Friend's s14 won't start

[backtrail69]

My friend went through like 3-4 optimas before he found a good one. I am pretty sure they are complete junk. On another note I ran my die hard down to nothing several times and recharged and it works great. Sits for a month at a time and still cranks over perfect.

[lagoon]

Something similar happened to me in my 318is. Drove to school, parked, and when I went to start it again it wouldn't even turn. After much dicking around trying to figure out what was wrong (including jumping/charging the battery etc), I found out the battery connection in the bay was loose and came off. I know it sounds real stupid, but I like it when stupid doesn't cost a lot to fix.

[JGood]

Timing belt probably broke. Don't try to crank it, you'll bend the valves.




I kid, I kid. You check s14.net for advice?

[BenM]

Timing belt probably broke. Don't try to crank it, you'll bend the valves.




I kid, I kid. You check s14.net for advice?

lol. S14's have timing chains, but you probably already knew that.

[JGood]

lol. S14's have timing chains, but you probably already knew that.

Hence the, "I kid, I kid". I know they use gyrating oscililators with solenoid influctuation on timed variable input kanutors.

[uofom3]

Hence the, "I kid, I kid". I know they use gyrating oscililators with solenoid influctuation on timed variable input kanutors.

man, when you have osciliators or kanutors go out... that's a hell of a problem.

[92 mtechnic cabrio]

fuel pump? only things that I have seen really stop e30's dead in their tracks (m3's/standards) are fuel pumps/relays, timing systems, and the few electrical things mentioned before. how many miles on the car? does it have the hell driven out of it frequently?

Highly doubtful that it is the fuel pump. The starter doesn't even turn.

[TwoJ's]

Well I've got an update and another couple of questions. We got a 36mm socket, pulled the plugs and tried to turn the motor over by hand. It would not budge at all. I assumed he had spun a bearing or something and told him that he was fucked and to start looking for an s52. He towed it to a shop called Rolf's in Lakewood (I think) and had them check it out to be sure. They inspected it and said that there was a kink in the timing chain. I've never heard of a problem like that. They said they got it band-aided and it ran and drove.

They also said they weren't comfortable giving the car back like that and they want to replace the timing chain. My friend who owns the car isn't very mechanically inclined and when he talked to them on the phone, they told him that a gear had been damaged. I assume they are talking about one or both of the cam gears? Maybe the gear on the crank? They said there were brass or copper shavings? They said the timing tensioner was fine also.

Any idea what might have been damaged? Timing cover? And with a kink in the timing chain, couldn't that have caused some valve train damage? This is a German car specialist shop, but I don't trust them too much because they replaced his timing chain tensioner about 1000 miles ago and absolutely refused to put anything but a s14 tensioner in. I also think that since they changed the tensioner, they may have done something to damage the chain. I told him to take it to Strictly BMW in Bellevue, but he wouldn't listen.

Sorry for the long winded post.

[TwoJ's]

Here's a thread the owner started on s14:

http://www.s14.net/forums/showthread.php?t=28398

[TwoJ's]

the white one?

No, it's zinno. His name is Brett, and here is the for sale thread from a couple of years ago:

http://www.s14.net/forums/showthread.php?t=16916&highlight=portland

It appears that you know him. Do you know anything about the car that might not have been disclosed when purchased? I don't think he's a bad seller or anything, but it's always good to know a bit of history on a car.