ajsmith

Okay, Have just spoken with 2 diff bmw specialists. Both are of the opionion that when the belt snaps, it will, 90% of the time screw the valves, the camshaft and dependant on how many revs when it snapped possibly the pistons aswell. Have priced a replacement engine, 318i, done 87k with a 6 month warranty (throwing in a "free" alternator aswell) for $1250 cash (huge hookup). Before I go any further I was hoping someone out there may of had some experience with a snapped belt or similar. Does the belt snapping automatically mean valves etc are over or is there a chance they could be sweet? Cheers guys ... there goes my annual bonus!

I was just told this morning by a mechanic friend who is going to be doing the belt as a perky for me that mine has a belt rather than a chain. I'm not to sure how things work with what year and series or what ever but hes 100% sure its a belt. still havnt done a compression test yet so not sure if valves are bent. time to start praying. only 5 days until the weekend! have a good monday all!

Okay. Thanks for all the feed back guys. I believe that the timing belt has snapped. Have removed dizzy cap and have cranked it and the rotor is not spinning. I didnt hear any noises or anything when car first stop so im praying that I havn't bent anything. I was trying to do a compression test but my tester doesnt seem to want to fit all the way down the spark plug hole so that will have to wait until later in the week. Fingers crossed. Thanks for everyones help on this one, has been a stressful weekend but atleast now I know what is wrong (I hope). Have a good week everyone.

sorry unsure on m40 etc ... its 1992 318i auto, jap import. Okay will need to check timing belt in the morning. Thanks

...okay. have spent the morning checking everything I know how to check and ... I have no spark!!! ripped a spark plug out and used a screwdrive to test and I didnt get electricuted and there was no spark. have removed the dizzy cap and the connections had a little residue on them but actually looks in pretty good condition. decided to clean up with some emery paper anyway but still not joy. next step im going to try is leaving the cap off and see if its rotating at all. anyone have any other ideas as to what could prevent spark??? thanks so much for all your help thus far guys. im gona spend the weekend trying to avoid taking it to a shop so any other thoughts are greatly received. have a good saturday night all.

Yea I realise it could be spark plugs and fuel issues and a hole heap of other things to. Its got 1/2 a tank of gas. Yes it does turn over just wont fire. The only reason why im suspecting the alternator is that its had been playing up for a while and the battery light came on just before it craped out. To be honuest my knowledge of cars is somewhat limitied. Ive replaced alternator and starter motors etc before so i can do work, just dont know enough about how the entire systems works to diagnose these sorts of problems. hmmmm thanks for you help dude, any other thoughts, greatly apprecaited.

...does anyone have a link to a write up on servicing the alternator? I'm waiting to try and scrub it up a bit and chuck it back it to see if it work just so i know it is deff alternator before I go buying a new one or taking the alternator somewhere for a proper service.

thanks dude. I will have to get my dad to check the groundings as Im not to flash on the electrical side of things.

cheers dude, battery connections were the first thing I checked after punching the stearing wheel a couple of times.

Hey guys, I was travelling home from work last night when my 92 E36 auto decided to turn off. I was coming off the motorway pulling up to Paremata roundabout (just north of wellington) at 6pm during peak hour traffic. After pullling onto the roundabout I noticed that the car was actually rolling, not driving. For those of you who know Paremata round about...pretty scary stuff at that time of night. I managed to roll onto the roundabout shoulder and parked up wait for the old man to turn up with the tow rope. So ... the car will not turn on at all. It does kind of turn over but there is no way at all it is starting. I have tried jump starting which made no difference. Just as the car started to die I noticed that the battery light came on. As my alternator has been a bit dodge for a while now at this stage I'm thinking this may be the problem. In my expereince with basic jap cars, even if your alternator is shagged you should still be able to jump start the car. But ... Im thinking that it may not be able to start even when trying to jumper it as theres still not enough juice to fire the computer perhaps???? Anyway I took the alternator out last night and am going to open it up and see what the story is over the weekend. Depending on what it looks like I may take it somewhere for a recon or may just replace it. So what do we all think? Would you tend to agree that the alternator would be a good place to start or am I way off the mark? Appreicate all the feed back I can get, even if its just telling me im a novice and I've got it wrong. thanks guy

Done thanks guys

Sweet thanks for the feedback guys. I know its cheap and tacky but it solves the problem. Will try and rip it out tonight. Thanks

Cool thanks. Any idea how to disconnect it then???

Hey everyone. Please help me (again) ... I have '92 318i auto. When in reverse, like most autos, my car will make that beep beep beep noise. After installing a new headunit and front speakers (removed cover under steering wheel to run wires through to headunit aswell) the beep beep beep noise randomly decides to come on. It tends to come on when I apply the break (only sometimes) and when I flick my indicator on (everytime). I'm assuming its just a wire somewhere thats been moved. 1) Does this beep beep beep noise need to work in order for me to get a wof? 2) If its not required for a WOF ... is there a simple way of ripping something out so it doesnt work at all? Thoughts are, as always very much appreciated. Thanks (edit due to typo)

Thanks spider. Im going to do an alternator swap and see how things go. Will let ya'll know. Cheers Brent, I may be in touch.

Hey everyone. Just wandering if any one else has had a similar problem and what the soultion was... Quite often, and for no apparent reason my trans will drop into "failsafe mode". The trans seems to hold itself in forth gear and nothing I do will make it change. There is also a little warning light that comes up on the instument cluster which looks like an "!" with a ring around it. I usually try not to drive to far when this happens but I have found that turning the car off for 10 seconds and allowing the computer to reset normally fixes it (temporarily). I have tried to work out what this may be but its seems to happen so often that there seems to be no single issue making it happen. The only thing that I can think of is that my alternator is on its way out (lights keep surging with stero and a/c on) and was thinking that a low power supply to the trans may be making it freak out and dropping into fail safe mode. Im a bit of a car novice so please excuse any errors ive made in my analysis. All thoughts and comments would be apprecaited, I'd rather not take it to an auto electrician if its just the alternator that I can do myself. Cheers