RE: cold start

[Mike Olsen <molsen3@xxxxxxx>]

I have roughly the same problem with my '88 325iC.  Often it starts fine, 
but other times you'll crank and it won't catch for many tries.  I thought 
maybe the battery was going and couldn't crank the starter quick enough (it 
was 5 years old anyway), but that didn't help anything.    This is making 
me nervous as cold weather is approaching and my girlfriend drives the car 
(I get the M3!).

Any thoughts would be a big help.

Thanks,
Mike Olsen

88 M3
88 325iC



> Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 23:25:51 -0800
> From: Gerald Daller <gldaller@domain.elided>
> Subject: cold start
>
> Hello all,   Having just subscribed,  let me introduce us.  My name is
> Gerald and my cars are a '78 320i (purchased new, 266,000 miles,
> orig.engine) and a '74 2002 (purchased 2-1/2 years ago for my wife and
> for a fun car to drive! 78,000 miles, 2nd engine).  It didn't take me
> long to realize how much time it can take to read all the e-mail each
> day! I do look forward to sharing BWM life with you all.  Well, to keep
> things short, the first problem that's been bugging me for a few years
> now is that my 320i has a cold start problem intermittently and maybe
> some of you can offer more direct hints or clues than a repair shop.  I
> do some of my own work when I can.  When it doesn't start first crank,
> it needs to wait for maybe 15-30 seconds before trying again.  If not
> the second crank, then wait, crank, wait, etc..  But, most of the time
> it will start, if I follow this timetable, by the third or fourth
> crank.  Cranking and cranking it will just run down the battery quickly
> without starting.  Once it is started, it will keep running nicely.
> Other days, it will start okay for days.  I haven't really checked much
> in depth yet. Can anyone point directly to some of the main causes here?
>
> Gerald
> gldaller@domain.elided
>
>

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