car dies while driving

jonweisse

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Greenville, NY
#1
I have had this problem with my '86 325es for about 2 months now and it's driving me nuts. At first it was only every now and then, but now it happens frequently. While I am driving, the car will suddenly just stop running. Everything else works and the car will turn over. A couple of times I was able to restart the car before I had even come to a stop. But the condition has become worst, to the point that sometimes the car will not start after I shut it off after having driven it for awhile. Sometimes when I let it sit overnight, it may or may not start.

The first time it left me stranded where I could not get it restarted at all, I had it taken to a repair shop that specializes in imports. They kept it for 3 weeks and could not figure out what was wrong with it. It started for them every time. They eventually replaced the fuel pump in the tank to the tune of $435. The car ran okay for about 3 or 4 days and then died and left me stranded again. So I decided to take it to the dealership after a few days. Ran fine going up there. They said it was just some bad relays which they changed to the tune of $165. Ran okay for a few days and then boom, won't start one morning. However, I did notice that while driving the car, it seemed fuel delivery was not smooth, like it was coming in surges. Very subtle, but noticeable. More noticeable on acceleration.

Any ideas. The fuel pump on the driver's side in front of the rear wheel has also been replaced as has the fuel filter.

Thanks in advance, Jon
 
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Location
Australia
#2
fuel injectors, do you know of there condition? Also do you know the condition of your fuel lines and piping?
Sounds like a nightmare.... From hell.
Keep us posted.
 
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Location
Louisiana
#3
do you remember filling up at another gas station? maybe bad gas or trash? Check your new fuel filter - it might be clogged again?
you might have to clean your tank?
 
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Location
Toronto, Canada
#4
I wouldn't think it would be the fuel system, surely the mechanics would have checked that first.
These problems suck... could be anything.
-bad ground from the block to the body (rusted all to hell, or lose)?
-cracked intake boot (creating vacuum leak)?
-fuel pressure regulator?
-ECU problems?
-bad gas cap??
I wouldn't even know where to start... it might be bad (rusty metal or rotten rubber) fuel lines that keep clogging the filter.
 
Messages
984
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Location
Australia
#5
I wouldn't think it would be the fuel system, surely the mechanics would have checked that first.
These problems suck... could be anything.
-bad ground from the block to the body (rusted all to hell, or lose)?
-cracked intake boot (creating vacuum leak)?
-fuel pressure regulator?
-ECU problems?
-bad gas cap??
I wouldn't even know where to start... it might be bad (rusty metal or rotten rubber) fuel lines that keep clogging the filter.
A mixture of all those problems is more than likely your cause....
Like i said before "Sounds like a nightmare"
Good luck.
 

jonweisse

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Location
Greenville, NY
#9
I don't know the condition of the feel injectors. As is is an older car, the piping looks a little rough, but there are no leaks everything seems to be in place okay. When the fuel pump in the tank was replaced, I would have assumed that the mechanics would have checked out the condition of the gas tank, but I don't know.

I'm leaning towards an electrical problem and am going to start replacing a few items that probably could need to be replced. Will do one at a time and hopefully in the process I will find something, like maybe a loose ground. Before I bought the car, the prior year it was driven only about 2 or 3 hundred miles. I bought it and put on about 6k miles before the problem started. The problems have been literally a nightmare for the last 2k miles. It only has 129k miles on it now. If I didn't like this car so much, it would be gone, but it is in great shape and a blast to drive.

The first items I am going to replace are the sensors in the bell housing. Then I'll check out the AFM, do the test describe in the Bentley manual. I changed the spark plugs and air filter awhile back (which resulted alone in about a 4-5 mpg increase!), so maybe a new distributor cap and rotor is next. I test out the coil. Somewhere along the line something should pop up.

Thanks for the replies.

Jon
 


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