Expert: Dan Roberts - 9/15/2006

Question
HI Dan, car currently in garage as this morning i was driving and suddenly lost power, have a 318i convertible 1992. we had complained to the garage of a burning smell for 2 weeks, 2 subsequent visits and they said breaks, so fixed breaks still smelling. this morning i pulled up and the front of the car, drivers side, smoke bellowing out from the wheel/underneath drivers side wheel.  not sure what it is. have you any ideas!  

Answer
Tammy,
Does the car's engine run? When you say it lost power do you mean the it was running well and you just couldn't make it go  or the engine started to run like crap or died? If you have the ability to lift the left front wheel off the ground try to see if you can spin it while in the air. If you can't you likely have a locked up brake caliper and should replace the left front brake caliper, brake line, pads and rotors, and flush all brake fluid due to overheating. If the engine doesn't run I would say the power steering pump probably siezed and the engine kept turning the belts over the siezed pulley and ultimately overcame the engine with mechanical drag until it stalled. Check those 2 things and please report back with more information.