e36 318is ignition problem

[renagademaster4]

Hi guys , basically ave just bought maself a nice 318 as a possible track car , not be used on the road much , anyway a bought it as a non runner , very cheap , ignition barrel f**ked , the guy a bought it off said it was fine till the key kept turning one day , he tried fixing it and a think he just made it worse , as he's took it all apart , well as it stands the car doesnt start , it goes thru all the stages to start just doesnt turn over , all the lights com on the guages and so on , ave done sum reading and a believe a cant just replace the ignition barrel and key with another as they are coded to the ews/ecu ? correct me if am wrong , its my first BM cant be botherd or really afford to go get the key coded at BMW as ave been told its £100+ , a had the idea of just changing the ecu for a <94 ecu with no ews as beeing a track car and garaged a dont mind it not having any alarm or immobilser , what a need advice on is can a just swap my ecu for one from a <94 ecu that doesnt have an ews ? or is there away to keep my setup but bypass the ews ? any help would be greatly apprieciated and thanks in advance

[96_323]

If you take the ignition barrel out and keep the key taped to the immob receiver, you should be able to start the car with a wide flat head screwdriver.
If its a track car it wont need the most security on it, just slap a wheel clamp on the car when your not using it.

[renagademaster4]

the bits the guy broke are the pick up ring and the ignition barrel

a have it turning over , cut and spliced the black/yellow wire and the green/black wire together

that lets it turn over but still no spark/fuel

a know the blue wire from the ews supplies the feed to the ecu , could u dummy a 12v feed to the ecu on the blue wire ?

[renagademaster4]

ok a had a quick check today a have the m42 engine and ecu is bosch 0261203590 , could this ecu or the chip be swapped for any of the non ews ones from the m42 with the red label bosch ecu ?

[petertints]

hi, i am also having this problem. i brought a 318ti compact r reg 2 months ago the barrel just spun and spun but some times it latched on and i was able to start the car but now it just spins and spins.... the owner before had the imobilser removed ( ive had a look and it looks like its been disconnected and a few wires joined but it seemed to work ) i have stripped out the barrel ready for a new one but i needed to move that car so i put a screw driver in the back of the barrel and turned but the car will not start. it does every thing normal ( lights on the dash etc etc ) but the starter motor wont spin. . . . i have checked fuses and given the relays in the engine bay a nock incase they got stuck but still no luck.......any ideas?