.
Vacuum hoses that are brittle or leaky need to be replaced.
Then you could replace the high pressure fuel pump and the fuel pressure regulator.

where is the high pressure fuel pump, is it the one under the back seat also because it looks to me like there is two i replaced one on the right hand side. i guess i can do most of these things via my service manual ?

also where is the cold start valve and how do i check/test this . sorry about all the questions

you should only have the single pump. the icv is in the intake boot between the filter and throttle body if i remember the newer motors correctly. simply unplugging it will let you know if its working, but it could just need a cleaning.