This is the diagram for the 1996 ti.

I tried everything they said here. None worked. All it was just a dead circuit. Did it on 2 different cars. Worked like magic. I still own one of them. Still works and changed nothing in the end. ����

I like how you troubleshoot. Just wait and hope it works again.
There is always a reason why it did not work.

So it turns out I DID have the same issue, no low-speed when the connector is jumped. Only high-speed. I jumped 30 and 87 on the low-speed relay and the fan DID run, so DME grounding issue? How do I go about fixing that? Jumping high-speed at the fan works so it's obviously not that ground, which ground is it?
EDIT: All three wires at the dual temp sensor are grounds, the ground from the low temp switch to the DME to relay is broken.

Looks like I'll just be running my own ground wire for the normal speed circuit, bypassing the DME. Does this sound good to everyone?

Yep.
Just run another parallel wire from terminal 85 of low speed fan relay straight to the color coded GR/VI wire on radiator low temperature switch.

Done, it worked.
Took me a little while to properly bleed the cooling system, but I think I'm good to go.

Now I need to figure out why it's sometimes slow to start. :rolleyes:

Good job!

Slow cranking?
Weak battery or bad positive cable and ground cable?
Get your meter and test the battery at the battery post, at the battery clamp then at the starter 12V cable terminal to ground.

Not a slow crank, slow to catch. I would assume it is a fuel pressure problem, but sometimes it is slow to start even when I go to key position 2 before starting which should prime the fuel system. Car cranks over fine, but is slow to fire/catch, and stumbles into an idle. If I try starting and immediately stop (position 1) and then try again it 99% will start right up as it should with no hesitation. No codes, searched for any vacuum leaks and fixed the ones I found, changed cam sensor. Fuel filter will be done soon. I need to check the fuel rail for pressure after it's been sitting.

I don't want to thread jack, but yeah that's what I'm dealing with.
I made a thread on BimmerForums since it is probably not related to anything 318ti-specific: https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...8ti-Long-Crank

You may need to start a new thread so the slow start issue will be dealt with separately.

Your next step is on the right track. Test fuel pressures after priming, see if it rises to spec fuel pressure. Let it sit and observe if fuel pressure holds or drops to zero and report.