Need some diagnostic help

[oldtin]

1995 318ti (4/95 build date), 218k. Running perfect until a -3* day. Now running on 3 cylinders (#3 dead). Seemed like there was a whiff of cooked electrical component smell that morning, but I'm not 100%. Plastic looked melted at the #3 coil on the coil pack - replaced coil pack and wires - no joy. Spark plug looks great - even gray and dry. No oil in the well. No spark at the plug while engine is running. Haven't checked the dme relay (was assuming if that was it it would be a go-no go thing instead of a missing cylinder). For coil connector there are 6 pins/sockets - I'm assuming 1 12v, 1 gnd and 4 signals to coils. Once again assuming center socket is gnd, I've got 12v and minor voltage to 3/4 sockets (like .06). So I'm thinking it's a dme problem not sending a signal to #3. Am I now in the market for a new dme? What have I overlooked? Any tests I should be trying?

If I need a dme, will it need a reflash or can I swap chips (I believe there's a turner chip in the old one) and avoid it?

[BimmerBum]

Are you getting a CEL? Have you considered the fuel injector?

[oldtin]

no CEL - wondered about fuel - but the no spark at the plug was leading me to think electrics

[oldtin]

I think I found the problem. Hmm heated up the board enough to expose the copper - and put a bunch of heat all the way through the coil. Maybe a failed resistor?

Anybody got a spare dme? Looks like a silver label 282. In the meantime, off to the pick n pull - they have a 94 318 - with a little luck it may still have its brain.

[familytruckster]

Looks like something shorted to ground....Like the coil. If the coil and DME look like that, I'd be worried about the rest of the wiring between....

[oldtin]

I picked through the harness wires a little - Not seeing anything obviously damaged, burned, exposed, etc. Crossed fingers it was a cold weather component failure with no other damage.

Hey and it turns out I have a dinan chip.

[oldtin]

New DME arrived yesterday. Pulled the cover off, swapped in the dinan chip. Crossed my fingers that it would work. When I plugged it in I mostly expected it to not work or at least need the ews sycned. To my surprise, it fired immediately and is running a little smoother than I remember.

[BlackBMWs]

Nice congrats!