3-Series (E21, E30)Chat relating to the BMW 3-Series from 1975-1983 and 1984-1991 line. Specific models: BMW 315, BMW 316, BMW 318, BMW 318i, BMW 320/4, BMW 320i, BMW 320/6, BMW 323i, BMW 320i. E30 Family models include: BMW 325e, BMW 325i, BMW 325is, BMW 325ix.
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I just bought my first BMW, a 1986 325es.The first few days i got the car(the past three days), the car started mostly fine but sometimes i would turn the key and get nothing. So I would just turn the ignition off and then on again and it would start. Then after work yesterday, It was a hot day out, all the other days were cold this past week. I went to start it and I got nothing at all. All of my gauges/instrumentation were lighting up and I know i have 12 volts at the battery, but no cranking would occur. I wouldn't even hear the click of a starter solenoid. No noise, no cranking. So I caught a ride home. When i returned to work this morning, a cold morning, the car started right up. I ripped it around the parking lot, parked it, and started it right back up again. Any ideas? Does temperature affect a certain solenoid under the hood or what? I am new to these cars. Any ideas for this tempermental issue?
__________________ If i die young, At least i'll have gone fast
I just bought a 1986 325es on Saturday. The past three days, the car started mostly fine but sometimes i would turn the key and get nothing. So I would just turn the ignition off and then on again and it would start. Then after work yesterday, It was a hot day out, all the other days were cold this past week. I went to start it and I got nothing at all. All of my gauges/instrumentation were lighting up and I know i have 12 volts at the battery, but no cranking would occur. I wouldn't even hear the click of a starter solenoid. No noise, no cranking. So I caught a ride home. When i returned to work this morning, a cold morning, the car started right up. I ripped it around the parking lot, parked it, and started it right back up again. Any ideas? Any ideas for this tempermental issue?
__________________ If i die young, At least i'll have gone fast
That sounds like a real shit-sandwich, red. I am by no means a fix-it mastermind, but have you checked the leads to the actual starter itself? Sounds like maybe one of them is quite loose and it's just been by chance that it's started when it has. 'dunno, just my two bits worth. Oh yeah, welcome to the 'Werkz!
__________________ All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in single words: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.
Sir Winston Churchill
Now I go back out to my car this afternoon and it won't start. And now I have verified that there is a quiet "tick-ticka-tick" solenoid noise under the hood when I turn the key. Seems to be coming from the drivers side.
__________________ If i die young, At least i'll have gone fast
when you get in to the "tick-ticka-tick" real, I am about as useful as a tit on a nun, but if you need any drawings or reference material I do have a handy-dandy Bentley manual...
__________________ All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in single words: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.
Sir Winston Churchill
Here's what I would do. Take a 10 and 11 and 12 (maybe a 13) open end wrench with some sand paper and a screw driver and paper towels and clean the terminals on your battery completly as well as the cable connectors so they gleam. Reconnect and see if that doesn't help, at least...best of luck
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