My E30 is not my daily, so at best I drive it once a week. Since it sits so much I have had to jump it from time to time (after times it has sit for a couple weeks or more).
Recently I have noticed that the idle is a bit low and that it hasn't been too consistent. Probably idling up and down from 350-500. I was going to tackle that with the basic low idle things until I had the idle drop down when parallel parking and die on me. When I turned the key to restart...nothing. I assumed it was battery related because the was no power at all (I didn't have to jump the car to start it that time). I got out of the car, jiggled the battery a bit, got back in, and started the car.
Similar situation happened today after work. Started the car this morning no problem. Low/jumpy idle, as it has been. After parking the car at work all day I went to start it to go home and there wasn't enough battery juice, at first, to start the car. Got out, jiggled the battery, etc, etc it started.
I guess this boils down to...is this an alternator problem causing this low idle and the battery to die like this, or is the battery bad? Generally I would guess battery first because of the starting issues, but the idle makes me think the alternator isn't giving it enough juice.
Recently I have noticed that the idle is a bit low and that it hasn't been too consistent. Probably idling up and down from 350-500. I was going to tackle that with the basic low idle things until I had the idle drop down when parallel parking and die on me. When I turned the key to restart...nothing. I assumed it was battery related because the was no power at all (I didn't have to jump the car to start it that time). I got out of the car, jiggled the battery a bit, got back in, and started the car.
Similar situation happened today after work. Started the car this morning no problem. Low/jumpy idle, as it has been. After parking the car at work all day I went to start it to go home and there wasn't enough battery juice, at first, to start the car. Got out, jiggled the battery, etc, etc it started.
I guess this boils down to...is this an alternator problem causing this low idle and the battery to die like this, or is the battery bad? Generally I would guess battery first because of the starting issues, but the idle makes me think the alternator isn't giving it enough juice.
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