Car Shuts Down fast and wont start!

[MISS BM 712]

Some people arent born with bmw knowledge. And im sure you can have great mechanical and electrical knowledge and not already know the ins and outs of bmws. I sure didnt when i started.

As you say he is asking questions and isnt that how we all learn.

He might not have known how bmw code systems and cam sensors work at the start of this thread but im sure he will know by the end.

Amberleigh is the same. Read her threads and the knowledge grows with every page. And now she is sharing what she has learnt.

Snarky comments dont help people especially when they then feel.unwelcome to come on here next time, imo.

And aside from not towing the car a couple of hundred kms to auckland to pay someone big money to fix it id say he has done everything pretty well with whats available.

I have learnt an abundance of knowledge about not just my car, but many others, (majority has been from working with Ray on my car to be fair) but also a nice portion from reading the many challenges we all face with our much loved Bmw's.

I came in with the idea I 'thought' I knew a lot, when In fact, I knew nothing! And come on, what German car is ever easy to figure out when you aren't a professional spending hours each day tinkering and tweaking!

No harm in asking too many questions, I know I would rather be safe than sorry, but Hotwire also didn't mean in it an offensive manner, we are here for the sharing and broad spectrum knowledge each of us can bring, so don't hammer a member to hard for wanting to learn more, or to those who meant it in a pleasant way either

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[hotwire 352]

Not meaning to be snarky at all. As I said - I am happy to help people. I don't profess to know it all either. I am still learning every day, as I bet Glenn is too.

My comments are in response to seeing his current knowledge & the pitfalls that can lie ahead for him - & replacing parts for the hell of it.

The fact that several questions are so off base confirms this & makes me somewhat judgemental.

It could be quite quickly & economically diagnosed/ sorted by someone with the tools & know how.

I see that Amber-Leigh gained knowledge from Ray @ HellBM while working on her car - slightly different learning situation to trying to fix it blind on the front lawn. Good on her

Yes BMW's can have specific faults, but engine systems are generic across all marques.

As for recovering to Auckland - as I understand, there is a good non dealer BMW tech in Whangarei, along with I expect - several Auto Sparkies.

If there was one specific answer that I knew to be able to fix this car - I would be happy to offer advice. In this case though, there are many possibilities/variables that need to be eliminated.

[MoJoJoe 46]

Not meaning to be snarky at all. As I said - I am happy to help people. I don't profess to know it all either. I am still learning every day, as I bet Glenn is too.

My comments are in response to seeing his current knowledge & the pitfalls that can lie ahead for him - & replacing parts for the hell of it.

The fact that several questions are so off base confirms this & makes me somewhat judgemental.

It could be quite quickly & economically diagnosed/ sorted by someone with the tools & know how.

I see that Amber-Leigh gained knowledge from Ray @ HellBM while working on her car - slightly different learning situation to trying to fix it blind on the front lawn. Good on her

Yes BMW's can have specific faults, but engine systems are generic across all marques.

As for recovering to Auckland - as I understand, there is a good non dealer BMW tech in Whangarei, along with I expect - several Auto Sparkies.

If there was one specific answer that I knew to be able to fix this car - I would be happy to offer advice. In this case though, there are many possibilities/variables that need to be eliminated.

F##k, the popcorn was certainly needed here.

Not meaning to be nasty, infact far from it, but you completely contradict yourself during this thread.

You respond to me saying you have a mechanical/electrical knowledge, (reading through the thread I say - yea right!) then in the next breath asking every conceivable question of issues, test procedures, readings etc. Also most of these completely off topic to the fault you have

You have one driving issue but intend replacing multiple components as a precaution - this is hardly an economical approach! And, not what any decent mechanic/auto sparky will do...

Reading through is thread, the questions you ask, tell me you have a very limited understanding of the mechanics & engine management system.

Mechanics/Sparkys with correct equipment can easily diagnose these systems/faults - much simpler cheaper than your "replace everything" approach.

I am always happy to help/advise on here where I can, but I draw the line at trying to help someone with no knowledge/understanding or equipment to diagnose - that is why people bring cars to our work...

Footnote: A scanner is only good for someone with a brain - knowledge/understanding of what they are checking - I have seen so many times where MAF, CAS, O2 ABS etc sensors have been replaced after throwing codes, only for the person to find a new unit has done the same - reacting to another fault causing the sensor outside its parameters. Then car bought to us to fix the actual problem

It may well be a CAS fault, but then again...

I am just replacing 2 Components.

1 is the crank shaft sensor, which is Dead. And 2. the Cam Sensor which is stamped 1995. SO I figured why not replace that as well? I want to use brand new parts so that's running me $300 from Milland. That's it. Rest is some oil leaks I have I want to fix.

No offence but I fail to see how can I make things MORE economical? Or how's that replacing every part just for the hell of it? Unless you want me to buy second hand old worn out 15 - 20 year old sensors that may likely have higher chances of failure and get me stuck in the middle of a highway (like that day) and me having to call a tow truck for a $200 ~ $300 to tow me home + then having to repalce them again with new ones?? Sounds better if I get new ones to begin with. Can you imagine my car shutting down as I make a tight corner, I could create a situation that could kill me and others all because some $150 sensor decided "wont work right now".... So if I dont really have any unexpected crashes with my 328i, hopefully these sensors should last many years and the car would make a happy new owner of whomever I sell it to when I am gone.

The garage I know in town asked $80/hr + some $100 diagnostics fees or something. Cant remember but there I have around $200 out of pocket and would had probably ended up with the mac/sparkey finding the the same bad sensors that I would had to replace on top. I just went reading some guides and how the sensors work together then I went to pulling them out to eliminate the possible parts and testing them out with the dinosaur (but accurate) way. Besides this way I learn something too, at the expense of my time yes. But depends the way you see it really. I dont mind as I don't have a job right now, get bored & I'm out of Uni at the moment.

I am not bragging to be rich or anything by any means, maybe just a bit well off and different then most young guys my age but I am all up for economical solutions, trust me. But honestly if I wanted economical I would had bought a honda or a 316is. And If I wanted power I could had bought an nice e36 M3 for 15K (I can still afford one!). But I restrict myself to a budget and picked a above average 328i with a nice suspension, engine and m body enough to keep me happy (and pick up some kiwi girls walking home from school while I am in town )

Footnote: You do contradict yourself as well, intentionally(?) maybe I don't know. You come off saying "Not meaning to be nasty," then you go off insulting me saying "A scanner is only good for someone with a brain". Implying what you did. :|

I dont mean to be rude but honestly I came here to ask for help, if some body would help me and lead me to the right direction then that would be good for me, i cant really give them anything in return than a thank you note, if not then thank you anyway, perhaps somebody else will help me help myself. I asked you in the beginning and you responded by laughing and brushing me off; now that I nearly have my issue solved you come insult me. So I am damned if I do and damned if I dont. lol... I dont see how this helps me really, watching old men sitting on a fence laughing and talking about pop corn as I wonder abouts left and right for help infront of you. honestly no offence but you and your popcorn friend gave me the impression that you are the kind of guys who have some deep rooted vendetta on me for what I have said in the forum or to one of your friends at an earlier time, and you would rather watch me fail and screw over at what I do, I dont think you couldn't care less what I spent. Sorry if you really harbor different feelings towards me and wanted to help but thats just how i felt you came off to me initially.

Edited March 31, 2014 by MoJoJoe

[MoJoJoe 46]

Sorry for the delay guys, I had to be somewhere yesterday and spent most of the day on the road in a uncomfortable nightmare car(Subaru) or on foot walking around my father's friends work sector. On my way back home they closed the motorway to my place so had to drive around quite a bit. I fell really sick and caught a feaver when I reached home due to no food intake.

So anyway, the scanner tool from M3AN arrived yesterday, I managed to open it up and have a peek last night but went out this morning and tried it on my car. Really liked the scanner, strangely I didn't know something useful as this actually existed for customers unless you had some big garage. So anyway, it took me less than 10 mins to figure it out and get the codes and it was just as I suspected, (from what I could gather from reading earlier about this issue and then my millimeter tests). Its the The Crank and Cam Shaft Sensors, I wrote down the codes somewhere but lost the paper, but I pretty much remember them off the top of my head

1. Cam Position Sensor

2. Crank Shaft Senso

3. O2 Sensor

4. Cyl 1 - 3.

5. Fuel Pump Relay

Now I have a pretty sure feeling that the O2 sensor and issue in Cyl 1-3 is due to the Cam Position / Crank Shaft Sensors. And the fuel Pump Relay was an issue that the previous owner had addressed since I saw marked different coloured relays in place with sharpie marks. anyway so now the repair process begins, I will be keeping this scanner for a few weeks so when its all done I will drive the car around and then scan it again before I return it back.

Edited April 2, 2014 by MoJoJoe

[MISS BM 712]

Sorry for the delay guys, I had to be somewhere yesterday and spent most of the day on the road in a uncomfortable nightmare car(Subaru) or on foot walking around my father's friends work sector. On my way back home they closed the motorway to my place so had to drive around quite a bit. I fell really sick and caught a feaver when I reached home due to no foot intake.

So anyway, the scanner tool from M3AN arrived yesterday, I managed to open it up and have a peek last night but went out this morning and tried it on my car. Really liked the scanner, strangely I didn't know something useful as this actually existed for customers unless you had some big garage. So anyway, it took me less than 10 mins to figure it out and get the codes and it was just as I suspected, (from what I could gather from reading earlier about this issue and then my millimeter tests). Its the The Crank and Cam Shaft Sensors, I wrote down the codes somewhere but lost the paper, but I pretty much remember them off the top of my head

1. Cam Position Sensor

2. Crank Shaft Senso

3. O2 Sensor

4. Cyl 1 - 3.

5. Fuel Pump Relay

Now I have a pretty sure feeling that the O2 sensor and issue in Cyl 1-3 is due to the Cam Position / Crank Shaft Sensors. And the fuel Pump Relay was an issue that the previous owner had addressed since I saw marked different coloured relays in place with sharpie marks. anyway so now the repair process begins, I will be keeping this scanner for a few weeks so when its all done I will drive the car around and then scan it again before I return it back.

Wicked

Right you are - they all generally connect in with each other someway or another, reason I input this piece of information because it reads exactly as my car did!

However, once replacing Cam and Fuel, all was sorted

[Phil-540i 166]

Somewhere Grasshopper, I'm recalling a 503 page thread on 'cheap' 328's..................

[MoJoJoe 46]

but its a really decent car overall and $8000 ain't exactly cheap to some young 20 year old, old man I ordered the parts yesterday. expecting them to arrive today or monday. was waiting to update the thread once parts got here but there you go, some updates

edit: just got 1/2 my parts from milland, but the rest of my order is coming from germany. time to go to work

Edited April 4, 2014 by MoJoJoe

[MoJoJoe 46]

sensors and everything were in few days ago but I am still waiting for the rest of the parts to show up, hopefully by the end of this week if not next. then I will change the gaskets and everything and fire her up.

my fathers health has also put things a bit behind.

[MoJoJoe 46]

most of the work is almost done, I am waiting for the rain to end here in whangarei so that I can work out side again (garage is full car is parked in the lawn). The weather is such crap out here sometimes and going to the hospital many times a day is also an issue. sensors and things are in all connected. valve cover taken care of. just need to flush out the oil and prime/bleed the radiator coolant. Will see if I can get some more work done today.

will be returning M3AN's code reader shortly after.

Edited April 14, 2014 by MoJoJoe

[MoJoJoe 46]

Everything is done, now just waiting for the weather to get better and a small part to come after easter from Alex, then my m50 manifold conversion will be done, oil change will also be complete and will be sending the tool back to M3AN who has been more then generous and patient. (still sitting on top of my desk )