About Josh Fields Expertise I can answer questions related to the BMW e30. These are the cars produced from 1984-1991 (1992 for convertable) in the United states. I am more fluent with the six cylinder models, although few things changed for the 4 cylinder cars. I know most of the problematic areas of these cars, and have found ways to fix them.
Experience I have owned six different E30's over the last 10 years. I do all my own work, and know about ever nut and bolt on these cars.
First thanks, your response was right on the money, I cleaned the DME switch and bam!!!! The care fired up, the advice you gave saved me so much money, you are a true expert. Okay, here's two more questions: 1. Reading my last question, why do you think the starter froze? 2. Initially after cleaning the DME Switch the car ran as before, today it has developed a slight miss and is back firing. Do you suppose when the DME got wet and wouldn't fire my friend burned the starter and jumped time attempting to crank the car even thought it would have never started?
Answer M. Minor.
Glad to hear you got the car running. Dont thank me.. you are the one who did it! Congratulations!
I'm trying to remember the details of your specific problem, but some times starters go bad. If they over heat they can give trouble and lock. I would take a hammer and tap the side of the starter and see if it loosens up. When it stops or locks, its called "heat-soak". The starter gets hot from either working too hard, or from engine heat. It happens on new cars and old, alike. I would probably replace it though, as it could lock up anytime, and you might not be able to get it un-jammed.
About the back firing. Is the Check Engine light coming on? If it is, you need to read the fault codes for what it is. Also if you unplug the battery or unplug the DME, usually they will reset themselves. After they reset themselves, they will run a little different, as the DME is adjusting everything to get the engine running perfectly. So if you JUST unplugged the DME, it might be trying to get it's parameters strait, and causing a little sputter (although I've never heard of the sputtering from this). Drive the car for an hour or so, and hopefully it will clear if it doesn't you probably have a bad sensor somewhere.
