HELP. Car not turning on - BMW Forum

rwdfan · 02-04-2006, 01:00 PM

Hi guys.
I'm a newbie to the website, just looking for your valued advice. I have a '92 325i, only 157,000 km. Yesterday was a very wet day, raining all day. I was driving all day, after I got out of a restaurent and I tried to turn on the car, it turned on, but shuddered a bit (it seemed like it wasn't getting any gas), I was hitting the gas but there was no response, it was shuddering and struggling to stay on, after about 10 seconds, it got gas and stayed on. A couple of hours after, I parked somewhere else, and when I tried to turn it on, the same happened. It would shudder and struggle to stay on, but this time hitting the gas pedal made no difference, it would struggle and struggle until I give up. Right now its parked on the side of the street.
I'm suspecting its not getting gas somehwere... maybe a faulty fuel pump? or maybe some sensitive parts just got wet (thing is its already been a day and its still not turning on).
Please follow up with your advice.

Cruzin 323is · 02-04-2006, 01:51 PM

i take it u have power... and the battery isn't dieing.. and the alternator is good???

how is the idle when it is on??

rwdfan · 02-04-2006, 02:25 PM

The battery is actually dead now because I tried so much. But when it was working fine yesterday and it was charged good the problem was still there. I guess it died from trying to turn on the car so much. The alternator is working fine, I doubt its the alternator because the car initially would turn on briefly and it would seem to struggle to get gas. Idle time previous to this was perfect.

thekid · 02-04-2006, 03:12 PM

could be dirty/clogged fuel pump or injectors, bad gas, or you some how got a large vacuum leak. After you got the car going the first time that this happened, did you notice a loss in power, response or loss of fuel economy? Was the car running during the few hours between stops?

rwdfan · 02-04-2006, 03:16 PM

The car was running between the stops, but I had a feeling something was a little different in the way it would push. I felt that the responsiveness was a little different, very hard to notice though, so I'm not too sure. I was thinking about the bad gas idea.. but a lot of poeple are telling me the fuel pump is probably dead. I gotta tow it now, thats going to be painful to watch since the car is extremely low.

Dudesky_E36 · 02-05-2006, 04:52 AM

Depending on how much rain you had, it could also be the DME. That model year had a TSB issued about water getting in the DME compartment, causing a no start or hard start condition. Check to see if the retrofit was done on your car.

mdc · 02-05-2006, 07:14 AM

dudesky e36 could be right. it can be the DME that gave way. i have a similar problem encountered in one of our dealerships here in the philippines, will update the post once we find out the problem for anyone's reference

Dirty Martini · 02-05-2006, 08:03 AM

I agee with Dudesky. I would look for water in the DME before I started troubleshooting fuel delivery issues. I recall seeing the same TSB.

92_325i · 02-05-2006, 08:03 AM

it could also be something as simple as water in the gas tank, although you probably would have had a hard time moving from any stop signs or lights. i would first try putting some water remover in the tank. it's cheap.

Gator · 02-05-2006, 08:53 AM

It could be water in the DME, but more likely is that other parts of the ignition system have gotten wet and are shorting out. It feels like the engine isn't getting gas because one or more cylinders are misfiring. This most often happens with the ignition wires especially if they are old and or dirty. Pull off each ignition wire and clean it with a rag and WD 40. Also clean the spark plug boot and the ceramic part of the plug. While you're at it look for cracks in the insulation and burn marks which indicate arcing. After the battery is charged, the car should now start. If not continue drying and cleaning all other parts related to the ignition system. Spraying with WD 40 also helps.
Only after the engine compartment has dried out and the car still won't start would I consider looking for other causes.

mdc · 02-06-2006, 03:15 AM

guys, got the solution to your problem

that problem is what we encountered here in one of our bmw dealerships here in the philippines. just solved it today

no gas reaction once you step on the acceleration is due to the fact that the fuel injectors were clogged due to carbon build up. That could cause the no gas response.

out of the 4 injectors, three were dead so to speak

at the same time, reprogram the DME. that should solve the problem.