Electrical Issues.

[tonyyy]

Hey guys.

So the other day, on my lunch break from work I went to start my 95 ti and it wouldn't fire up. It turned over, but didn't fire up. So i kept trying to turn the key, and all of the sudden it started smoking from the firewall area. It smelled like electrical fire. I panicked and unhooked the battery and popped the hood.
So, I let it sit, and eventually towed it home when I got off work. Let it sit for a few days. I hooked the battery back up, started it up. It fired up, but idled extremely rough, and wouldn't rev past ~2000 and sputtered really bad. BUT, after about 10 minutes or so, it held a clean idle, and revved completely normal. There is a CEL, but I don't know, or have a way to check it. I'm afraid to drive it down to a shop. I don't want to ruin anything further. I am a complete dummy when it comes to electrics. I also have a stuck open thermostat. Could that be the issue? I'm going to try to fix that this weekend and see if it helps.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you!

[ti-billy]

your "stuck open" thermostat will not cause a non starting or running issue, it will just take a while for the engine to reach normal operating temp, as for the CEL, you could rent a scan tool from your local Oreilly's or AutoZone and at least get the DTC # and research that, at least that way u don't have to worry bout driving it (and causing any more damage) to a shop or a big tow fee, hope this helps

[b.u.ti-ful]

How much smoke did you see?

Did it come up by the wipers or inside the car?

[tonyyy]

Originally Posted by ti-billy

your "stuck open" thermostat will not cause a non starting or running issue, it will just take a while for the engine to reach normal operating temp, as for the CEL, you could rent a scan tool from your local Oreilly's or AutoZone and at least get the DTC # and research that, at least that way u don't have to worry bout driving it (and causing any more damage) to a shop or a big tow fee, hope this helps

Well, the reason why I thought it was the thermostat was because it runs perfectly once it's warmed up.

Originally Posted by b.u.ti-ful

How much smoke did you see?

Did it come up by the wipers or inside the car?

It was up by the wipers. Not too much smoke at all.

[b.u.ti-ful]

You might have a loose spark plug.

[tonyyy]

Would that cause it to smoke from that area? I'll have to check that tonight.

[b.u.ti-ful]

Hard to say - also some people have had water in their plug wells that made for a bad idle. Usually after washing the engine or hitting a deep puddle hard.

[cooljess76]

Did you happen to wash the car or leave it parked in the rain? Sounds like your ecu might have gotten wet. Kinda similar thing happened to me a long time ago in one of my old e36's. No water was involved, however I was driving it pretty hard(speeds nearing 240kph for a solid 20-30min). I pulled off the autostrada into a petrol station for a quick refuel. When I went to start the car, I heard a loud pop and then smoke started barreling out of the wheel well and from under the hood towards the windshield. The car felt like it was running on 5 cylinders. I shut it down immediately, had it towed to my buddy's shop and we traced it down to a blown ECU. The whole inside was completely fried. Anyway, that's the only time I've ever seen that happen out of the 7 e36's I've owned. May or may not be the case with your car, but it's worth checking out. You might also want to check the wires inside the junction box just forward of the cabin filters as well as the wires going to the starter and the fuse box. Best of luck Tonyyy, glad to hear you're still around and I hope you can get things sorted out.

[tonyyy]

Originally Posted by b.u.ti-ful

Hard to say - also some people have had water in their plug wells that made for a bad idle. Usually after washing the engine or hitting a deep puddle hard.

Hmm, I haven't had any water near my car recently.

Originally Posted by cooljess76

Did you happen to wash the car or leave it parked in the rain? Sounds like your ecu might have gotten wet. Kinda similar thing happened to me a long time ago in one of my old e36's. No water was involved, however I was driving it pretty hard(speeds nearing 240kph for a solid 20-30min). I pulled off the autostrada into a petrol station for a quick refuel. When I went to start the car, I heard a loud pop and then smoke started barreling out of the wheel well and from under the hood towards the windshield. The car felt like it was running on 5 cylinders. I shut it down immediately, had it towed to my buddy's shop and we traced it down to a blown ECU. The whole inside was completely fried. Anyway, that's the only time I've ever seen that happen out of the 7 e36's I've owned. May or may not be the case with your car, but it's worth checking out. You might also want to check the wires inside the junction box just forward of the cabin filters as well as the wires going to the starter and the fuse box. Best of luck Tonyyy, glad to hear you're still around and I hope you can get things sorted out.

That's almost exactly how it felt and smoked. I checked all the spark plugs, and they were all tight. But, one of them had oil in between the SP wire and the spark plug itself, clean oil. Maybe it got down inside there when I spilled a bit of oil a while ago? Shorted something out because I don't have a spark plug cover on my engine.

Thanks for all the help Jess!

[b.u.ti-ful]

Most of these cars have a little oil in the plug well until you do the valve cover gasket job.

I drove mine that way for some time and it always ran fine.

It has been oil free ever since I put in the new valve cover gasket.

Looks like you should examine the ECU!

[cooljess76]

If it is the ecu, it's a pretty rare occurance. I know it happens quite often if they get wet, but I remember when mine blew it was completely dry. Since it's isolated and tucked away from any moving parts, I'm guessing that something probably rattled loose internally or perhaps it just got too hot being that it's right above the exhaust manifold. Who knows, I hope for your sake it's an easy fix. ECU's typically sell for a 100-200 bucks depending on if the ignition key transponder chip and ews module is included. If you're lucky you can find a matched set from someone who has done an engine swap or is parting out a car. Otherwise you'll need to get the ecu aligned with your current ews module and key chip. That cost about a hundred bucks at the dealer. Before you spend any money on that stuff though, take your ecu out, carefully open it up and inspect it. Mine was completely fried and smelled horrible when I opened it up.

[xxxJohnBoyxxx]

Originally Posted by tonyyy

Hey guys.

So the other day, on my lunch break from work I went to start my 95 ti and it wouldn't fire up. It turned over, but didn't fire up. So i kept trying to turn the key, and all of the sudden it started smoking from the firewall area. It smelled like electrical fire. I panicked and unhooked the battery and popped the hood.
So, I let it sit, and eventually towed it home when I got off work. Let it sit for a few days. I hooked the battery back up, started it up. It fired up, but idled extremely rough, and wouldn't rev past ~2000 and sputtered really bad. BUT, after about 10 minutes or so, it held a clean idle, and revved completely normal. There is a CEL, but I don't know, or have a way to check it. I'm afraid to drive it down to a shop. I don't want to ruin anything further. I am a complete dummy when it comes to electrics. I also have a stuck open thermostat. Could that be the issue? I'm going to try to fix that this weekend and see if it helps.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Do you have a front mount battery? If so is it possible a dirty battery cable was smoking from all that cranking you were doing? Also a dirty cable will cause the starter to take all the power to crank the car and not give the DME enough power to spark or fire the injectors and start the car.

Let me know if the smoke might have come from the battery area and if so are your battery cables dirty and need cleaning.

Just wondering before we get into changing DME's. I do know a fried DME does not fix itself and one that get's racked on a dead battery start will go through a adaption reset causing a 10 minute horrible idle while it re-learns it's adaption values.

Just my theroy of what might have happened

[dave45056]

read the codes. You have a 95 ti, so you don't need a code reader. Pelican has a DIY. It involves stomping on the gas pedal 5 times with the key in position 2.

[Philly]

I toasted a DME slowly and the car can/will do some wierd things...
Its easy to take out and inspect, and if it looks nice & clean then at least you won't have to worry about that being a cause.

Id also pop the wiring harness box off at the same time and have a look at the wires - smoke usually isn't a good thing!

GL!

[tonyyy]

Originally Posted by xxxJohnBoyxxx

Do you have a front mount battery? If so is it possible a dirty battery cable was smoking from all that cranking you were doing? Also a dirty cable will cause the starter to take all the power to crank the car and not give the DME enough power to spark or fire the injectors and start the car.

Let me know if the smoke might have come from the battery area and if so are your battery cables dirty and need cleaning.

Just wondering before we get into changing DME's. I do know a fried DME does not fix itself and one that get's racked on a dead battery start will go through a adaption reset causing a 10 minute horrible idle while it re-learns it's adaption values.

Just my theroy of what might have happened

I do have a front mount battery. The cables are a bit dirty. But, the smoke seemed to have come from the center of the firewall/wiper area. How do I go about cleaning them? Wire brush?

Originally Posted by dave45056

read the codes. You have a 95 ti, so you don't need a code reader. Pelican has a DIY. It involves stomping on the gas pedal 5 times with the key in position 2.

Yes! I did this. At first, I got a code 1444, which means no faults, then I started the car, re did the check. This time it gave me a 1223. Which, pelican says is "Coolant Temp. Sensor" Being my Thermostat?

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/tech...nostics%20.htm

Originally Posted by Philly

I toasted a DME slowly and the car can/will do some wierd things...
Its easy to take out and inspect, and if it looks nice & clean then at least you won't have to worry about that being a cause.

Id also pop the wiring harness box off at the same time and have a look at the wires - smoke usually isn't a good thing!

GL!

I have not taken out my DME before, I believe I saw a DIY on pelican parts. I'll have to look into it. Is there anything I should look out for?

Thanks guys!