Car Probs

[Puntr26]

hey guys... I was driving home from school today, and stopped to get some gas from the Shell station on Centreville & McLaren rd, and after about 1 min from leaving the station, my car starts to make this sound like it is choking/sputtering/stalling... at first i think nothing of it... but then it keeps doing this, i eventually get up to about 30mph, and the car just cant take it anymore, and completely dies. I put it into neutral, and coast into a nearby parking lot, call the tow truck, and bring it into the Dulles International MotorSport shop. one of the mechanics mentioned that it could have been that there was water mixed into the gas tank... or could be much worse... so please let me know if u know what is going on, or if its happned to you before. thnx a lot
-Kyle

[E31]

Did it throw a "check engine" light? Sometimes if the gas cap is not on tightly it may do that.

[Puntr26]

yeah... the check engine light was lit up, along with the oil light... thats all I remember...

[Puntr26]

and its not like its an old car in bad shape, I JUST got a service check a month ago, and they changed sum stuff. It has been running fine ever since I bought it.

[greateratlanta]

The fact that the oil light came on with the check engine light doesn't sound good. When you got your service, did they change the oil?It is possible that the drain plug or the filter may have been put on too lose causing a slow oil leak. This could cause your engine to seize up. Check the oil level to make sure this is not the case. However, it could be as simple as refueling stirred up some sediment in the tank causing the injectors to become clogged.

[Puntr26]

ok... I talked to the guy at the shop today, and he said it could be one of two things... on the better side, I could need a new ignition coil (few hundred $ :-/ ) or on the heavier side... a new engine computer ($1000+) :-o . He said that only 3 of the 4 cylinders were firing, which gave me that funny put, put, put, nothing, put, put, put, nothing... the thing that also scared me was that the engine was shaking on the mounts... usually when i rev it, it'll move a lil bit, but yesterday, it was shaking a LOT more than usual, even when not revving it. hopefully it'll be ok

[Duke]

spark plugs? when an engine violently shakes, means one or more pistons are not firing.

[E31]

Do what you can to save $$, change the spark plugs as suggested, are the O2 sensors OK. They always cause more problems than one would suspect. Coils you can get on the net for cheaper than the dealer.

[Puntr26]

ok... the mechanic told me that the only thing that is going to work is to get a whole new engine computer... $1,900 :-( The problem was that I got a car wash right after I got gas, and the mechanic said that my car's year (94) had problems with water getting into the circut board on the engine's computer (mine was corroded with water) :-( I should be getting it back in like 4-5 days. all i can say was that was the most expensive car wash ever

[1SlowBimmer]

oh, damn man, you didnt tell me that your car got messed up..
how did you get to school today anyways? (that explains why you where there on time today.....) anyways, good luck.

[Puntr26]

my friend eric has been giving me rides to school in his pimped grand cherokee... I'm gonna be posting some off-road pix with him soon

[porkyzilla]

man that is terrible that sucks im sorry

[E31]

BS about the water getting in....Use some type of dielectric compound/contact cleaner that removes electric corrosion lubes. Give it a try before spending 2K.

[Qum1]

Hey, after getting a car wash last night my car (93 325i) stalled after about 1 minute. Its the second time its happened after getting one of those gas station carwashs that sprays water underneath the engine. I just let it sit for a few minutes and everything was fine... And with me both the check engine and oil light came on, and wouldn't start for a few minutes.. anyone else have this type of problem?

[Qum1]

And I was at a shell station too... just saw that in the first post