Car stalling

inmantua1

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My 1973 BMW 3.0 CS is stalling. It starts fine, runs a half mile or so and the turns off. If I sit a few minutes it will start right back up and go and not make it far and the stop again. Anyone have an idea? Fuel system related?
 

bill

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Tweak the idle speed adjustment screw between the carbs on the linkage. Has this problem happened before? My '74 required constant fiddling with the idle speed: hot days, cold days, wet weather, dry weather, too much saturn, not enough moon, whatever. Drove me crazy so I converted to D-jet. Runs great now.
 

inmantua1

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Thanks. This is the first time it has happened in three years of daily driving. It is not occruing when idle-ing but when in motion.
 

inmantua1

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It has been longer than three years. Thats all I know. Do you think that the fuel filter may be the problem. Is it a complicated swap out?
 

Stevehose

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If it's been that long that's where I would start - it can cause those symptoms. It only takes a few minutes to put a new one in and you can get a small clear one at any auto parts store so you can see if you have crud coming up from the tank. Then when all done go back to the metal oem type. It's either on the firewall behind the brake booster or near the rear carb, find the fuel inlet hose at the fuel pump and trace back till you find it.

It has been longer than three years. Thats all I know. Do you think that the fuel filter may be the problem. Is it a complicated swap out?
 

JhwShark

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It does sound like a fuel pressure issue is a possibility...
In addition to the clear type filter to see debris/crud look into the inlet side of your mechanical fuel pump. There is usually a small mesh (wire) filter that can clog as well. Then check and clean the fuel pump.

Jon
 

inmantua1

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Thanks everyone. Sounds like a fun saturday project. Now whats involved with checking and cleaning the fuel pump? Is there an adative I can use to clean the fuel/fuel tank?
 

Stevehose

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Start with the filter(s) (depending on which fuel pump you have you may or may not have a mesh in it like Shark says - mine doesn't) and see if that helps the problem as well as determines if you have tank issues. For the tank, check it by the clear filter method mentioned or open up the fuel sender unit from the tank under the trunk panel and peer in with a flashlight. If it is rusty like mine was, I used POR-15's 3 step tank sealer to much success.
 

deQuincey

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Now whats involved with checking and cleaning the fuel pump? QUOTE]

as steve told you, depending on the type of fuel pump you may have a filter or not

speaking about mechanical pumps: the original one (a crown of 6 screws is closing the front cover) has that cylinder filter, the newest one (only one screw in the center of the cover, has not, but anyway there is a mesh inside that might clog also,

put a pic of your pump and we will try to help

regards
 

sfdon

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A bit of advice from someone who depends on fast results and minimum costs to stay in business repairing vintage BMWs.......

Before you begin replacing fuel filters, replacing fuel pumps or fiddling with carburators-

go for a drive with a spare sparkplug........

When the car dies- stick the spare in #5 plug wire and crank the engine with the plug lying on a good ground. IF you have a good spark - then you can go down the fuel road and fix the fuel problem.

If you don't have good spark- you just saved the cost of fuel filter and a couple of wasted hours.

Good luck!
 

deQuincey

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A bit of advice from someone who depends on fast results and minimum costs to stay in business repairing vintage BMWs.......

Before you begin replacing fuel filters, replacing fuel pumps or fiddling with carburators-

go for a drive with a spare sparkplug........

When the car dies- stick the spare in #5 plug wire and crank the engine with the plug lying on a good ground. IF you have a good spark - then you can go down the fuel road and fix the fuel problem.

If you don't have good spark- you just saved the cost of fuel filter and a couple of wasted hours.

Good luck!

my god ! many questions arise !

can you explain a little bit what is behind that ?
why number 5 ?
"a good or bad spark ", isn´t it very subjective ? how to identify ?
and if you don´t have a good spark, what are the next steps ?

thanks for your help
 

sfdon

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sorry for the delay- Estababa trabajando in una otra ciudad sin mi computer.

When diagnosing a no-run condition, the easiest approach is to find out whether you have spark or fuel....
Most no run/ no start problems are electrical
The easiest way to check for electrical problems is to carry a spare sparkplug and wait for the car to quit running. Pull the #5 plug wire [the most accessible plug wire], stick that spare plug in it lay it on the valve cover or other bare metal and crank the engine.
No spark- you have an electrical problem
Spark- you most likely have a fuel problem

Buena suerte !
 

inmantua1

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Working on it now

I pulled the fliter out of the tank. The metal screen was dense and hard to see through but did not look like it had anything in it. I have bi-passed what i 'think' is the filter and added a c lear one. having a hard time getting fuel to pass so I am not sure I did it correct. Will you look at pictures and let me know if I have bi-passed the correct thing.
 

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JhwShark

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I pulled the fliter out of the tank. The metal screen was dense and hard to see through but did not look like it had anything in it. I have bi-passed what i 'think' is the filter and added a c lear one. having a hard time getting fuel to pass so I am not sure I did it correct. Will you look at pictures and let me know if I have bi-passed the correct thing.

If my eyes see what I think I see...You have by-passed the mechanical fuel pump...Connect the output of filter to the inlet of pump, confirm your filter orientaion (look for an arrow on the filter), connect the run/carb line to the pump outlet.

There should be a screw on the pump that holds the top...clean the pump...

You pulled the sender out of the tank and put it back in right, cleaned that fine mesh screen before re-installing??
Jon
 
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deQuincey

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If my eyes see what I think I see...You have by-passed the mechanical fuel pump...Connect the output of filter to the inlet of pump, confirm your filter orientaion (look for an arrow on the filter), connect the run/carb line to the pump outlet.

There should be a screw on the pump that holds the top...clean the pump...

You pulled the sender out of the tank and put it back in right, cleaned that fine mesh screen before re-installing??
Jon

+1
yes my eyes too are seeing the same !
please reconect to the pump !
 

pamp

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A handy tool

I use this handy tool for spark check. No need to pull a plug. Works on everything I have come against...lawn mower to M30
000_0349.jpg
 
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