car wont start

[ploobIX88]

I was driving down a dirt road the other day and I hit a pretty big pothole that I didn't see in front of me. Afterr I hit it my car just died on me and now it won't start up. I haven't really had a chance to look at it yet but I'm thinking its not getting spark. So maybe the crank position sensor or something tied into that? Has this ever happened to anybody or could anybody givve me some advice as to what I should check for. Any help would be appreciated. Its an 88 325ix by the way if that makes any difference.

Thanks,

Brandon

[ben312]

make sure you have good connections everywhere, pretty easy to pop a wire out of place. if you have a multimeter check the igition coil. if you have 12v there but no spark its most likely a bad connection

[Philo]

Tons of things could have happened. You need to do some looking around and post some more info.

Do lights come on? Does the car turn over? It could be something as simple as the ground or positive terminal popping off the battery.

[ploobIX88]

The lights come on and the car does turn over... all the accessories in the car still work like the radio and the windows... the car just won't actually start.

[Philo]

A quick test for fuel will help. Pull the line at the rail; turn over car; see if gas comes out. That is where I would start. It is simple, takes literally a minute, and covers half of the no start issue.

[ben312]

Check for fuel and spark. Knowing what your missing cuts what to look for in half.

[Philo]

Do I hear an echo?

[Yogawrench]

Check the negative ground connection to the oil pan. You could have popped that loose when you hit the pothole. The car perhaps has enough other grounded points to run lights/accessories but I'm not sure the car will start w/o the ground to the oil pan.

[ploobIX88]

Checked for fuel last night. Pulled the line to the fuel rail and no fuel came out. If it was a bad ground to the oil pan would that cause the whole issue?

[Philo]

No don't listen to that.

Now there is a wide range of things to test and check. Make sure your fuses are all good and plugged in (this is a given). Then using a fused jumper wire test the fuel pump at the relay to make sure the pump works. If it runs, then you move on to testing the crank positioning sensor with a multi-meter. If that is also good, then there are 2 possibilities: DME or a bad relay. Both of these problems are diagnosed by switching each item out, one at a time, with a known good part.

[Adrian_Visser]

tried wiggling the relay connections? the main relay is tied into the fuel pump relay it suppllies power to it also supplies power to the ign. coil. wiggle both of em could just be loose there from the bump.

[ploobIX88]

alright i will be checking all that tomorrow and i will let you guys know what i find out... i was thinking that it could be the inertia switch or fuel cut off switch. but im not even sure that my car has one. does anybody know if my car would have that and if it did would that explain any of my problems?

[Adrian_Visser]

wtf are those no and no an e30 has neither, the bump you hit knocked something electrical loose

[Philo]

/\ This guy is god.

Anyhow, a similar "cut off" switch that the E30 has is the CPS. It is designed to turn on the fuel pump when the engine is cranking. Therefore, If you get in a wreck and the engine stops running, the CPS turns off the fuel pump.

[ploobIX88]

would this CPS be something i should look into, i mean would that be something that could cause this sort of problem. and if so where would that be located?