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E30 1987 320i - Not starting after timing belt replacement.

3K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  keith M5 
#1 ·
Hi,

My 1987 e30 320i was running well before I replaced the timing belt, water pump and viscous fan clutch. It will not start now. (Used the Haynes/Bentley manual and BMW E30 Timing Belt and Water Pump Change and E30 Timing Belt and water pump Replacement | RTS - Your Total BMW Enthusiast to help.

Drained coolant, removed the radiator, fan, drive-belt, crankshaft pulley, timing belt covers. Rotated the crankshaft (with the original belt still on) so the TDC marks on the camshaft and crankshaft were lined up. Removed the idler/tensioner and the timing belt. Removed and replaced the water pump. Put the new idler/tensioner on and the new timing belt. Rotated the crankshaft through 2 revolutions and checked the TDC marks were correctly aligned, they were. Put everything back together complete with a new fan clutch. Re-filled the coolant.

The car turns over but doesn't fire now, checked the spark plugs (they spark), and smell of petrol. Can't think why it doesn't want to fire now, the only time that I have turned the crankshaft or camshaft was with a timing belt in place.

If anybody has any ideas what might be wrong, I would appreciate it.

Thanks,
Julian.
 
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#3 ·
You can't really over fuel one of these.

If the spark was strong enough it would fire, or back fire if the valve timing was out. Since you are certain that the timing is all correct I'd investigate the HT side of things, particularly the distributor cap, I've had the carbon electrode in the middle of the cap fall out as they can crack, also check the rotor arm.
 
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