Need advice on what to do with my car.

[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.

[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

[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.

[Wschnitz]

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

[jlevie]

Given the symptoms and what the shop reported, my first suspicion would be C191. It can be replaced.

[shiboujin]

I doubt the shop knows what they are talking about. I doubt they knew how to "pull codes" from the E30. Clearing the codes is just unplugging the battery for a bit then reconnecting it.

If it truly is the wring, a new main engine harness should be all you need. As yours is a 90, I'm very doubtful of this.

The injectors not getting power is a sign that something primary isn't working. Generally this is the crank position sensor. You can search around for a method to test and verify it's working. It shouldn't be too hard to access and check.

[tjvan]

Alright so I just went over and talked to the mechanic again. He said that this time they actually didn't get any codes but he did tell me a few other things. He told me that they were getting a spark and that fuel was going to the injectors, but the injectors themselves are not getting any power and are not opening up to let fuel into the combustion chamber. He seemed pretty sure that it wasn't the cps because of those reasons (I honestly have no idea) and told me that the problem was either in the cars computer itself or in the wires leading off of it.

I also don't really have any experience in checking wires or anything of that sort so I'm not really in the best position to be doing this work myself.

[shiboujin]

That's a very defeatist attitude. They mentioned the injectors weren't getting power. that's tripped via a relay. I don't recall which right now but it might be the main relay on the front of the driver's side shock tower. One of the prongs on it internally or externally could be dying.

In which case, a $10 relay could be all you need if the shop was truthful. We can walk you through the diagnostics if you are willing and have a multimeter. Thankfully, the late model injector harness is modular and removable from the rest of the engine harness. Making it much easier to test. I doubt your ECU is bad but it is possible. If it was bad, I still believe the injectors would get power.

[Cabriolet]

under neath the throttle body is the injector harness connector. mine was loose and caused what you are seeing. it also could be corroded.

[tjvan]

In which case, a $10 relay could be all you need if the shop was truthful. We can walk you through the diagnostics if you are willing and have a multimeter.

I'm pretty sure my roommate has a multimeter, so I guess it's worth a try.

[shiboujin]

for starters and a sanity check, all your fuses are good right?

Here's the engine wiring diagrams: http://www.armchair.mb.ca/~dave/BMW/e30/e30_89.pdf

I can't find where the main relay hooks up to.. You can do like Cabriolet said and check that connector first. If that doesn't do anything, disconnect that connector and pull that whole harness out. You'll then check every wire end to end with what's called a continuity test. It's just testing that electricity gets through. If all those pass, then you'll do a resistance test. Each of those wires should have near 0 resistance. like 0.001mv or something redic small.




Actually, fuck it, lets start from scratch. Go to auto zone and grab yourself a spark tester. Verify you get spark on every cylinder. Directions should be on the back. From there, get a friend to crank the car over while you do this next part. Take a big long flat tip screw driver. Put the fat handle against your ear closing your ear off. Put the metal end against the body of a fuel injector. As the car cranks over, you'll hear a pronounced click now and then. Verify each injector does this.

While you're at that, order a fuel pressure gauge from Jegs. Like a cheap inline one. Verify you have fuel pressure. It hooks into the fuel line on the front of the engine near the thermostat housing. You might just have a dying fuel pump.

Fuck, pull up your back seat and give the passenger's side a good hard hit with a small hammer or something. You'll see a black pill shaped cover. Not enough to dent it, just enough that it shakes things up. If your car starts after that, it's probably the fuel pump.

Another simple check (before you yank the injector harness) is to pull off the injector harness from the injectors and check that you get 12v when the car is in the run position from one of the pins from each injector plug (not the injector itself).

IMO all this stuff is fairly simple and quick to test. Shouldn't cost you much. The fuel pressure gauge is always handy to have.

[Sagaris]

I agree with checking the C191 as Jlevie suggests.

Sorry to hear you are having tough luck with the car

C191 repair info: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1597051

Example of a corroded C191: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=198461

I don't have the chassis-side of the C191 connector but I do have the engine side which is the electrical rail for the fuel injectors in case you determine that it is bad.


Troubleshooting a car can be infuriating, but it can also be very rewarding when you take a step back, think logically, and are able to track down the issue and repair it on your own. There are lots of people here including myself that are willing to walk you through step-by-step.

[tjvan]

Alright so I went out and took a peak at that c191 connector and I was able to get the bottom part disconnect and had a look at it. The bottom half seemed to be in decent condition as far as I could tell, no obvious signs of corrosion at least. I was not however able to pull the top part out of the little metal brace holding the connector to the side of the engine. Is there a trick to this or something? I'm guessing it's probably just me not knowing what I'm doing but I don't know. And I should be checking mostly under the little rubber boots for corrosion correct?

[LJ851]

Burn it with fire.






















Oh, and welcome to r3v.

[schtozo]

my engine died saturday night, troubleshoot indicated that i had 0 spark so i changed the tps with a brand new one and voila!