Motor died while driving....

[dan86e30]

so yesterday morning when my dad was driving my car he was at a stop and it shut off, and wouldnt start again.... so i went to get him in his truck and when i got there the car started, so i drove it back home... well on the way home i was at a steady 2000rpm(driving not idle) and the car loses all power so i make a turn and i stop and by then the engine is sputtering then dies. maybe 30 mins later i get it started again and it sounds like a damn 4 cyl puffing black smoke.... ive searched and looked at the car and nothing... any one know wats wrong... im desperate now..

[Bimmerboy91]

i say its the head gasket. does it overheat?

[92 mtechnic cabrio]

it could be a billion different things, based on your vague description. Good effort though.

First thing I would do is check the AFM connecting plug (unplug, inspect contacts, clean contacts if necessary, plug back in) and then see if the car runs right.

If that doesn't do anything, it still might be the AFM, but don't follow these directions unless you are confident you can. Either take off the airbox and manually push the flap on the AFM and open the throttle on the throttle body at the same time and see if the car runs good then. If it runs, then your AFM's flap door is sticky. An alternative would be to pry off the plastic cover on the AFM and spin the door from the top, but prying off the plastic cover leaves tampering evidence. Of course, another alternative would be to just swap in a known working AFM.

While on the subject of this, it sounds like you were flooring it to keep the car moving and from dying. And if it was puffing black smoke and sounds like a damn 4 cylinder, then you were probably detonating all over the place, running super lean. This will lead to blowing the head gasket.

As asked in the previous post, does it overheat? Did you recently put gas in the car? Maybe it's a bad batch, but that's unlikely.

Based on your vague description, it could also be a few other things, off the top of my head:
- Bad fuel filter
- clog somewhere in intake
- could be DME
- you could've run out of gas?

just a few ideas

[sticksdaman]

check your vacuum lines
does it idle erratic?

[MR 325]

i say its the head gasket

No, it doesn't.