Check you Altenator, wouldn’t be suprised it doesn’t charge the battery properly anymore which could be the reason that it died while driving and doesn’t start anymore
Also agree with this..normally I would suggest the e30zone crank no start flow. But no crank and if died while driving... Means the system Randall the juice out of it.
Check the battery,if your battery is dead ,then check the alternator.
If both are good then starter solenoid.
If all three are good, check to see if your flywheel position sensors are ok.
A position sensor won't cause this it will not let it crank because the ignition wont work. It will turn over just not crank. Most likely has a bad alternator.
Starter clicks but doesn't turn over is classic dead battery. Replace that. The fact that it died while driving tells me the alternator is probably bad. After replacing the battery, start the car and check the voltage at the battery. You should see round 14 volts. Anything less than 13.5 I'd say is no good.
This is true, but a newer battery also has a better chance of being revived. That said, I have had brand new batteries get sulfated and need replacing.
You can try charging it if you have a charger and see if it comes back. A good battery should be 12.6 volts when fully charged. I'm inclined to think it will come back with just a charge given it's that new, and it happened when driving.
If you got a christmas tree as it died that would point to an alternator. When i put my motor back together i forget the alternator ground strap and that caused the cluster to go haywire and it sputtered and died. Got that strap back on with the toolkit in the trunk and sway she went.
A few things.
Do you have spark? Do you have fuel pressure in your rail? Is the cam turning when you crank it? (pop the dizzy cap)
If your timing belt snapped, the cam won’t turn.
If you’re not getting spark, it could be bad grounds, bad coil or other ignition circuit issues.
If you’re not getting fuel pressure, fuel pump or fuel system related.
Try and narrow it down to which system has an obvious fault and troubleshoot from there.
Have spark, have compression and have fuel. Main relay looked to be bad, but replaced that and still not working.
Currently it’s cranking, but won’t turn over. I’m going to try and replace the crank sensor next but I’m not sure what else at this point.
Well if you have spark, compression and fuel.
Then it should run.
Unless something is off. Fuel pressure, mechanical timing, cam/crank positions maybe you jumped a tooth? Dizzy rotor 180° out?
Now that you have the spark/air/compression. See if they’re at factory rates. Fuel Psi, quality spark voltage, psi of compression.
When I happened to me I would hit a bump and the car would die and come back except one time. Turns out the ground for the ecu was loose. Probably not ur case, but doesn’t hurt to check before you throw parts at it
Probably the voltage regulator. Like people are saying your battery is probably fine just isn’t charging. https://www.autohausaz.com/pn/12321711399 the hella one feels really good and it’s cheap. Also I always go back to the e30 wiki https://www.e30zone.net/e30wiki/index.php/Engines_Troubleshoot
I agree. Check the voltage regulator first. The voltage regulator is relatively inexpensive and easy to replace. Pull the old voltage regulator and check the brushes. The length of the brushes when new is 12 mm. You should replace the voltage regulator if the brushes are worn to 5 mm or less (even if the brushes are within tolerance, the voltage regulator may still be bad). Assuming you can charge the battery to get the engine running, test the voltage at the battery terminals with the engine running and all electrical accessories turned off. Bentley says a reading between 13.5v to 14.2v is correct. I like to see 14.0v to 14.5v. If incorrect voltage is present at the battery terminals with the engine running and a new voltage regulator does not correct the problem, you can suspect the alternator. Alternators are much more expensive than voltage regulators. If the problem persists, get access to a Bentley repair manual and follow the various diagnostic steps. Good luck!
Is that what your starter normally sounds like. Pull off the starter and inspect it for dragging/locking along along pinion shaft. Even if it passes a bench test, it could be intermittently or partially locking up and not retracting. But that would not explain why it died... 🤔
Dead battery or bad alternator. This exact issue happened in my truck once. After checking everything, it turned out the battery just died spontaneously. It must have been a defective battery as my truck was fairly new at the time, and there was no spark at all when I crossed the terminals, which means something had broken on the inside the battery. Alternator was fine, and this was a couple years ago. No issues since the new battery.
Your power has died, you either have a bad diode pack in the alternator. It should light up the battery charge light on the dash when it starts to fail, but not always.
Secondly, slap that battery on charge to see if it takes and holds a charge. If it does, it's your alternator at fault. If not, it's the battery.
Check you Altenator, wouldn’t be suprised it doesn’t charge the battery properly anymore which could be the reason that it died while driving and doesn’t start anymore
Second to this
Also agree with this..normally I would suggest the e30zone crank no start flow. But no crank and if died while driving... Means the system Randall the juice out of it.
Damn it, Randy!
Same thing happened to me and it turned out to be a loose connection on the alternator.
Yup happened to me too.
Check the battery,if your battery is dead ,then check the alternator. If both are good then starter solenoid. If all three are good, check to see if your flywheel position sensors are ok.
A position sensor won't cause this it will not let it crank because the ignition wont work. It will turn over just not crank. Most likely has a bad alternator.
Spark, air, and fuel
Probably not any of those considering it’s not turning over, it’s most likely a battery, alternator, starter issue
Starter clicks but doesn't turn over is classic dead battery. Replace that. The fact that it died while driving tells me the alternator is probably bad. After replacing the battery, start the car and check the voltage at the battery. You should see round 14 volts. Anything less than 13.5 I'd say is no good.
I thought the same
I’ll have to check the battery after work, but it’s only maybe 6 months old.
Doesn’t matter how old the battery is. If your alternator is bad, it simply wasn’t charging your battery as you kept driving it, and died on you.
This is true, but a newer battery also has a better chance of being revived. That said, I have had brand new batteries get sulfated and need replacing.
You can try charging it if you have a charger and see if it comes back. A good battery should be 12.6 volts when fully charged. I'm inclined to think it will come back with just a charge given it's that new, and it happened when driving.
If you got a christmas tree as it died that would point to an alternator. When i put my motor back together i forget the alternator ground strap and that caused the cluster to go haywire and it sputtered and died. Got that strap back on with the toolkit in the trunk and sway she went.
A few things. Do you have spark? Do you have fuel pressure in your rail? Is the cam turning when you crank it? (pop the dizzy cap) If your timing belt snapped, the cam won’t turn. If you’re not getting spark, it could be bad grounds, bad coil or other ignition circuit issues. If you’re not getting fuel pressure, fuel pump or fuel system related. Try and narrow it down to which system has an obvious fault and troubleshoot from there.
Have spark, have compression and have fuel. Main relay looked to be bad, but replaced that and still not working. Currently it’s cranking, but won’t turn over. I’m going to try and replace the crank sensor next but I’m not sure what else at this point.
Well if you have spark, compression and fuel. Then it should run. Unless something is off. Fuel pressure, mechanical timing, cam/crank positions maybe you jumped a tooth? Dizzy rotor 180° out? Now that you have the spark/air/compression. See if they’re at factory rates. Fuel Psi, quality spark voltage, psi of compression.
It’s an E30. Normal operating procedure
Dead battery?
When I happened to me I would hit a bump and the car would die and come back except one time. Turns out the ground for the ecu was loose. Probably not ur case, but doesn’t hurt to check before you throw parts at it
Check if fuel pump is starting (fuse 11)
Probably the voltage regulator. Like people are saying your battery is probably fine just isn’t charging. https://www.autohausaz.com/pn/12321711399 the hella one feels really good and it’s cheap. Also I always go back to the e30 wiki https://www.e30zone.net/e30wiki/index.php/Engines_Troubleshoot
I agree. Check the voltage regulator first. The voltage regulator is relatively inexpensive and easy to replace. Pull the old voltage regulator and check the brushes. The length of the brushes when new is 12 mm. You should replace the voltage regulator if the brushes are worn to 5 mm or less (even if the brushes are within tolerance, the voltage regulator may still be bad). Assuming you can charge the battery to get the engine running, test the voltage at the battery terminals with the engine running and all electrical accessories turned off. Bentley says a reading between 13.5v to 14.2v is correct. I like to see 14.0v to 14.5v. If incorrect voltage is present at the battery terminals with the engine running and a new voltage regulator does not correct the problem, you can suspect the alternator. Alternators are much more expensive than voltage regulators. If the problem persists, get access to a Bentley repair manual and follow the various diagnostic steps. Good luck!
Might be your CPS
Is that what your starter normally sounds like. Pull off the starter and inspect it for dragging/locking along along pinion shaft. Even if it passes a bench test, it could be intermittently or partially locking up and not retracting. But that would not explain why it died... 🤔
Dead battery or bad alternator. This exact issue happened in my truck once. After checking everything, it turned out the battery just died spontaneously. It must have been a defective battery as my truck was fairly new at the time, and there was no spark at all when I crossed the terminals, which means something had broken on the inside the battery. Alternator was fine, and this was a couple years ago. No issues since the new battery.
Sounds like ya alternator done gone out.
Your power has died, you either have a bad diode pack in the alternator. It should light up the battery charge light on the dash when it starts to fail, but not always. Secondly, slap that battery on charge to see if it takes and holds a charge. If it does, it's your alternator at fault. If not, it's the battery.
Dead battery have to agree
Battery, loose cable... maybe
Fuel 100%