Consistant long start

[Mightyboat]

Hey,
Before I go I to my current issue, I thought I'd tell the whole story.

I've got a 1998 Z3 2.8 with 115,000 miles. The car has been starting perfectly for as long as I've had it (a few years).

The other day I was driving on the motorway and the water pump bearing failed. The fan went crazy and destroyed the belts and the radiator.

Fine, no big deal, I replaced the parts relatively easily.

The problem now is it takes quite a few cranks for it to start. All the time. Doesn't matter hot or cold. It also feels like there's a loss of power when pulling out at a red light and even when parking sometimes.

I have a code reader and found an error related to the crankshaft position sensor so I replaced it (the connector was very slightly different so I had to chip away at the plastic a bit, but everything else looks identical to the original sensor...). I'm still getting an error code.

Before I buy another sensor, does anyone have any ideas what would cause a consistant slow start issue?

I've googled around a fair bit, and people have this issue when starting cold, or when the engine is hot but this is happening all the time.

Could there be some damage inside the engine due to the issue with the broken water pump?

 

[Mario]

Did you install a generic sensor or a bmw one, apparently these cars are quite picky when it comes to that partícular sensor

 

[Ianmc]

For cam shaft sensors defo use BMW part; would suggest same would be for crank shaft sensor also. I'm afraid "chipping away at the plastic" made me cringe!!

 

[Mightyboat]

I must admit I got one of the cheaper generic ones.

And yeah I cringed while chipping away at the plastic too... But I was just so frustrated.. there seems to be so many variations of this specific sensor I just wanted to make it work.

Would this sensor really cause a consistant starting issue like I'm observing?

I'm just wondering if something inside the engine is bent, or broken due to the pump failure while I was driving.

 

[Mario]

I would put a good known second hand genuine BMW one and see if that fixes the issue

 

[t-tony]

My Z3 had this issue when the Inlet cam sensor failed, check that the flayling broken bits haven't damaged the sensor cables, connectors etc.
Is your a single or twin vanos engine?

Tony.

 

[Mightyboat]

It's a single vanos engine I believe. I'll have to double check the cables.

 

[Fender2004]

Have a look at the rubber inlet hoses could be damaged or cracked allowing too much air in?

 

[mrscalex]

Did the car overheat when the pump seized?

 

[Mightyboat]

I checked the main hose with the MAF etc and it's in perfect condition.

I stopped the car within 5 minutes of the fan exploding, and the temperature gauge on the dashboard was right in the centre when I stopped, so I don't think it overheated.

 

[colb]

Firstly put an oem crankshaft sensor in it. Stalling and crap pulling away could be camshaft sensor(s) mate had very similar symptoms inlet and exhaust camshaft sensors changed and a new lower intake bellows sorted it. If it is camshaft sensors it should have set codes, his did Giant hole in the lower inlet bellows where it feeds to the idle control valve. Cleaned that out with carb cleaner spray whilst we had access to it.