325 TDS starting problem!! - BMW Forum

clb · 07-05-2008, 07:30 AM

Hi all,
New to this site and would really appreciate any help...here goes!!
1994 325 TDS, purchased the car a few weeks back, totally converted to BMW! Saying that problem as follows:
Ran the car from home to work, came out 10 minutes later to go out and the car would not start..The glow plug light, fuel injection (management) light and auto transmission light came on and stayed on....the car would not start. Half an hour later the car started!! Same thing happened yesterday but even when the engine had cooled down it would not start. The only thing I have noticed is the fuse for the fuel pump was not live (I connected a live and checked the fuel came through from the fuel filter) I fitted a new fuel pump in the tank last week. Prior to this problem the car started excellently from cold and runs like a dream. Could it be a relay/ecu problem? I really don’t have the money to pay a BMW specialist so any help would be greatly received.

Cheers

CLB

darkhorse737 · 07-05-2008, 08:49 AM

please clarify "START":

1) does the motor turn over? or,
2) when you turn the key to start, nothing happens?

clb · 07-05-2008, 09:00 AM

Hi

Thanks for the reply...Yes motor turns over absolutely fine.

darkhorse737 · 07-05-2008, 09:15 AM

your engine has starting probs both when warm & when cold.

I would start by looking at the engine shut-off circuits. possibly a sticking solenoid, or a sticky mechanical shut-off valve. When the valve sticks in open... it won't let fuel into the injection pump; thus u are not able to start or re-start the car.

Unfortunately, i haven't worked on a TDS in long awhile so i can't immediately picture where to start looking...

I'll get back to u in a bit; OR try and send a PM to "pepsicola"... he works with diesels in Perth a lot and is probably in a better position to help you with the probing ;-)

clb · 07-05-2008, 09:55 AM

Hi

It just seems strange that the glow plug/fuel system/auto trans lights stay on, as I said when this happened a couple of days prior after leaving it for half an hour the lights went out as normal and the car started! Hopefully your chap in Perth may be able to shed some light on this....Many thanks for your help. regards Chris

witeshark · 07-05-2008, 10:12 AM

Are you sure the glow plugs are working right? Do you warm them about 15 seconds before trying to start?

clb · 07-05-2008, 05:41 PM

The glow plugs seem to operate ok as when it was cold the car started fine (up until this point!). As previously mentioned the strange thing is that 3 of the lights stay on and the car turns over fine.