Re: E34 Erratic Starting Issue

[Drew Mouton <drew@xxxxxxxxx>]

I recently had a recent similar experience with a pair of E36's.

In the first case, a '92 318i sedan,  there was a large crack in the 
rubber air intake bellows - sometimes it was closed, sometimes (esp. 
under G-force stress from hard acceleration) it was open, and the car 
wouldn't run. This was exacerbated by old motor mounts that let the 
engine shift around a bit in the bay. I replaced all of the above and 
everything worked great.

In the second case, the '94 318is I'm using presently as my daily 
driver, the car sat up for a couple months. Unbeknownst to me the fuel 
had turned to shellac. It would crank, had fire, good pump, air, 
etc...but wouldn't turn over.

After checking all the usual things, we found that if we pulled all the 
plugs, cleaned and dried them off, we'd get a temporary turnover. I 
ended up pumping all of the gas out of the tank (and in the process, 
since I was pumping it out using the in-tank fuel pump, I accidentally 
soaked fuel into the rear carpets), then filling it with a fresh 5 
gallons and fuel cleaner...and the car started right up. Purrrred. As 
an aside, it had been flooding hard, so had fuel in the crank case as 
well, so I also replaced the engine oil.

Worth checking.
Drew


On Tuesday, July 29, 2003, at 05:58 AM, Adirondack Nostalgia wrote:


> My wife called from the gas station to say the '95 525iT(M50) won't
> start, sounded like it was out of gas, but she just filled it. I go 
> over
> and it starts right up... Later in the day the same thing happens to
> her, and then I can't start it. After the tow truck brought it home, I
> check the fuel pump and filter, and it's pumping fuel, so I try it 
> again
> and nothing. I leer under the hood looking for air leaks or anything
> obvious. I try again and she fires right up. It must have been the "I'm
> gonna trade you in" look I gave it... Has anyone experienced this
> before? I checked for trouble codes and it's not storing any. Any
> thoughts would be much appreciated,
>
> Andrew
> '95 525iT
> '89 535i
> '72 914
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