I tried starting it again and the engine refused to run?

Tiny
CHRISTOPHER SA
  • MEMBER
  • 1993 BMW 320I
  • 6 CYL
  • 2WD
  • MANUAL
  • 166,000 MILES
My car has been fine since all the repairs to it were done. Today, I went out to get some items in the next town over which is further than normal when I go out for a drive. The drive there was nearly 11 miles.

On the way home I took a detour and did about 15-16 miles. Part of the journey was on the highway, and I went quite fast (up to 80 miles an hour, far more than I normally do) until the next junction.

When nearing home, I was stopped at a traffic light when I began to smell exhaust fumes. At the time I thought that the junction itself was polluted. When moving away from the lights the car was a little bit sluggish and did not accelerate as quickly. More gas needed to be given for the acceleration to be as good as before.

When I got home, I got out and saw that a lot of blue acrid smoke was coming out of the exhaust. It smelt and looked like carbon was being burnt off. I turned the engine off and took the stuff out of the car to deposit in the kitchen. This took about 5 minutes. When I came out to put the car in the garage, I had trouble getting the car to start (initially it wouldn't after a few seconds of turning the engine over) and had to give it gas the second time which I have normally never had to do (in the past it would start right up). I then parked it in the garage.

About 90 minutes later I had to go out again and when I tried starting it, it turned over for a second or so and then there was an awful crunch/grinding noise and it stopped completely (like what happened when I got hydraulic lock). When I tried starting it again the engine refused to turn over. I popped the hood and felt the engine and it was still very hot which surprised me. It also caused me some concern and I wondered if somehow the engine had seized.

I have no idea what has gone wrong.

There may be an issue that I failed to deal with.

In 2018, after I got the car working after replacing the car's computer, I had put in Amsoil, a bottle of Prolong and Auto RX, an oil based detergent that cleaned the engine of all the gunk accumulated over time. The recommended time to was to change the oil after 500 miles due to the amount of dirt that would come off of the metal of the engine components. I have not done that yet and I have done over 1,000 miles. I checked the oil and the oil was between the maximum and minimum on the dipstick. The oil didn't seem to be too dirty.

When looking in the engine compartment, I did not see any leaks.

Is there any way I can determine what has happened to the engine?
Friday, July 22nd, 2022 AT 8:32 AM

74 Replies

Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,747 POSTS
Hi,

When you turn the key to the start position, do you hear anything? Also, you may have to get a socket that fits the crankshaft flywheel bolt and an extension to see if the engine turns. The noise you described has me concerned it could be internal.

Let me know. I have to say that this specific model isn't offered in the US, so I have no technical info. However, I'll try my best to help.

Take care,
Joe
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Friday, July 22nd, 2022 AT 8:34 AM
Tiny
CHRISTOPHER SA
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  • 221 POSTS
Hi Joe,

Wow! That was quick!

I think I have a socket for the crank shaft. This model is the same (apart from the engine size) as the 323i and 325i.

I will see about trying to turn over the engine tomorrow.

I just went out and turned it to the start position and there was a whirring noise and light clunk, which I think is the fuel pump priming. When turning off the car, there was a faint whining noise. It persisted for more than a minute.
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Friday, July 22nd, 2022 AT 8:35 AM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,747 POSTS
If possible, record it when you try to crank the engine and upload it for me to hear.

Take care,
Joe
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Friday, July 22nd, 2022 AT 8:36 AM
Tiny
CHRISTOPHER SA
  • MEMBER
  • 221 POSTS
Hi Joe,

I was reluctant to get under the car which is why it has taken so long in getting back to you.

Anyway, I hand cranked the engine with a socket and there was no problem in doing so. No grinding of any metal whatsoever. So, I tried starting the car up. After much longer than normal it fired up and idled though not as smoothly as it has done in the past. There is a smell to the exhaust like I noticed on the day it stopped working.

I have attached the audio. I used my iPad which I put directly beneath the engine itself.

By the way, I tried uploading an mp3 and your site's software wouldn't allow it. You might want to enable that option. I converted the audio into an mp4. It's 1 minute 36 seconds long.
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Friday, July 22nd, 2022 AT 8:36 AM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,747 POSTS
Chris,

When you smell exhaust fumes, is it when you are in the car? Also, does it have a specific odor to it such as a rotten egg smell?

I'm wondering if you have a catalytic converter plugging. Take a look through this link:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/bad-catalytic-converter-symptoms

Let me know.
Joe
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Friday, July 22nd, 2022 AT 8:38 AM
Tiny
CHRISTOPHER SA
  • MEMBER
  • 221 POSTS
Hi Joe,

It has been a long time since your post. I got fed up with the problem that I was having and lost interest after all the work that I had previously done.

I looked at the link you provided and the only thing that sticks out is the loss of power that I experienced and the sluggishness when I moved away from the traffic lights.

I have not started it up (after parking it those many months ago) since this problem cropped up which is now going on nearly two or more years (I have lost track). But I do remember what happened. It did not smell of rotten eggs. That is one thing I would remember. And I did not smell any fumes when inside the car. But the smoke was quite blue and thick. I have been thinking of plucking up the courage to either start it with a view to getting the oil flush/change done, as last year I had purchased an oil flush kit (oil thinner, new oil and oil filter), or removing the spark plugs to do an inspection with a borescope I have.

That's where things are at the moment.
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Friday, July 22nd, 2022 AT 8:38 AM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,747 POSTS
Chris,

Welcome back. I went back through the posts and listened to you cranking the engine. Have you ever done a compression test to see if there are a few low cylinders? Also, have we confirmed the timing hasn't jumped?

Do me a favor, this has an OBD1 system. See if any codes are stored. Follow this link:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/bmw-obd1-1995-and-earlier-code-definitions-and-retrieval-procedure

Let me know.

Joe
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Friday, July 22nd, 2022 AT 8:39 AM
Tiny
CHRISTOPHER SA
  • MEMBER
  • 221 POSTS
Hi Joe,

The code issue has cropped up in the past. I am not able to retrieve any codes as, for some reason, I am not able to get any to appear after following the procedure to do so.

I have not checked the timing and I have not done any compression tests on the engine.
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Friday, July 22nd, 2022 AT 8:39 AM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
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Chris,

I re-listened to the video you sent. I think checking compression would be helpful. Here is a link that explains how it's done:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-test-engine-compression

Let me know what you find.

Joe
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Friday, July 22nd, 2022 AT 8:40 AM
Tiny
CHRISTOPHER SA
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Okay. Thanks. Will get to it.
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Friday, July 22nd, 2022 AT 8:40 AM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
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You are very welcome. Let me know what you find, and hang in there. One way or another, we'll get it figured out.

Take care,

Joe
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Friday, July 22nd, 2022 AT 8:41 AM
Tiny
CHRISTOPHER SA
  • MEMBER
  • 221 POSTS
Since this thread was somehow deleted due to a bug in the site's software and only this first page (of 3) was recovered I will try and post the other messages that were put up.

I did the compression test on the cylinders and here is the result of a dry compression test.

You will notice that the front two cylinders are the worst with 70 PSI in cylinder #1 and 92 PSI in cylinder #2.
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Saturday, July 23rd, 2022 AT 4:33 PM
Tiny
CHRISTOPHER SA
  • MEMBER
  • 221 POSTS
Here are some of the spark plugs starting with cylinder 2 (near front of engine) as somehow I forgot to do spark plug #1.
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Saturday, July 23rd, 2022 AT 4:37 PM
Tiny
CHRISTOPHER SA
  • MEMBER
  • 221 POSTS
Hole for spark plug from cylinder three as it had some oil in the tower. Very difficult to see though.
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Saturday, July 23rd, 2022 AT 4:41 PM
Tiny
CHRISTOPHER SA
  • MEMBER
  • 221 POSTS
Cylinder 4 - the spark plug from this was totally clean, and looked brand new in fact. It looked like it had never been used. Very surprising. There is also a short video of the spark plug hole.
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Saturday, July 23rd, 2022 AT 4:45 PM
Tiny
CHRISTOPHER SA
  • MEMBER
  • 221 POSTS
Spark plug #5.
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Saturday, July 23rd, 2022 AT 4:48 PM
Tiny
CHRISTOPHER SA
  • MEMBER
  • 221 POSTS
Spark plug #6.
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Saturday, July 23rd, 2022 AT 4:54 PM
Tiny
CHRISTOPHER SA
  • MEMBER
  • 221 POSTS
I was then asked by Joe to do a wet test which I did. All the cylinders increased their PSI by a fair bit especially cylinders 1 and 2, which both registered over 150 PSI but dropped from that rapidly to hold for a few seconds around 90 PSI before slowly dropping. The videos show the wet test for cylinder 1 (2 videos) then 2.
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Saturday, July 23rd, 2022 AT 5:08 PM
Tiny
CHRISTOPHER SA
  • MEMBER
  • 221 POSTS
When doing these tests, I noticed that the valve cover gasket was protruding a tiny bit into the tower of spark plug holes 1, 2 and 6 and after having cleaned them out the first time when doing the inspections and tests noticed that tower 2 had filled slightly with oil again. The gasket was showing, and one could see it was wet from oil. You can see the gasket showing near the top of some of the holes in this video. That ends the mystery of where the oil comes from. So, I purchased a new valve cover gasket. It is waiting to be put on.
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Saturday, July 23rd, 2022 AT 5:18 PM
Tiny
CHRISTOPHER SA
  • MEMBER
  • 221 POSTS
Next, I was asked to do a spark test. A link was posted in the original thread of how to do this, which I cannot remember so I hope that Joe or Jacobandnickolas put it up for others. It was found that all the spark plugs apart from the one for cylinder 4 (from the front) had a reading of 0.17v (if the reader was set to 20v(?) - It could have been 2v, I can't remember). So, the coil from cylinder four was totally not working. A NOS (new old stock) one was found on eBay from Egypt for $25.00 plus $20.00 shipping! I had given a link to one in Latvia for $114.00 but cancelled that one after finding this one a few minutes later. That arrived a couple of days ago and, yes, it looks brand new! It has not been tested yet.
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Saturday, July 23rd, 2022 AT 5:23 PM

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