Author Topic: engine suddenly dies-no warning HELP! (Read 4447 times)

SnPaC · « **on:** January 14, 2009, 01:51:31 PM »

I am driving to work early around 6:00am and the engine suddenly dies. I coast over to the shoulder and try to start it; will not crank. Had it towed home, charged the battery (thinking it may be the voltage regulator) and I cannot get it to even crank over.

It is almost as if the engine is seized (though I have no reason to expect this) or something is keeping from turning over
UP until this point, the car has been running well.

Any ideas where to start? Thx

doitover · « **Reply #1 on:** January 14, 2009, 02:15:51 PM »

To hold you over until you get a real response, when you turn the ignition on, does the dash still light up? Have you tried turning the engine by hand, either by pushing the car in gear or by putting a socket on the crank hub nut and turning it by hand?

RED IS 91 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 14, 2009, 05:14:04 PM »

The first step would be to see if your getting power at the starter?

?

SnPaC · « **Reply #3 on:** January 14, 2009, 07:35:51 PM »

I have all the dash lights, but have not been able to see if the crank turns yet. When I tried to jump it, it sounds like it is trying to turnover, but no dice....strange

xwill112x · « **Reply #4 on:** January 14, 2009, 08:39:42 PM »

maybe your crank bearing came loose and it locked up, i read somewhere that they occasionaly fail bc they are only 180* design instead of a 360* design...

just thinking out loud...

oh, and..

have u pulled your oil pan yet? maybe your pump came loose and then the oil pressure dropped and locked the motor...try that??

like i said...just thinking out loud here...

BazE30 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 15, 2009, 03:34:15 AM »

Might be your coil pack!!! These usually go and give the same effect or the actual distributor has finally broken.

Easy to replace and cheap too. check to see if your getting a spark to any of the plugs.

G-Man · « **Reply #6 on:** January 15, 2009, 12:33:01 PM »

Sounds like the same problem I had. My 91 318i would just die going down the road. When I tried to restart, it would crank, run for a second or two then die. I started swapping parts from my parts car, the problem turned out to be a bad ECU. When I swapped out the ECU, the difference was night and day. It runs awesome now

G-Man

SnPaC · « **Reply #7 on:** January 23, 2009, 02:32:48 PM »

Here's an update on what i have been able to do so far....
-pulled the plugs- all dry and look good.
-battery charged. when i try to crank, i hear a "thunk", like the starter is trying, but is meeting resistance.
-same thing happens with the plugs pulled
-put a wrench on the crank pulley and tried to move crankshaft (with the plugs out). At first could not get any movement...strange. then with a little more pressure. I did get it to move ~ 5-10 degrees in both the clockwise and counter-clockwise direction.

Shouldn't I be able rotate the engine completely around? I have not pulled belts yet, but i can see all the accessories (alternator, p/s pump & A/C comp) turning, but i guess it is possible that one of them may be partially siezed...

Any thoughts? Thanks.

ten2doyle102 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 23, 2009, 02:54:22 PM »

Obviously assuming that you are not in gear, yes, you should be able to spin the motor freely. Sounds like something busted to me.

KenC · « **Reply #9 on:** January 23, 2009, 02:55:07 PM »

You should definitely be able to crank the engine all the way around.

nicknikolovski · « **Reply #10 on:** January 23, 2009, 03:53:14 PM »

Timing chain ever been replaced?

Remove the valve cover and see if the camshafts turn. I had a friends car where the bottom end seized up. If both cams and crank don't turn - you might have a broken chain, or bent valves, or many other things.

SnPaC · « **Reply #11 on:** January 24, 2009, 06:24:26 AM »

I agree that it does not look good, but I still have this nagging feeling that I might be overlooking something. When I move the crank, I cannot hear any noise; squealing, scraping. Even when the car first died, there was no discernible noise�strange
I have to pull the belts to ensure that one of the accessories are not prohibiting movement. Although I�d imagine that it would just �slip� as I was turning the crank�
BTW, since I�ve got the car I�ve been running a high end synthetic oil (BMW LL04) and the PO told me the same. He also �claimed� to had reworked the entire top end including new timing chain, rollers, profile gasket etc. I even had the car on the lift before I purchased and talked with the mechanic about when he had done. The bottom end was never done. The mechanic told me that �it did not need�, but could not give me any details as to how he arrived at that conclusion�
How can I tell if the starter pinion is jammed in the flywheel ring gear? Could this keep the motor from spinning freely?
Thanks�

ten2doyle102 · « **Reply #12 on:** January 24, 2009, 01:26:24 PM »

I don't think that your timing chain would just randomly just breaking without out any warning. I was always under the opinion that they would make some sort of noise if it was really that bad.

Boosted E30 · « **Reply #13 on:** January 24, 2009, 04:38:50 PM »

pull your plugs and try to turn your engine by hand it should be pretty easy to turn make sure you do 2 full crankshaft revolutions. if you have to pull/push on the wrench or what ever pretty hard definatly somthing broke i would drain the oil into a pan and see if there is any metal debris in it.

if thats all ok check and see if you have constant power to the starter (the big wire) and see if you get power on the blk/yel wire when you hold the key in crank positon. if this is good and your battery is charged i would say your starter is the issue.

SnPaC · « **Reply #14 on:** January 25, 2009, 02:47:18 PM »

Thanks for all of your feedback to date...it is appreciated

Pulled the valve cover. The timing chain broke and one of the cam sprockets has a broken tooth. Not sure of the condition of the head until I pull it.

The question now is what to do. The previous owner supposedly had a lot or work done to the top end, including the timing chain. I never expected that I would have a problem with the timing chain because of this�.

What is the likelihood that the valves are not bent? I anticipate none? So I guess I�ll pull the head and oil pan and assess the damage. I might have a line on a used engine with a good head (it had a knocking bottom end but ran ok before it was pulled ). The downside is the the whole engine has been outside with the valve cover off, so I�m not sure of the head�s condition.

The other option is to pull my head and have it rebuilt, but I have no idea what that might cost. The other is to part the car, but that is the least attractive option. I would really like to get this back on the road�.

Author Topic: engine suddenly dies-no warning HELP! (Read 4447 times)

SnPaC

engine suddenly dies-no warning HELP!

doitover

engine suddenly dies-no warning HELP!

RED IS 91

engine suddenly dies-no warning HELP!

SnPaC

engine suddenly dies-no warning HELP!

xwill112x

engine suddenly dies-no warning HELP!

BazE30

engine suddenly dies-no warning HELP!

G-Man

engine suddenly dies-no warning HELP!

SnPaC

Update

ten2doyle102

engine suddenly dies-no warning HELP!

KenC

engine suddenly dies-no warning HELP!

nicknikolovski

engine suddenly dies-no warning HELP!

SnPaC

engine suddenly dies-no warning HELP!

ten2doyle102

engine suddenly dies-no warning HELP!

Boosted E30

engine suddenly dies-no warning HELP!

SnPaC

Update 2