engine dies !!but the crazy shark wants to live !!!!!!!

howdy shark lovers!! sorry for being innactive for a while now. but hey i am back :P . now here is the story with as much details i can remember .....i was driving in town the other day and all of a sudden the engine stalled (died) . to be honest i panicked a little. the engine went quiet, steering became heavy ..... lucky i waz driving around 15- 20 milles an hour as it was trafic. i quickly restarted the car and kept driving just fine , with a big relief, till next day when i drove to gym, and the engine died again just like the day before, all of a sudden . thats when i realised something is wrong and i have to pay attention. i got to the gym ...and i put the car in parking mode ( its a 1984 euro model , auto) with the engine running and waited for a few min....and it died a few minutes after i parked it. . i started the car again an the engine was running fine. After the gym on the way home ...lets say after a few milles it died again, tried to restarted as before, i started but it woudnt run for more thn lets say about 2 - 4 sec. i waitted a few min and gave it another try, it started and i drove home, i parked it and ....i decided to share my pain with you guys, what can it be ????, i live in a small town...all this stalling happend within 2-4 milles distance . i never had this problem before.


also i fitted a new fuel tank and a fuel filter 2 years ago. if it helps !!

That can be a million things. Start with having the fuel pressure checked.

thx man.at least i know 1 fault out of one million now ! another 99999 left to check out i hope to get the 1st lucky shot and not the last unlucky one . LOL . cheers mate

My 1986 635 started doing this is wet weather and I replaced the HT leads which cured the problem but I would recommend that you replace the petrol pump relay as well as these can and do fail, Peter.

thank you Pete. i have change them about a year ago. and where is that relay located, please ? do i just buy a new relay or i can just check if the old relay its working! Ive spent so much money on my 635csi that my head starts spinning when something goes wrong on the car........ hey guys dont laugh , it aint funny , converted to american doLLars, ive probably spent over 10000 $ in the last 4 years . and atm....ive earned nothing for the past 4 months. i lost my job .

ah hey Pete do u know a good mechanic ( in kent) that knows his way around the sharks?


guys i reaLLy appreciate all your efforts. Thank you, and sorry if im a pain in the but. i read older threads and and keep looking through the histoory threads to find a solution to this problem.


See , i can start the car right now....rev it normal, let it run at idle, , or like mad, drive it normal , or put my foot down....i just dont know when the engine will stop, and why???? it is veryvery very frustating, its not like if one of the windows woudnt roll down or go up.

aLL i can do at the momment is be patient and wait i guess.


hey howdy catso if u do read this......HELPPPPPPPPPPPP

Alternator maybe ?

Hi there, I live in Parkwood Rainham, If you would like to you may call me on 07850 433293 for a chat and I will try and help you, I've been working on 6 series since they came out in 1977, Peter

I'VE JUST REMEMBERED ANOTHER PROBLEM THAT i FOUND ON THESE ENGINES WHICH IS CONDENSATION INSIDE THE DISTRIBUTOR CAP SO REMOVE IT AND HAVE A LOOK, YOU MAY HAVE TO REPLACE THE CAP

thank you very much Peter. i will have a look over the wkend and clean that distributor cap and see whats happening there. Basicly the car starts every day...it stops like 5-10 minutes after u drive it. Thn if u try and start it, sometimes it starts, sometimes it doesnt want to start,( it only starts for 1-2 sec) but if u leave it for 1-2 hrs thn it starts again straight away, and the story repeats all over again. I topped up my fone , i will give you a call over the wkend . Thank you again Peter and speak to you soon.

also i checked the fuel pressure and it works. when i start it and go for a drive if i put my foot down it drives like its supposed too. it goes for it , so i guess the fuel pressure its fine,

MigsE30 reckons it may be the alternator...i doubt it to be honest

check it out :P

Originally Posted by crazy635

thank you Pete. i have change them about a year ago. and where is that relay located, please ? do i just buy a new relay or i can just check if the old relay its working! Ive spent so much money on my 635csi that my head starts spinning when something goes wrong on the car........ hey guys dont laugh , it aint funny , converted to american doLLars, ive probably spent over 10000 $ in the last 4 years . and atm....ive earned nothing for the past 4 months. i lost my job .

ah hey Pete do u know a good mechanic ( in kent) that knows his way around the sharks?


guys i reaLLy appreciate all your efforts. Thank you, and sorry if im a pain in the but. i read older threads and and keep looking through the histoory threads to find a solution to this problem.


See , i can start the car right now....rev it normal, let it run at idle, , or like mad, drive it normal , or put my foot down....i just dont know when the engine will stop, and why???? it is veryvery very frustating, its not like if one of the windows woudnt roll down or go up.

aLL i can do at the momment is be patient and wait i guess.


hey howdy catso if u do read this......HELPPPPPPPPPPPP

I have an Australian landed car, I don't know if it has the same On Board computer. But this has an anti theft device, that you need to install a code. Even if it is not activated the relay is still in circuit . This could be cutting power to your main power relay. Mine did the same you could restart but started stopping intermittantly. I have bridged it out, and working fine until now.

cheers dude, this wasnt the case on mine,it wasnt the fuel pump as i kept driving the car on red petrol light for ages, kept topping up just a few quid..., not the relay, or fuel filter, or the spark plugs, it was the distributor cap, so i took the distrib cap off, inside the copper things were covered in some black ****e , cleaned the copper pins with some fine sand paper, sprayed some wd40 inside the distrib cap, to prevent moisture and condensation, , fixed it back, and after i got the right firing order and managed to get the ht leads back to their firing position,( forgot to mark the original ht leads position when i took the distrib cap off, and , Hornhospital helped me get them sorted out, cheers Ken mate ) it works like before now shark bay mate its back on the streets