318i died on the freeway

[jcboal]

so i picked up a '84 318i a few months ago to run around town in. i noticed driving a few weeks ago that i had no power going up several hills. (yes it is a m10 i know they dont have tons of power to begin with). well the car has been in the shop i redid the whole suspension. any way i was driving it home last night on the freeway and i was not going any where in 5th so i down shifted, and was still slowing down. i had probably 4k on the tach and was going no where. i pull over to the side of the road to see if my cat was glowing red, it wasn't. the car was idling there for a minute then died & would not restart.

any ideas?

i am thinking possibly plugged cat (no power at high rpms), but that is all i can think of.

[e30trooper]

so i picked up a '84 318i a few months ago to run around town in. i noticed driving a few weeks ago that i had no power going up several hills. (yes it is a m10 i know they dont have tons of power to begin with). well the car has been in the shop i redid the whole suspension. any way i was driving it home last night on the freeway and i was not going any where in 5th so i down shifted, and was still slowing down. i had probably 4k on the tach and was going no where. i pull over to the side of the road to see if my cat was glowing red, it wasn't. the car was idling there for a minute then died & would not restart.

any ideas?

i am thinking possibly plugged cat (no power at high rpms), but that is all i can think of.

check your fuel pump , then all hoses ,and your dizzy for timing

[jcboal]

i know my timing is okay. ( i bought the car for $400 because the kid had the distributor in wrong and couldn't get it to run.)

i will double check the fuel pump, good idea. He said he put a new one in, but who knows, haha.

is a '87 325 fuel pump the same by chance?

[e30trooper]

i know my timing is okay. ( i bought the car for $400 because the kid had the distributor in wrong and couldn't get it to run.)

i will double check the fuel pump, good idea. He said he put a new one in, but who knows, haha.

is a '87 325 fuel pump the same by chance?

i think so , i used to have a 84 318i. My car broke down a few times, I broke the rotor in the dizzy , check that cuz the battery can hit it.

[jcboal]

i think so , i used to have a 84 318i. My car broke down a few times, I broke the rotor in the dizzy , check that cuz the battery can hit it.

i will check that too. thanks for the help.

[jcboal]

Well i figured out the issue......I was out of gas!!! my fuel gauge doesnt work, but i knew i had gas in it. My dad told me some of his neighbors had thier gas tanks siphoned out of at night. so i am thinking, they hit my car too. it was sitting outside back by the shop, so it would of been an easy target.

i had considered that to be the problem before, but the way the car died it didnt seem like a plausable option.

i feel like an idoit, but at least it was an easy fix!!!

[wodcutr]

Get that fuel gauge fixed!

[Hobbes]

I thought e30's had a screen that made it impossible to siphon gas from the fill neck?

Anyway, don't feel bad. I died on I-85 the other day, got pissed, punched the dash and it cranked back up. Dead coil :-)

[HarryPotter]

This happened to me a while back too. Got really pissed, said some things I shouldn't have, and well it ran out of gas.

[jcboal]

I thought e30's had a screen that made it impossible to siphon gas from the fill neck?

Anyway, don't feel bad. I died on I-85 the other day, got pissed, punched the dash and it cranked back up. Dead coil :-)

haha, it may. i was just telling my self that someone siphoned my gas to make me feel better!!

the fuel gauge fix has moved up on the list of to do's for sure.