no fuel!! 518i m40

[zak3663]

my 518 used to start on the button every time when i was using it regularly but when i parked it up it would occaisionaly spin over and not fire, i could leave it a while and hey presto it would start again, but now its dead!
I am getting a good spark but pulling those fuel pipes off revealed it to be as dry as the sahara, it has a good fuel pump fuse and i have done that bit where you bridge two terminals on the relay and ive even tried a new relay-still dead.
Tonight i dug the fuel pump and sender out of the boot, disconnected the pump and tried it on the bench with 12v from a battery and the pump works fine so it sounds like one of those dreaded(for me) electrical faults somewhere or could it be the ECU for the motronic? any ideas on the subject would be greatly appreciated. or maybe even a proper wiring diagram for this model as the one in my workshop manual is **ap!

[wingman]

Hi Zak and welcome. A little bit more info about you and your car would be helpful. That way owners of similar cars could guess whether it might be a worn out part (due to miles) or it's some freak breakage. Your location also helps as different markets got different components. For example the OZ market did not get the 518i so I've never seen one. Have you tried the search section/archives? They are great sources of info on many topics. I'm letting you know this stuff as some can get frustrated answering the same question for the 40th time. Good luck with the car and once again welcome.
P.S. We love pics of E34s so if you have any share your pride and joy with us!:)

[zmuff]

Hey Zak, it's kind of the same deal here in the US as what wingman was saying...that model wasn't available here either. But I do have a link that may point you in the right direction. It is on line wiring schematics for the 518i, 520i, 525td, and 525tds. It is for 1994 models, but hopefully this can help you out some. Good luck.

http://www.carsoft.ru/avtorepair/bmw_e34/E34.html

[632 Regal]

check for power at the connection for the fuel pump.

[Derek A.]

Try a new fuel pump relay. Or if you can figure out the pins - bypass it and jumper it so that you are sure you are getting power to the fuel pump.

[zak3663]

Finally, i think ive got it sussed,- when i bought a relay at the weekend i was given the wrong one so i have been jumpering the wrong socket by the looks of things, had an e-mail telling me which pins to check and just on the off chance i thought i'll try it once more.
Little bit of wire in pins 30 and 87 in the CORRECT socket and hey presto!! the fuel pump was rattling its c*ck off on the boot floor,- looks like its safe to put it back in the tank now!
If anyone is familiar with the Haynes workshop manuals we have here in the UK you'll know they're not what they used to be and are a little 'vague' at times which when added to my hatred of electrical fault finding makes things a bit tedeous.
Thanks a lot to all who replied for your help and in reply to my first reply ill give some more info on the car, and will post a pic or two when i take it for a run at weekend.
The car is a 518i (E34) uk spec in white,
Its mine because i drive a peugeot 405 turbo diesel(1.9) which spat out a big chunk of head gasket, my mate said at the time he would help me take the head off and sort it over the weekend(this was march last year)
Having worked in garages for a couple of years i told him i was'nt going to go to all that trouble and put it together without getting the head skimmed just for it to blow again so i needed another car in a hurry till it was done (it had been skimmed before by someone but god knows what sort of jig they held it with as it was more semi-circle than flat)
So alas we drove out with my credit card and a copy of the local auto trader and as i looked through the pages i said lets look at a 5 series, ive never had a bmw before.
We got to the garage and there she was, he wanted £570 but as soon as i saw it i knew it would be mine, it was pretty damn mint for a 1991 car.
I gave her a road test and it was gorgeous apart from the shitty idle(cured by cleaning the throttle flap/body.
I used it till november 2005 and it NEVER failed to start, the only shitty fault i had was 3/4 temp readings when stuck in traffic, - closer inspection revealed someone had tried to lock the viscous coupling up with a bolt!!
this was cured for £30 with a new coupling.
only other things are the sump plug thread could do with heli-coiling and the fuel lines are a bit flaky in places if you're really fussy!
She does upto 540 miles on a full tank and is cheap to insure, and not drastically underpowered either for the engine size.
When i got her there was a 1994 525 td advertised on the same page for £1500 , bright red, alloy wheels but the 240000 miles on the clock put me off , i have since been told its not a problem on these engines,- wish i'd been told that before i bought the 518 or i would have got that instead and sold the peugeot!!
So if you lot are still awake after reading this, thanks again for all you're help, - and if anyones got anything to say about 525 diesel's post em here as i fancy one as my next car.

[Derek A.]

540 Miles ! Thats awesome.

I have never been able to crack the 400 mile mark in the 535i.