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BMW E36 fuel systems are typically very reliable, however overtime it does need maintenance and repair. This video describes how to diagnose a non starting bmw fuel problem. The problem with this vehicle in particular was the fuel pump relay and the fuel pump.
Typically with fuel issues you want to start by checking the fuse box, and then move on to testing the pump.
Fuel pumps can go out prematurely typically for three reasons: Dirty gasoline, letting the car run until the pump has to circulate the fuel at the bottom of the tank, and neglecting to add fuel treatment from time to time in the tank.
Diagnosis is not very difficult, and luckily fuel pump replacement is a relatively easy task on bmw e36s.
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Hey E36 Fanatic, Steven here. Today I'm going to show y'all how to, a quick and easy way to
0:07
diagnose a fuel pressure issue for a non-starting car. This car is a BMW 1994 318 IS. I've gotten
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the itch again to buy junk cars and play around with them. I got this for like $350. It wasn't
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running at the time but it was cranking so um for that cheap I'll buy a junk car quick
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so the issue was the car would crank but it wouldn't start at all so I kind of guessed that
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it was a fuel related issue but the way way we determined for for about certain that it was a
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fuel related issue is that when I was cranking the car up I had somebody else shoot starting
0:55
fluid into the intake boot right here. And at that point the car was able to actually start for a few
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seconds and then of course it choked out. Now 90% of the time when that happens and you can start a
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car with starter fluid and that dies immediately, it's going to be a fuel related issue. You're not
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getting fuel to the car. The first and most obvious thing to do is to
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is to check if you've got fuel. Check your automater and make sure that you've got fuel there
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If it says you got fuel and your sending unit you haven noticed any issues with your sending unit then it probably something else to deal with either the fuel pump or electronic Next thing to do is to come over here to your hood and hop to your fuse box The fuel pump has
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two different things associated with it in the fuse box. It has a 15 amp fuse, which is number
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18 on this vehicle and I believe that's universal it's going to be number 18 on any E36 it's a little
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15 amper now on this one all you got to do is take a look at it and I already pulled it and it looks
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just fine so that wasn't the issue so the next thing to check is to check your relays now the
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relay for the fuel pump on all BMW E36s is going to be this one right here now a quick note to
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remember on some of the older ones like 94, 95, and 93s, the fuel pump relay, the original one
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is going to be a four prong relay. This is it actually right here. On the newer ones like 96
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plus, it's going to actually be a five prong. And if you, it turns out that the relay is bad
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At the auto parts store, they're only going to have the five prong relay
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However, I went ahead and bought the five prong relay and it works just fine
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So you can actually switch out the four prong with the five prong in these vehicles because
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they do not sell the four prong. You going to want to go and check your fuel pump relay next which is this one right here Just pop it right out Okay so here the old one
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And this actually ended up being my issue for the fuel pump
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And as you can see, it's pretty caked. It looks pretty baked
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I got the new one at O'Reilly's. It was like $22, I think, so it wasn't too bad
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and I switched it out with this five prong relay. Now say your relay looks good though
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and there's no issue with the relay it looks just fine. The next thing you're going to want to do is
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pull out your back seat. Now this is the same on any E36. This back seat actually underneath it is
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your fuel pump and your sending unit. These vehicles have two sending units one on the fuel pump and
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one on the other side. On this vehicle, the fuel pump is on the passenger side right underneath
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here. Now, once you're over here, you're going to want to take a look at your fuel pump
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This is the fuel pump for this vehicle. You'll be able to tell once you pop off this little cap
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right here. It's got three screws or four Phillips head screws that hold it in. And the fuel pump is
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going to have two connectors going to it. One's for the sending unit, one's for the fuel pump
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Then you got two hoses and you have a lock ring. Apparently BMW has some special tool
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for that lock ring to remove it, but you can just use a hammer and a screwdriver and be
4:48
careful with it and you can get it out just like that So if all your electrical components are working like the pump or the relay and the fuse then more than likely you have a fuel pump issue
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Now before you change, before you go into the fuel pump, here's a way to test if your fuel pump's
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working. Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to try and start the car and if the fuel pump's
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working, then you're going to be able to, since the sound deadening, the sound material is removed
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you're going to be able to hear this fuel pump, whether the car is running or not, picking up the gasoline and moving it around. So I'm going to set this phone here and I'm going to
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start the car. Now, after hearing the gasoline and the tank moving around, that tells me that
5:44
the fuel pump's doing its job and picking up the gas and sending it down and pressurizing the system
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So that tells me that it wasn't the fuel pump. Another thing to do if your fuel pump ends up
5:56
being the issue, and if it wasn't, if your fuel pump wasn't doing that when you're trying to start
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the car, then it's more than likely you need a new fuel pump. So the other thing to do though
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if you are going to change your fuel pump, is to go ahead and change the filter as well
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The fuel filter is very, very cheap. It's like $10, $15. And if your fuel pump's gone and you've
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never changed your filter, it's a good idea to go ahead and change your filter as well
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It is located underneath the car and it's very easy to get to. So I hope you all enjoyed this video. If you did, please like and subscribe. Y'all have a good one
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