Car won't go pleaseeeeee helpppppp

[imadinosaur]

Okay so I have to say first of all this a wonderful website, love it so much. Second here is the problem okay, I have a 1995 740i (obd1 :(... ). And it has started and driven fine for the pass two months, except for a cutting out problem. When it warms up after about 10 minutes it will turn off unless you put the car in neutral. That's not the point or the problem, (it is a problem but.... not huge right now, and it is the O2 sensors causing the problem). So friday night im heading to work from the bank and its on a decline. So the douche in front of me was taking forever to turn into the street from the bank so I put the car into neutral. The guy decides to turn as soon as I put it into neutral, so I put the car back into to drive and it turns off. So I quickly put the car into park to turn it on (forgetting im on a decline, and instead to start it in neutral) and the car rolls in park five feet (while it is still off). It makes a groaning sound and then stops, I turn the car on and drive away, but this time driving away it is really slow and hesitates alot from a standstill. But when I get up to 40mph it is fine, but when i stop and go it is very slow and hesitant. I get back home after work and the car is fine but hesitating alot at standstill, and it also makes a weird popping sound under 20mph. I get home turn it off comeback in the morning and it will turn on but it has a horrible idle (about 400 to 500). And it will only go like 5mph, and not even up my driveway, even if I floor it.

So I checked online and thought maybe the trans went into failsafe mode or something like that. But i cant check cause the car is obd1, and thats alot harder to get your hands on a obd 1, Bmw scan tool adapter. So I really dont no what to do, I normally only work on honda and nissans. Which are alot easier to work on. Because A there 4 cylinders most of the time. And B im more familiar with them. Maybe theres something im not looking at. Maybe there's A familiar problem I don't know about. Ive searched everywhere and didn't find anything really helpful. Sorry about the long post, any help would be appreciated!

[Timm]

If the car had gone into Trans Failsafe mode - it would have warned you of this on the instrument cluster. It sounds more like you have simple maintenance issues such as oil in the sparkplug wells, a popped PCV valve or faulty MAF.

The car can be diagnosed, all E38's can to some extent. Even the simple code-readers should work fine.

[2000bmwe38]

Maybe you fried a few gears when you put it in park while it was still rolling

[Mayorchuck]

Did you try a stomp test?

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1433734

[imadinosaur]

I was thinking i fried some gears, but yesterday it was working fine, it just took forever to go. And it made some weird popping sounds like the tie rods were out. Then this morning it wouldnt go at all and idled like sh*t. Could just going in park a couple feet ruin your transmission? I dont think its the oil thing cause it just happend all of a sudden and the engine is to messed up right now to even move. I would think I would be able to go faster then 5 mph. Maybe Maf but normally the car will still be able to move and go atleast 20, but mine wont go past 5. Also my clusters messed up I cant even read it (the infamous pixel thing) thanks guys for your time and patience. Just keep on throwing stuff out there please. And Ill go check, I already checked the wiring harness, looks good. Im going to disconnect the battery and maybe that will help?? Its a long shot but its worked on other cars.

Ill try the stomp test right now man thanks

[Mayorchuck]

Since you can't check your voltage via the cluster, I would take it to Auto Zone to have it checked unless you have a VOM and can check it yourself. Even marginal low voltage on these cars can really mess things up. You could unplug the MAF to see if it runs any better if you wanted to check it. I would probably pull the pre-cat O2 sensors to see if my cats were plugged. In other words, I would check all I could to eliminate the easy stuff first. Be patient, one of the big guns here will chime in soon.

[imadinosaur]

I checked the voltage and it was 12.4, Ive been starting it alot so thats probaly why its a little low. But i wouldnt think thats low enough to do anything. It just puzzles me that the transmission getting messed up would affect the engine. I wish there was an easier way to diagnose it. The stomp test didnt work... so idk. Does anybody know if rolling the car in park has enough force to damage first gear and the transmission? And in turn damage the engine?

[Edwin NL]

Does anybody know if rolling the car in park has enough force to damage first gear and the transmission? And in turn damage the engine?

How would you do that?

[Timm]

At some point you need to do some work (like checking plugs, HT stubs, MAF etc) rather than asking more questions - and get diagnostics done.

[imadinosaur]

I did everything already in a day. But no problems solved. Its not the MAF or anything like that. It has something to do with the transmission.... im just trying to figure out what. I just dont get how rolling in park, then car goes south. Maf broke?? Im not making fun of you or anything its just the circumstances don't justify it. And I cant do diagnostics with a car that doesnt move, if it was obd 2 i could get a computer in a second. Since its obd 1 i have to get an adapter for it which makes it alot harder. And I dont know either how its possible to roll in park, but it did. Does anybody know about the transmission pawl? And how easy it is to break off under stress like that? I would think that the pawl breaking would cause me to lose my ability to put my car in park, not my engine running like crap. Ill try to get the engine diagnostics today. Thanks for the help guys, its really appreciated.

[Timm]

No offence taken! If you can't get the car to stop in Park - then the possibilities are that the selector cable needs adjusting. This can also cause the car not to turn-over as the car does not think the gearbox is in Park. Here's how it is adjusted:

http://www.meeknet.co.uk/E32/E32_Shift_Lever_Adjustment.pdf

[imadinosaur]

I will check that out, thank u sir!

[M633CSi]

Check your OSV also, Take of the intake manifold cover(silver cover with BMW sign on top of engine) and smack the back of the intake manifold, if it works a bit better, then its your OSV. Does the car smoke?

[imadinosaur]

Just doing a recap, I hate when people tell me about there problems, and they never tell me what the problem was the whole time. I just wonder, and im a very curious person.... so it wasnt the OSV, it wasnt smoking, and the car wouldnt start in nuetral. So I would think that would rule out the selector cable, cause the car should start in either park or nuetral. But im going to check it out anyway. Its been a busy week and weekend. ITs been so HOT!! Its been really hard to work outside on my car. But a friend of mine said to check out the fuel pump, because in the heat the vapor or something does something. So just wondering, are the fuel pumps on these cars bad? Do they go bad alot? I didnt work on alot of fuel pumps on hondas cause they never break down on those cars. So..... any thoughts or suggestions on that?

[Mayorchuck]

I replaced my fuel pump a few years ago. Very easy to get to under the back seat. I just tested the one on a parts car to see if it was good after I got it. I pulled the hose off the top cap and put on another 3 foot hose I had and stuck it in a gas can. Had my wife turn the car over and out came the gas.

[imadinosaur]

Sooooo Just wanted to tell you guys the solution i got, just in case anybody else got the same problem and needed help. Turns out my car flooded and had bad converters, never never never ever had a car flood before like that.... Pure craziness ran my 240sx for days rich and flooded.. but would always start. You learn something every day. I was going to sell her, but after one day of driving I can't lol. Thanks for all your help guys.

[Mayorchuck]

Good to hear. Thanks for the update.

[meteck]

Glad to hear it worked out. :)

[Edwin NL]

Glad it worked out!