BMW Repair: 86 bmw 325 es no start, bmw 325, motronic


Question
I have a 86 325 es that has no spark at the coil. The day that the vehicle quit car had an idle issue (low idle ) but if you pressed on the gas it would rev up and idle at 600-700 RPM. Was like that for a little while when my daughter drove it but then just quit. Had full power so I do not think that it is a timing belt. I have referenced a Bentley manual to diagnose. Here is what I found. Checked for spark and did not find any. Cap and rotor are 2K old and look good. Wires are the same age. At the + lead of the coil (15) with key on I get 12 volts. With coil wire off coil I get no spark out of the coil. Swapped the coil with not change. Checked out reference sensor and got 1.012ohms. At the speed sensor I got 960 ohms. Both according to the manual are in spec. I swapped out the main relay and others next to the main with my 87IS BMW 325 with no luck. There is a great junk yard here that I bought a Motronic from for $15. Can not verify fit is good. Anyway swapped the Motronic units with no luck. Question should I try my 87 is Motronic unit in the 86 325ES? I then Connected a Fluke frequency meter to the reference sensor and without cranking the engine I got .257kh with cranking the engine I got .004 khz. Don't know why????? My next step is to drop the inspection cover of the bell housing ( I can not find the timing indicator hole) to few the reference sensor pin. What else am I missing? I have wrenched on cars for years and am not afraid of any repair so let me know what to do next.  Thanks for your support. VIN # is WBAAB5409G9671174

Answer
It looks as if you have check many things.I see a couple of things that put my mind into question. One being the reference sensor reading of 1.012 ohms.I believe it is too high.It should be 960 as the other sensor is.To locate the pin you need to remove the reference sensor and turn the motor over by hand to see if it is still there and not fallen out,which I have seen before.
You had mentioned the timing belt,if it jumped it would be VERY bad.They do not have rollover capability. In other words it would bend your valves and be quite costly.
So look for your pin in the flywheel and recheck your reference sensor