Car stops w/o reason in the middle of the road

[BavarianBimmer]

I was driving with my E34 520i M20 (i know it's not an E30)
and suddenly the engine runs really rough and stops
in the middle of nowhere, all my fuses are ok so I'd start to check my fuel pump wich runs as I start
replace my DME ( got a spare one in the trunk) wich doesn't help
I took off an sparkplug and took an spare sparkplug wich ignites as I crank the engine
and last but not least my fuelrail has acces to the fuel

what could be the problem ?????
need help ASAP

TIA Axel Cohen

[Kavkazia]

Loose connection on the fuel pump?

Does the car suddenly dies out with out lights staying on?

If yes, then you have eletrical problem!

[BavarianBimmer]

Fuel pump is buzzing when I crank the engine

It dies like....... just the same effect if I was running out of fuel
and al the lights were still on :roll:

If it's an electrical problem what could be the culprit?

[Kavkazia]

If it was eletrical problem, car would die out, and no lights would stay on, like I I took key out of the ingnition, and after little bit it would start back up, which I found problem with the loose connection from battery line to the computer harness in corner of engine compartment.

[E30godz]

timing belt?

[nando]

crank posistion sensor? once mine was rubbing on the fan pulley, it rubbed through the insulation and shorted out. the car lost 90% of it's power, and eventually I had to stop. I taped it up and routed it around the pulley, no problems since. it's a PITA to get to though, but you can test it to see if it's any good instead of just replacing random parts.

[AndrewBird]

Clogged fuel filter maybe?

Andrew

[BavarianBimmer]

Timing belt is ok
Fuel sprits out on the FPR as I crank

Can anybody give me an shedule of the relaybox?

I think my injectors don't have power :?


and this morning I try to start the car and it start and runs a few seconds and dies again
:evil:

[BavarianBimmer]

I was changing the sparks and I discovered on cyl. 1 a broken spark :shock:

so I think the M20 is dead now :(

[iXer]

I wouldn't say that you have a "dead" engine just yet. When/if a spark plug breaks the small part of metal can easily just "disappear" during normal combustion, I've seen it happen. If you're unlucky it has been trapped between a valve and the head instead of being spit out the exhaust port, you now have a bad valve seal and you will surely loose power. It won't make the engine go completely dead, as you have 5 other working cylinders. There must be something else wrong and I would suspect something in the fuel system.

Do a compression check on all cylinders, remember to keep full throttle and leave the spark plug hole free in the cylinders you're not testing. If all cylinders show about the same pressure, put in new Bosch Super spark plugs after you're done and a valve adjustment is a good idea (it may need service anyway). In case you have a pressure loss on the cylinder the spark plug broke in, remove the head and view the gore in all it's detail.

/Mattias

[BavarianBimmer]

but the problem is it isn't a small part, the spark looks like if it was smashed with a big hammer on the bottom end, I think the impact on the spark was huge

[iXer]

Remove the head, you can't tell what really happened unless you do it.
Sounds like you're in for a big one.

/Mattias

[Kavkazia]

Either you jumped teeth on timing, or broke it, because it can still drive on 5 cylinders, and if you did break timing, you should be searching for a new head, or complete rebuild kit, if it didn't put much damage to the pistons, sorry to tell you this but again, check your timing belt, like E30Godz asked.

[BavarianBimmer]

I'm gonna def. check mi TB first tomorrow,

i'ts a strange case if the belt jumped some teeth. :?