Expert: Don Berlan - 7/25/2008

Question
Hi Don, just bought a fairly clean 735, drove it cross country (CA to GA) a
month ago, ran good and strong! Parked in my steep driveway here and she
sat for two weeks, then one day I was going to run some errands and drove
for four blocks down the road and that's when I smelled burning and saw
smoke, looked underneath and saw the cats smoking and crackling. I was
surprised at how suddenly it seemed for them to fail like that? The car
started harc too, took two attempts of long cranking and idled rough, seemed
to smooth out.

Answer
Well I'm happy that you made it cross country with the BMW.Now it may be time to check all the regular maintenance items.Time to check filters,fuel pressure,plugs and cap/rotor.The smoke, I am not sure what is happening there.Make sure all your fluids are filled to the correct level.Cats don't just quit.It may have been something that has been going on for awhile.Does it have alot of miles on it?