89 325 is sitting on the side of the highway

[Eric]

short story: driving on the highway on a 3 hour trip. 2 hours in i stop for water and a soda, get back on the highway and within 6 miles the car was dead on the side of the road!

long story.

I came home on leave from germany, and bought a 89 325i with the anticipation that it would be my rental car for 2 weeks, and when i was ready to leave i would take it to the port and ship it back to germany.

the car is pretty much a shitbox, but i was expecting it, and i love this thing!
i replaced the interior with my old M3 seats, added some custom door pannels, and installed GC RSM and rear bilstein shocks, and drove it for over 1,000 miles in the week and a half of ownership.

on tuesday I installed an autopower roll bar, and my old 3 inch exhaust with remus muffler (from the header back) tuesday night i noticed that the dash lights didnt seam as bright. I also noticed that in the upper rpm range the car was sputtering real bad (tach dosn't work, don't know what the RPM was)

after a few minutes the headlights were not visible and i coudl hardly see the dash cluseter. i turned off the headlights, and when turning them back on the car sputtered and died! when i tried to restart the car, i got nothin.

so I get jump started and manage to get to autozone where i pull the battery in the dark and bring it in to be tested... optima red top that is 4 months old is bad... hmmm. Get a new el cheapo battery and notice when installing the new battery that the plastic cap that protects the battery post's pre-installation was wedged in the negative terminal!

So i poped in the new battery minus the plastic insulator and started my drive up to the bay area to go to the port the next day. The car ran like a champ for almost two hours. broke down M3 seats beckoned a stop for some water and a streatch. I hope in the car and notice that once again the dash lights aren't as bright. Dumb me thinks my eyes just havent adjusted or something, and i head back on the road. 5 minutes later the car is dead, and i'm rolling on the shoulder hoping that i can roll from 80mph to the rest stop 1/4 mile away.


So I'm thinking that not only did i have the bad battery due to the plastic cap causeing massive resistance, that my alternator is either dead, or intermitant. agree, disagree?

Worst thing is, i missed my appointment to ship the car, so i have to bug my parents and friends to fix the car and take it another hour and a half, plus i didn't get any pictures of it, and the interior looks tits with the custom door pannels andd the M3 seat wedged between the rollbar!

so what do you think can get this car back on the road?

[MR 325]

Clearly sounds like the alternator to me.

[KillerCalypso]

I'm sure its the alternator.

[Court M3]

alternator all the way

[SchnellerVert]

Shold have had autozone load test your charging system instead just throwing money at it. You red top could have been revived with a day of trickle charging most likely.

Diagnois before throwing cash at anything.

[wRek]

Alternator. The dash lights started dimming, then the headlights went out... Then the car died.

Definitely the alternator. Had the exact same thing happen in my old 66' Plymouth Valiant.

[mattdk318i]

like you need another vote towards alternator. But thats your problem.
Bought a 325is from a guy, Got 3 miles down the road and it died. Same symptoms you are describing.
I fortunatly had someone else driving my 318 along. Took it to napa to buy a new alternator.
Cold and rainy alternator installation is the pits.

[SpunkyE30nOk]

why would u export an e30 over to germany?? they are like a dime a dozen over there...that'd be like someone over in germany getting ready to import a chevy to the us ;)

[Eric]

why would u export an e30 over to germany?? they are like a dime a dozen over there...that'd be like someone over in germany getting ready to import a chevy to the us ;)

because my M5 is too big, heavy, and expensive to tear up on the ring. If i bought an E30 over there then any money i put into the car is worthless since i can't keep it when i leave germany. If i bought an E30 over from the states, not only did i save a couple hundred bucks by not needing a rental, i get to put all the euro parts on the car for cheap, AND bring it back to the states when i'm done with my tour.

I thought it was the alternator, but when the guy said the battery was bad, not just dead, i kind of had to replace it since i needed to get the car 180 miles to the port... i.e. no time for a trickle charge.

think the plastic cap between the battery post and terminal could have helped kill the alternator?

also how do you guys go about removing that bottom bolt on the alternator? the next morning i tried to pull one from pick-n-pull but couldn't get my 3/8 drive 10mm deep socket on the nut. I did pick up a set of 4 pots off of a 7 series though for $20 a side that will fit very nicely on the M5!

edit: thanks guys for all the imput!

[BimmerBall]

alternator. the one on my patrol car took a shit while i was working midnight shift and left me stranded in the rough part of town. that sucked.

[91Saleen#15]

So I'm thinking that not only did i have the bad battery due to the plastic cap causeing massive resistance, that my alternator is either dead, or intermitant. agree, disagree?

If the car started under the power of the battery when the plastic cap was wedged in the terminal, then the plastic cap was not a factor. It takes far more amperage to start a car than the alternator will ever generate in recharging it. In other words, if the connection was good so that the battery could start the car, it was easily good enough for the alternator to recharge the battery. That would leave only two possiblities. Either your alternator crapped out, or your fan belt was loose enough that the alternator could not keep up with the increased power requirements during extended night driving.

[2002maniac]

Alternator. Try replacing the voltage regulator. It could be the problem and any decent alternator/starter shop should have bosh brushes for $20-30