cold start

[Gerald Daller <gldaller@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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

------------------------------