Posted by Kurt on January 24, 2000 at 09:33:27:
In Reply to: HELP! Weird, Intermittent Starting Problem posted by Susan Merritt on January 24, 2000 at 00:00:32:
: My 1980 is driving me crazy! Twice now it has cranked over but refused to start. The first time was coming out of a store after a short bit of driving. It cranked heartily but refused to catch. I was nonplussed, but figured maybe I had managed to flood the engine, so I shopped about for half an hour then came back and she fired right up. She then ran fine for two days, starts, stops, what have you. Then the second time was a bit more alarming, as I started her up after a stop and had just pulled out of a parking lot when the engine suddenly died and refused to restart. I also had no emergency flashers. I managed to get her at least out of the road (into and entrance to a parking lot!) where I popped the trunk and hood. After playing with the positive terminal on the battery the alarm system chirped at me and I had flashers and cranking but still no start. I tried turning the alarm system on & off to no avail. I pushed the car mostly into a parking space but it still wouldn't start. I called my sister to come and pick me up. When she arrived the car started immediately. I feel like I'm driving a ticking time bomb! To make matters worse, I have two very small children (ages 1 and 2) so getting stranded means juggling car seats and dealing with a great deal of fussiness. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.
: Susie
I would pull your HT lead to the cap and rotor off next time this happens. Have some one crank the car and hold the lead to the engine block or other ground. (be careful not to shock the sh** out out of yourself) If you are not getting spark I can email you the ignition troubleshooting page out of the factory manual. I was having intermitten engine failures and failures to start. They had no relation to anything and were completely erratic. It finally ended up being the transistor control unit. I replaced it and she fired right up. 50$ from Sayther Automotive. (recycled)
Remember to follow the troubleshoot or you could replace things unneccesarily.
Kurt
1979 528i
http://www.specsci.com/e12