On my way to work Car just died

[E30Ison]

Ok im new here but on my way to work this morning I was coming up on a red light and wasnt paying attention so i had to stop real fast, and my car stalled out. so i thought well its low on gas maybe it all just went to the front of the tank. so i try to start the car and nothing i cranked and cranked for a couple and nothing. so i push it to the side of the road and test for spark.


I am only getting spark to plug wire 2 and i changed the cap and rotor after i got off work. anyone know or ever had this happen to them ?

Help me out im new to the BMW world.

[fiftytakedowns]

usually it is the alternator when something like that happens.

[619E30]

Alternator, possibly wires??

[E30Ison]

alternator is new.... and wires are good theyre new too could it be the distributor?

[E30Nova]

Wire on the alternator or starter melted and burned through?

Happened on the Nova when I swapped engines. The feed wire on the starter was melted by the headers and it just died.

Matt

[b*saint]

E30 reliability.

[bostonbmw]

Ok im new here but on my way to work this morning I was coming up on a red light and wasnt paying attention so i had to stop real fast, and my car stalled out. so i thought well its low on gas maybe it all just went to the front of the tank. so i try to start the car and nothing i cranked and cranked for a couple and nothing. so i push it to the side of the road and test for spark.


I am only getting spark to plug wire 2 and i changed the cap and rotor after i got off work. anyone know or ever had this happen to them ?

Help me out im new to the BMW world.

Is it a 4cycl or a 6?

[E30Ison]

Is it a 4cycl or a 6?

Its is a 6 cylinder and i jus found out the timing chain broke.

[bostonbmw]

if its a 6 then its a belt not a chain

[StereoInstaller1]

Its is a 6 cylinder and i jus found out the timing chain broke.

bummer.

Poor maintenance kills another one!

I am about 10,000 miles overdue, so the car sits until it gets the love it needs.

[E30Ison]

Do these things have 0 tolerance or are the internals ok ? cause i was at Idle when i happened so about 700 rpm.

Yea i did some research and found out not a timing chain and is a belt earlier this morning. but thanks

Yea i have had the car a month and in the middle of moving so this came at a bad time. i changed the cap and rotor and it was all original hardware so it was bad bad baaaad. im confused on some situations tho..... I was told it could be a voltage regulator but when I crank it the rotor doesnt move and neither do my internals I removed the oil cap and had my buddy crank it so that means Timing Belt Right ?

[StereoInstaller1]

Nope, zero tolerance, sorry.

Would you believe there is a set of pistons with 11 to 1 that make this a non-interference motor? How weird is that? And yeah, they are expensive: Metric Mechanic sells them

I would be having a chat with that seller if what you say is true... especially if the belt is obviously old and rotted.

[Philo]

Would you believe there is a set of pistons with 11 to 1 that make this a non-interference motor? How weird is that? And yeah, they are expensive: Metric Mechanic sells them

:) I'm just waiting for the day when I get to test the pistons out. I drive down the road without a care in my mind. Best money ever spent on an E30 if you ask me.

Oh, and next time i'm down there, I'm going to take pictures for R3v. Last month when I was there tuning my M20, Paladin Reed and I witnessed a brand new S14 and an S52 with enough N/A power to kill unborn babies.