e30 stopped running, could use some advice

[hisdudeness300]

ok, so ive been dealing with my e30 not running for about 2 months. before i start, i want to say i really dont know that much about engine mechanics, but im trying to pick it up as i go. Thank you for reading and responding, any advice is appreciated.

so on september 23rd, i was driving on my way to wash my car, and as i slow to a red light, the car starts idling roughly and it died. i managed to start it up right away, even though it sounded and felt rough as hell, i managed to move it off the street, even though there was barely any power. i got half way up the street and it dies again. this time it wont start up.

now at this time, i really had no idea what was going on. this is also the first time i had needed any car repair work done, so i didnt have a trusty shop to go to. fortunatly, or so i thought, i live right next to a couple auto shops.

so i have the car towed to the auto shops by my house. now my first mistake here was going to a regluar mechanic instead of the bmw mechanic right next door. i went to the regular mechanic because at the time i didnt have much money, and figured the bmw place would run it up.

so the mechanic takes a look at it all that day and the next day. basically tells me the fuel injectors are staying open and releasing too much fuel into the engine and flooding it. it came down to needing a new Electronic Control Unit which had to be ordered with my vin through BMW to the tune of $700 and $200 labor.

so 1.5weeks later i get the car back and it runs for a day or two. then the startup idle started getting really rough, like there was too much gas in the engine, so youd have to rev it up for a good 30-60 seconds to clear it all out and then it would sound normal. i took it back and they said it was the ECU harness.

so i take it back and they mess with the ecu harness for a while. they finally get that going a few weeks later and the car is finally running solid. starts up quick and sounds good, drives well, and everything seems to be good.

1.5 weeks later the car dies out of no where. i was driving it at 3pm and when i get in to go to work at 5pm, it wont start. i told the mechanic and he had it brought back to the shop. this was almost 2 weeks ago. at first he said it was the distributor so he got a new one and it still doesnt start. now he hsa no idea whats wrong with it. he said he was going to have BMW diagnose it and hell do the work for free, but when i talked to him today he said hes not paying $160 to have it diagnosed.

soooooooooo, to sum it up, car dies completely. replace the ecud and mess with the ecu harness, replaces spark plugs, replaced cold start injuector, and it still will not start. not only am i being bent over by this mechanic (who is a lousy mechanic and shouldnt be in business) but my car doesnt run. as much as i loooove the E30, im starting to think owning a 20year old bmw with my lack of knowledge might not be such a good idea

any advice would greatly be appreciated, i really dont know what to do at this point.

also, would i have the right to ask for my money back if he cant get my car running? ive only paid him the $900 for ECU and labor 1.5months ago

[cassidy06]

Damn!!! that sucks he ripped u off, u should have gotten an ecu from here probably under a 100 an u could have installed it urself..real easy... Anyway Sorry to hear about ur troubles, u might want to check/replace feul pump, an throw a feul pump relay and master feul pump relay in(i have some will sell cheap). When it dies is it sudden or does engine misfire and sound bogged down? will run/rev in N. check and recheck all vaccume lines, make sure no air leaks.. but from what u stated, sounds like a feul and or ignition problem.. Good luck, keep us posted..

[nowloadingrage]

To much fuel could be the pressure regulator failing to maintain 30psi on the fuel rail. Or possibly the 02 sensor is bad. You could unplug it see if it starts running right. If you are misjudging the rich I would lean toward the intank pump failed a long time ago and your main pump is finally giving up. Yeh the filter is a real good idea as well.

[HunkaTunka]

paging jlevie!

[ngcreese]

Lift up your rear seat.
Remove the sound insulation.
Unscrew panel on passenger side.
Check fuel pump.
Should have a slight vibration to it, when you turn the ignition on.

If you need to change it. Look for a fuelpump DIY, there should be something out there.

...sorry to hear about your tought times. E30's a great car.
You should have taken it to the BMW mechanic.
Don't worry too much, best thing about an E30, is there's not too many things that can be the source of your problem.

[jagerking]

It sounds like you've narrowed your problem to one of two things: fuel and ignition. I'd believe you to be correct on that. You need to test a few things to find out for sure, and you can do most of this yourself. First, check your fuel pressure at the rail. You can either get a gauge for this to check incoming fuel, or take off your FPR (fuel pressure regulator) and blow compressed air through it. When the compressor reads 30psi, the FPR should let go. Also, make sure there is ample fuel to the rail. Leave your FPR attached to the rail, and pull off the return line. Put a bottle to catch the fuel under it, and see if you have fuel squirting out. If you have fuel, it doesn't mean you're in the clear yet. You need to check both of your pumps, and ensure they're both working. Check the wiring for voltage to it. Even if the fuel pressure tests succeed in your driveway, they may fail on the road, so that's why checking the voltage to the pumps is important. For the ignition, I would try the old fashioned way to see if your lawn mower has spark. The only exception being to use an extra plug (if you have one) and ground it out against the head to check for spark while you turn it over. Lastly, you may have a faulty coil. That weird cylinder thing with a spark plug wire attached to it bolted next to your windshield fluid bottle on the passenger wheel well? That's the one. Those are much harder to check (you may be able to check resistance through it), but they will fail temporarily from time to time, then work again for a few moments. Intermittent power loss could be caused by a coil on the fritz. Personally, I think you have a fuel issue, and I think one of your pumps is almost out. Check as much as you can, or as much as you know how, and report back. Hopefully someone else will chime in on this.
BTW, please, do yourself (and us!) a favor and check your local junkyards and even on here for e30 parts. Everyone on here it seems has three E30's to keep one on the road, and they'll gladly sell you the part you need for 1/100th of the dealer's price.

[thejlevie]

Given the way in which the car failed, my first though would be the fuel system. It is easy enough to test the fuel system (the procedure is in the Bentley manual). But it could just as easily be a bad crank position sensor, bad main/fuel relay, or other fault. Proper diagnostic work would go a long way towards solving the problem.

The first test should be to see if there is spark when cranking the engine. No spark could be:

No power to the DME (main relay or fusible link)
No power to the coil (ignition switch)
No timing reference data to the DME (crank position sensor)
Bad DME

If there is no spark, the fuel pump won't run either. But if there is spark you really need to check the pressure in the fuel rail. No pressure in the rail could be:

Bad fuel pump relay
Blown fuel pump fuse
Bad FPR
Bad pump

If there is spark and correct pressure in the rail it is possible that the injectors aren't firing. That could be:

A fault in C191 located under the intake manifold
Bad DME

[cassidy06]

make sure they put feul filter back in correctly as if its backwards car will run fine one second and crap out the next, Also make sure that shade tree mechanic u brought car to installed correct spark plugs and gapped correctly. check crank sensor (located on side of crank pulley below dist. cap) follow the wire back check for fraying esp. in front of tbelt cover.. and yeah try and get as much $$$ back as u can, since noodle head never fixed ur car after 3x at shop, keeps ordering u parts that u absolutely do not need, messes w ur main wire harness etc... angers me when i hear abt crap dishonest or uneducated mechanics try n get away with.. good luck, happy tday and keep us posted

[nowloadingrage]

Better yet let the car tell you what the problem is.
http://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/tech...de_Reading.htm

Notice the notation that mentions that wire breakage is more likely the problem than the DME.

[draccent]

Remove all your relays and then take the plastic housings off of them (they pop right off) and spray PB blaster on each relay. PB blaster is electronics safe, and will eliminate any possibility of a sticky relay. You can also inspect the relays like this, as a bad relay will have burn marks, or other obvious signs of damage.

And as Jlevie mentioned..check that connector under the intake manifold.

And if you know your getting spark, but your injectors are staying open to long..I believe its a combination of the AFM, and temp sensors which primarily regulate the injector pulse width, so clean the AFM really good, and replace with a known good one if possible. Temp sensors are highly doubtful as suspects but testing each connector for continuity is a worthwhile diagnostic.

[Mr. Lin]

maf.
my e30 had similar symptoms of a rough idle when it would start up and then it just died one day and didn't want to start again. replaced the maf and it was good to go.

[hisdudeness300]

Thanks for all of the advice guys, i really appreciate it. This gives me a few days to prepare a list of things to buy for when i can get the car back monday.

On the slight upside, he just hired a new mechanic who has experience with european cars. I spoke with him on the phone the other day and he said he had some ideas about what might be wrong and was going to do some research and get some tests ready to run on monday. (because ofcourse they needed a 4 day vacation )