Expert: Josh Fields - 5/5/2006

Question
I have an 85 325e w/2.7L.  It has roughly 150K on it.  My question is:  I am having a hard time getting it started when it is warm out, I’d say 75 degrees and above.  I don’t know if the heat has anything to do with the problem or not.  So if I either turn the car off and wait 20 minutes or it has been sitting in the sun on a warm day the car will not start at first.  It cranks and cranks but wont start.  It will eventually start after a lot of cranking and no grayish smoke comes out the exhaust.   I used to own an 87 325e and that did the same thing (with not starting) but when it started it would blow out grayish smoke out the exhaust.  I recently ran through top engine cleaner and use that injector cleaner often.  I just also put in a new set of plugs.  The wires look fairly new and the parts store didn’t have a cap and rotor to put on at the time I went to get parts.  I checked the spark when it acts up and it has spark but it’s a yellowish reddish spark.  And it also seems to be running rich, when I can get it started finally, can that be related to the problem.  Any help on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time,
Corey


Answer
Corey,
 If the spark is no blue, then it's a weak spark.  If you have not changed the distributor cap, I would HIGHLY suggest it.  It will probably run $50 or so, but will probably solve your problem.

 Try that and let me know what happens.
 Josh