I hate to do this, but..

[admhndry]

my e30 isn't starting and I'm not sure what the issue is, and I'd really appreciate it if any of you guys could point me in the right direction!

Note: I don't really know engines or cars that well, so a simple instruction or something would really go miles.

So I was driving my car to work today, everything seemed completely fine, when I noticed the under wheel kick panel was falling down a little bit (mine's slightly broken, so I pushed it back up, and all of a sudden (I really don't know if it's related), my engine just gradually loses revs, I shift down, I put my foot on the accelerator, nothing happens, and eventually it stalls as I pull over to the side of the road. I try to start it, and it stutters into life for about a second and then it dies again. I had someone drive me to work, and then when I got back to it tonight, the starter cranks, but that's it. doesn't even try to sputter into life even for a second.

-the throttle seems fine, when I push my foot down it responds in the engine bay
-my kick panel rested on top of the spring that keeps the tension in the accelerator. I took it out and I'm not noticing anything different to what it usually looks like.
-I really don't know what to try, as I said I'm dumb

I really don't want to sound like an idiot, but I love this car despite not knowing anything about it. If any of you could point me in the right direction, that'd be awesome.

-Adam

[shiboujin]

pull kick panel and look at the wiring. something is probably unplugged or cut

[admhndry]

pull kick panel and look at the wiring. something is probably unplugged or cut

Okay, well when I visit the car tomorrow morning I'll have a look to see if there's anything glaringly obvious, but I took it off already and didn't really see much, but I'll look more carefully at the wires. Or stuff.

Thanks for the reply!

[shiboujin]

no problem. More than likely some relay is partially unplugged. That or some wiring to the ignition switch or fuel pump has been severed.

Do obvious checks as well like making sure all your fuses are good.

[jlevie]

There are things in that area that can kill the engine, but they will kill it as you had switched off the ignition. From the description I'm more inclined to suspect a dying or dead fuel pump. And that is what I'd check for first. Measuring rail pressure while cranking will quickly tell if that is the problem.

[admhndry]

There are things in that area that can kill the engine, but they will kill it as you had switched off the ignition. From the description I'm more inclined to suspect a dying or dead fuel pump. And that is what I'd check for first. Measuring rail pressure while cranking will quickly tell if that is the problem.

Wait, so just to clarify, they would only kill it if the ignition was off at the time, or on? Because it definitely initially died when the car was running.
- also, anything in particular to look for under there? because there's a lot of wires, and they all seems to plug in to different places and run in different directions. hmm.

Also a silly question, how and where would I measure the rail pressure? I know you have to remove the back seat of the car to get to the fuel system and pump. Would I have to do that?

[AndrewBird]

I think he meant if something came unplugged, it would be like you turned the key off, not just that the car stalled.

The "rail" is the fuel rail that the injectors are plugged into. To check pressure, you need a fuel pressure gauge and would hook it to the fuel line running to the injector rail. Pull it off, hook up the gauge and crank the engine so the fuel pump turns on. Be cautious when pulling the fuel line off as it will be filled with pressured fuel.