Z3 won't start, misfire?

[Spencer]

Hello there guys, I'm new to the forum. I've wanted to pick up a project Z3 to play around with for a while and just found a 97 Z3 with the hard top, 5spd, and 103k miles locally for $2k that needs mechanical work. He said it was running 3 weeks ago and said he had a $400 water pump and several relays replaced a few months ago. The owner said it won't start and he had a friend hook up a code reader and it said cylinder 1 and 2 had misfire codes. I wanted to see what you guys would think as far as the culprit, I'm sure it could be coils or plugs but I no virtually nothing about the Z3 powertrain so wasn't sure if there are any common or notorious issues that might cause this.


Any help or pointing me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated so I know what to look for closely when going to take a look at it.


Thanks,
Spencer

 

[t-tony]

Hi Spencer, welcome from near Lincoln UK. What size motor is fitted in your Z please?

Tony.

 

[Spencer]

Tony, it is the 1.9L 4 cylinder. Thanks!

 

[t-tony]

Thank you @Spencer , one for M44 massive then. Any ideas guys?

Tony.

ps. Has the motor run since the water pump was fitted Spencer? or is the non running happened since this job was done?

 

[windym]

I would look at the cam sensors.

Andy

 

[Spencer]

Andy, where are the cam sensors located at? Any way to check them for function or pretty much just need to swap them and see if that clears it up?

Thanks guys, Spencer

 

[t-tony]

Hi Spencer, as far as I'm aware both of the cam sensors are mounted on the front of the engine block. If they were faulty I would have expected them to show on the code read, however if One were left unplugged this may not be the case.
Please see post no. 4

Tony.

 

[Faheem]

Best bet would be to buy a cheap code reader from Amazon for about £10-15. Then hook it up yourself and test it for any codes yourself, just so you have peace of mind and know exactly what codes it's throwing out. Alternatively take it to a garage and ask them to scan it for any codes.

Both my zeds have had problems with the cam sensors. They didn't cause any starting issues, they just increased the petrol consumption so that 10 litres of fuel would let me drive for about 20 miles. I think if I'm not mistaken on the m44 the sensor is located under the intake manifold? Do correct me if I'm wrong as it has been a while since I replaced them.

I assume you've already tried changing the spark plugs? Could be the starter motor could be anything. A code reader will help narrow things down (you don't know whether the guy you got the car from was being truthful in telling you about all the codes present, for all we know there could be 10 other codes that the car was throwing out and he failed to mention to you)