Follow up to "E30 doesn't start" thread a few weeks ago (longish)

["NWHarvest" <nharvest@xxxxxxxxx>]

Several weeks ago I posted regarding a starting problem with my 85 325e.
Thought I'd do two things: 1, Thank everyone who suggested solutions to the
problem, and 2, Share my (odd) experience for others who might stumble into
a similar problem.

Recap: car would crank fine but would not turn over.  Had been running
rough -- low power, poor mileage -- for several weeks.  Replaced cap, rotor
and plugs; no difference in performance.  A few weeks after the
replacements, the car began its dead-on impersonation of an opossum waiting
for the coast to clear.

A friend who occasionally works on the car came over to check the resistance
in the spark plug wires, compression test, etc.  Everything was fine, but we
still couldn't get the thing started.  We then decided to take a highly
logical diagnostic approach, the "blind squirrel looking for a nut" method.
This entailed (sorry for the pun) wiggling various wires and connectors and
trying to start the car.

Amazingly....it worked!  One or several connectors (blind squirrels don't
sweat the details) must have been making poor contact.  I filled the tank
with good gasoline and proceeded to check and clean (contact cleaner from
Radio Shack) all the contacts I could get to.

I took the car on a long (700 mile) trip for work earlier this week and it
performed admirably.  Plenty of power (well, for a 325e -- lousy power for
an M3) and it started just fine every time.  I was awfully pleased that I
didn't need to replace the spark plug wires or any other expensive parts.

Sincere apologies for the WOB.

David Bobanick

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