Urgent Help please!!!!

[ajsmith 0]

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

[WarNox 1]

as stupid as this sounds but make sure your negative lead on your battery is on tight, mine wasnt once and caused all sorts of sh*t. but yeah it could be your alternator.

good luck dude...

[ajsmith 0]

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

[Carl 3]

Check groundings and all plugs and connections if you can, could be a loose connection as you're just not getting any spark. If your battery light was coming on while the engine was running and revving then yes, your alternator sounds shagged, but that wouldn't prevent your jump starting.

E: Had the same thing happen to me with an old nissan years back just on the Wairoa side of the Wairoa hill in Hawkes Bay. Had the push the car 5ks to get to the town only to find out it was just a loose connection on a little ceramic thingy...garrr

Edited August 4, 2006 by Carl

[ajsmith 0]

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

[ajsmith 0]

...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.

[Carl 3]

Don't forget that it could be something else like a fueling issue (no fuel or flooded). Just work your way through, tighten connections, make sure all plugs are in, check the computer plug on the engnine is done up tight etc.

E: You've got fuel haven't you? And just to claify, your engine does turn over, it just doesn't fire right?

Edited August 4, 2006 by Carl

[ajsmith 0]

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.

Edited August 4, 2006 by blak_bmer

[hotwire 352]

Hi There, Does battery light (alternator) come on when you turn the key on? If not -alt is crook. As stated already -crook alt will not stop car being jump started. Also if light only came on as the engine stopped, then that is unlikely the problem -was the battery flat when you tried to restart?

Check fuel pump working -listen at the back while someone cranks the engine - should hear a faint hum from the tank. Alternatively disconnect the fuel line supply on the engine & momuntarily crank & check for fuel flow -be careful where you aim the fuel. If none then more technical diagnosis is required.

Cheers, Good luck.

[will 169]

Do you have an aftermarket alarm/immobiliser? If you have, use the override if it has one. Those bloody things are a major cause of things like this if cheap/fitted by an idiot..

The car will start even if the alternator is shagged as long as you put a fully charged battery in it. Were the headlights still coming on? If they were, there would likely have been enough volts left to run the car.

Fuel pump is another point to check, as is spark. Check that your crank position sensor hasn't fallen off or has a damaged cable. This will kill the spark.

Earthing etc..

good luck

Will

[ajsmith 0]

...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.

Edited August 5, 2006 by blak_bmer

[gmccormack 0]

Which engine? If it's an M40 or M43 and turning over easily but not firing, check that the timing belt hasn't broken

[ajsmith 0]

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

[jochen 4]

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

You should make an effort to find out exactly what your car has. It will help hugely when you ask for advice.

And it is easy to find out: post your chassis number (last 7 digits of your VIN) and we can tell you all the details about your car.

You chassis number will look something like this: BW12345

BW12345 happens to be a 5-series 528i E39 Limousine with an M52 enginer made for the USA in October 1996 with an Auto gearbox, Production Code DD63, and batch ID 47585

See?

chassis number tells a big story...

Jochen

[will 169]

This is the troubleshooting list out of the Bentley manual for the E36. Your problem, ie engine fails to start falls under column 'a', so check all bits that have an 'a' next to them.

Your motor should be the M42..? according to Bentley manual anyway..

Seeing you have no spark, first check for 12V at the coil with ignition on. Check HT lead from coil to dist cap for continuity. Check coil is not faulty. Check rotor is not going to ground, check rotor cap is not cracked and leaking to ground.

Check crank position sensor is functioning and in place.

Check your main relay for DME is working.

Your car should be able to send fault codes. If you have OBD 1 (which you should have), see the last 2 attachments, they will tell you how to use the feature and use the code displayed. Hope you can read them, is the best I can do for now..

have fun..

Will

[ajsmith 0]

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.

[isis 16]

M42 engines do not have a timing belt. they're timing chains

[gmccormack 0]

M42 engines do not have a timing belt. they're timing chains

M42, that would be an "iS"...........blak_bmer only has an "i"

[isis 16]

some of the early e36's had the M42 engines..not just the e30iS or e36 coupes..

[ajsmith 0]

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!

[ajsmith 0]

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!

[Guest Andrew]

It's NOISY when things break in the head. You would of known about it.

[ajsmith 0]

GUTTED!!!!!!

time to start crying.

First of all, a big thanks to everyone who offered there wisdom and there advice on this one. Was great to bounce ideas of everyone.

Now to the problem ...

Were still not 100% sure of whats happened but we believe it was possibly a tennsioner. The cambelt hasnt snapped but it has no teeth either. Something has locked up and the belt was still spinning. The valves are bent and were not sure if anything else is stuffed also.

The remedy, picking up another compelte 318i engine from the wreckers later today and will be doing a straight swap no saturday morning. Have a couple of euro mechs helping me (more like they're doing it and i'll make the coffee).

So there we have it, im budgeting on 2k all up but it may go a bit over as im wanting to get the cambelt and waterpump replaced also.

Something I did find out though, apprently the belts on the 318i (belt not chain) need to be replaced at 45k or every 4 years, which ever comes first!!! A big trick for new players as most would expect it to be closer to 100k or even 120k for an Audi.

So there we have it, just the way the cookie crumbles.

I'll let you all know how it goes after saturday. Fingers crossed everything runs smoothly, touch wood.

Thanks again for all you help.

Over and out until the next problem.

[isis 16]

100k or an audi? try 70+k..same goes for an Alfa..

i'd do the same with a beemer if i had a belt driven one...

hope ppl here take note and not go bling-ing out their rides and then worry about the wear n tear when its all nice n shinny..

good mates u got there to give u a hand!

[bravo 34]

Correct. A new e30 owner up here showed me his ride the day after he bought it. It was a tired old 323i that he paid $1200 for. I told him to do service, waterpump and cambelt ASAP as it hadn't appeared to have been looked after all that well.

Saw him driving it the following week complete with brand new big bore. He rang me the next day to ask me how much for a pod filter and king springs I had lying around. A week later the cambelt snapped and he's up for a new engine which, installed, will run him more than the car cost to buy. For the cost of his bigbore he could have done the cambelt etc instead.

Lesson to be learnt there.