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View Full Version : Weird Startup problems..

97TurboDSM
06-08-2008, 05:19 PM
My dads car is being super weird today. His car starts fine and then dies right away..is this a case of a toasted alternator?
russiankid
06-08-2008, 05:33 PM
Sounds more fuel related to me. I had this issue when my fuel pump went out.
97TurboDSM
06-08-2008, 05:36 PM
yea well lights and such are dimming off the throttle so thats why im thinking alt.
russiankid
06-08-2008, 05:37 PM
yea well lights and such are dimming off the throttle so thats why im thinking alt.

Hm..my lights dim once the engine goes to idle, but the charging system is fine. What car is this?
97TurboDSM
06-08-2008, 05:39 PM
530i.
cwd240
06-08-2008, 06:35 PM
if it were an alternator I doubt it would start at all, sounds like a fuel or spark issue to me
russiankid
06-08-2008, 06:50 PM
How many miles does it have? This could be a clogged fuel filter, worn out fuel pump(they get nasty), small fuel leak near the intake(hard to see those).
97TurboDSM
06-08-2008, 06:59 PM
it started and ran this morning. went to go to dinner tonight, and nothing. weirdness.
russiankid
06-08-2008, 07:51 PM
My brother has a 1990 535i, and one day before getting onto a bridge it stalled. Car is well maintained and has had just about everything replaced except tearing the engine apart. Came back home, checked for leaks, see if the ECU threw any codes;nothing came up. Ever since, it hasn't had a problem, so it may have been a small glitch somewhere. Has it been doing this a lot of just recently?
97TurboDSM
06-08-2008, 09:13 PM
just today
russiankid
06-08-2008, 09:19 PM
May be just a small glitch. Just keep an eye on it. How many miles on the car?
SovXietday
06-08-2008, 10:05 PM
Heh. BMW = wiring nightmare.
stover
06-09-2008, 05:11 PM
if u have a multimeter u can check to see if the alternator is working .. best bet is to find a friend with one and ask to borrow it then set it to volts and put the positive lead on the terminal on the alernator where the power goes back to the battery and then the ground lead on the body or even the batterys ground to see if theres any current/power coming from the alternator back to the battery
kevin@dambrosio
06-09-2008, 10:04 PM
a lot of people are starting to have a weird prob at first startup. a lot of it has to do with the the e85 and cheap crap fuel.
97TurboDSM
06-10-2008, 12:19 AM
dad uses only 93octane fuel. its at bmw right now. i have a feeling its vacuum related as it'll rev but die once off the throttle. we'll find out tomorrow.