Hey y'all,

I'm working on my brother's 1996 850. It stopped starting a little while ago. It sounds like it wants to start (sometimes it does, but dies shortly afterwards), but doesn't quite "catch": .

I managed to drive it down from New Hampshire to northeastern Massachusetts with minimal problems (it was tough getting it started at his place, but it eventually started and I could drive it away). What was interesting was that on the highway, at cruising RPM/load it would start misfiring, so I had to keep it in a lower gear to keep it out of that range.

Things I've done so far:

• I verified that there was pressure at the fuel rail, and checked to make sure I was getting a spark:
  video
• I replaced the camshaft sensor, because the wire at the connector was beginning to fray, but that didn't solve it.
• I replaces plugs, cap and rotor. I didn't replace the wires because they all seemed conductive, but I might just go ahead and do it.
• I measured the resistance of the crank sensor, and I got 297 Ohms.
• I tried starting without the MAF plugged in.

So far nothing. I'm thinking some sensor somewhere, or perhaps the ignition coil is going bad? Any help would be appreciated.

 

Okay, just as a contingency, I verified that the timing is all set. I was thinking maybe it skipped a tooth or something after I got it back home:




I'm going to try a quick compression test to see if that reveals anything.