car shutting off

[robby41]

i have a 87 325e and my car was running normal and suddenly shut off. it started right back up and shut off again. it shut off one more time and was running fine. i took it down the road right after and the horn wont stop going off.
any help is much needed

[MrBurgundy]

Check for spark and fuel.

[roguetoaster]

Is the horn on continuously, or intermittently? Do you have an alarm system on the car?

Agree that you need to check fuel/spark.

[e30davie]

Could be anything really. Appart from the horn even a dodgy ignition barrel switch would do as you describe.

[robby41]

have fuel and spark. fixed the horn, the horn ring was broken.

[MrBurgundy]

Well, you're gonna want to check for fuel and spark while you're experiencing the problem.

Or maybe I'm misunderstanding. Are you getting fuel and spark and the car is still failing to start?

[robby41]

could it be from overheating?

[robby41]

the car runs. took it for a drive and it did fine

[MrBurgundy]

I mean, you could have blown a head gasket and you're losing compression, which may account for the rough idle and dying.

It could really be anything with the description you gave us.

[robby41]

ok lets rephrase, not great at explaining things. it was running normal and the car shut off when coming to a stop, started right up and ran normal, shut off again and started right up again still running normal. i took it out about an hour later and was like nothing happend
i have expierienced this type of situation before, the 7.3l ford diesel i used to drive did this to me once, and in that case was a sign that the CAMSHAFT SENSOR was going out. dont know if these e30s have the same type of sensor

[earthwormjim]

Could your ignition switch be failing?

[MrBurgundy]

You idle control valve could be taking a dump.

[superj]

They do have those type of sensors, though the two are on the bell housing of the trans, driver's side. When one goes out though, its not an intermittent thing, in my experiences.

Maybe a fuel pump - would be my starting point.

[robby41]

turns out it was the golf club in my trunk hitting my battery that was shutting off, could have been much worse. but rather than starting a new thread

ill just be driving normal and suddenly feels like down on power. when come to stop the idle is fluctuateing very little the rev is off and once i rev it the idle goes back to normal and car is fine. ^^ in 4th i could have my foot to the floor and building speed very little

[superj]

wow, you are lucky it didn't fry the alt or anything else. that's a crazy thing to have happening though. and which club are you going to have to replace? I know if it were mine, it would probably have been the 1 wood but the cover protects it when in the car so, who knows