Need advice on what to do with my car.

[Wschnitz]

Don't take it to a mechanic, most dont know shit, and those that do charge another cars worth...

[idanity]

please be more specific, and ask the local mechanic 'specifically' what they did.

was it just codes ?
if so, what code ?...
what is your car (year, model, )
1st thing...DO A STOMP TEST....shitty stomp test video i just made for you here your car may tell you wtf is wrong with it.


i do know that the CTS is a primary suspect that can prevent the car from starting, and especially screw drive ability. and a new one is about 30 bucks...
also, crank sensors,

some models, the crank sensors are easy to replace, right by the radiator, others are in the belle-housing, not as easy, but sure as shit doable...

otherwise, methodically check your wires, from the cap/ rotor, down to the c191 plug...which has a tendancy to rot away at the bottom part...i bypassed my c191 plug years ago, spent a few hours bent over the fender clipping out the green rotted wires and replaced with silver connections, numbered heat shrinks, and havent had any issues since.

point here is:
get some gloves,
get under the hood
unplug every plug and look for corrosion with a flashlight, and clean it, possibly add petroleum jelly to keep moisture out....works with light bulbs too...undo your tail lights, rub some p.j. on the base, and feel the smooth, and forget any more corrosion too.


could also be the AFM...that would be really easy to swap out with a good one, say from a friend or another e30 with a known good AFM...just to test it.




its also possible to be an AFM, or o2 (unlikely, thats why its down here)..but possible.
disconnect the o2 sensor.
disconnect the AFM
try to start the car (assuming your battery/ grounds are good)

the car should run in a default way, it will be rough, but it should still run... (if its the o2, or AFM)
hope that helps.
and
pix of car...
dont give up...
stop taking it to mechanics....you can do this.

[5Toes]

If it is injector wiring.. do this



Works for me, I made them super long so that I can remove the injector harness rail out of the way

[tjvan]

All right so here's my dilemma, I have had a 1990 325i for a little over a year now I believe and in that span of time the car has been pretty reliable. However, recently I have been having quite a few issues with it.

A few weeks ago the car had been having some problems with the engine stuttering as I was driving it, almost to where the engine would die while I was driving. Then one day it did die altogether and I wasn't able to get the car to start again. The starter would crank and everything but the car wouldn't start up. So I had it towed to a local import mechanic and had them take a look at it.

He told me that the wiring seemed to be pretty messed up on the car, loose/corroded wires or something along those lines. He then told me that the car was throwing all sorts of codes and that the fuel injectors were not getting power. However, he was able to get the car to start after they cleared out the codes. He told me that the fix was temporary at best and that in order for them to really get at the problem they would need to replace all the wiring in the car which he was not willing to do, and said it would probably be too expensive anyways to be cost effective.

So I drove it for another couple of weeks before the same thing happened again and, again, I had it towed to the shop in hopes that they would be able to temporarily fix it again and buy myself some more time to figure out a more permanent solution. I called the shop today though and they told me that the trick they used last time didn't work and I would need to figure something else out. He mentioned that I might call a couple other local mechanics to see if they had a breaker box that might be able to help track down the root of the problem.

Now I'm wondering if I should have it towed to another shop in hopes that they might be able to figure out the problem, list it for sale on here or craigslist, or just have the car scrapped. I really enjoy this car and would definitely like to keep it, but, I don't have a lot of money to spend on repairing the car (especially when I'm not sure exactly what all is wrong with the car) and my job depends almost entirely on me having a working dependable car. So I need to try and figure out something pretty soon obviously.

Sorry for such a long post, just wanted to thoroughly explain my situation. Any words of wisdom from you guys would be greatly appreciated.