Flooding Engine

[jonnyblaze]

hello all,

I am hoping someone can give me a hand. Last weekend i drove home from boston to ny with my 84 325e. The car ran fine. Sunday evening i was getting ready to head back up and the car would not start. It would turn over but wouldnt stay running. I thought that it might not be getting gas. Checked the fuel pump and filter. Definately pumping gas. Took out the spark plugwhich i had replaced maybe a couple hundred miles ago and it was covered in gas and extremely dirty. So i think that the engine is getting too much gas. I took the spark plug wire off the coil to see if theres spark. there is a good spark and when i put it back and tried to start the car it did start up and ran very rough and smoked like a bastard for a few minutes untill it died and would no longer start at all. Someone told me to try the air flow meter. so i tried that with no luck. i am looking for the next possible thing to try. Any possibilities would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

John

[xsperf]

when it smoked, did it smoke BLACK, or white, from all the gas?

if it is black, it is definetely something wrong with ur oxygen/intake system
so try
o2 sensor
air filter
throttle body

[scott082]

i had this problem about 4 months ago. car would start, idle rough and then stop. ghead the diagnosis from the mechanic was a faulty coolant temp sensor - it was giving the ECU the wrong coolant temp therfore the wrong engine temp when doing a cold start. this caused excess fuel in the engine. might not be an identical problem/solution to yours but hope this helps. the new temp sensor came in at $78 australian. hope this helps

[jonnyblaze]

thank you for your quick replies. the smoke was black/blueish color. i special ordered a fuel pressure regulator thinking that might be the problem but the part that was delivered was the incorect part. suprise suprise... i unfortunately have to go back to boston today so i will not be able to get back to the car until next weekend. i will let you know what happens. thanks again

jonnyblaze

p.s. the car just has to run enough to get back to boston where im trading it in for a newer 5 series so i dont really want to spend too much on it. so if anyone has any kind of cheap quick fix ideas please let me know

[jonnyblaze]

is it a possible problem with the spark? someone suggested that could be the problem. when it does start up for short periods it sounds like it could be running on 2 cylinders. that may be the cause of the flooding if its not burning up the gas correct? thanks
john