93 325is breaking my heart

[michael42775]

I recently had this up for sale and then found myself turning down all the offers due to my love for the car. within a day of me ending the ebay listing and taking the signs down the thing acted up again. now it won't start at all.
my question's are, 1st I know it needs an alternator but it has been running. now even on jumpers all it will do is turn over. it will not fire. it's showing a check engine code 1231 for the charging system. does bmw have a safeguard to prevent the car from firing over if the alernator is too far gone ?
2nd, I need an ac compressor, an alternator, a headliner, shocks, and serious sunroof repair not to mention countless other things I can't even bear to think of right now. IS this worth keeping ? I have 282,000 miles on it and I love it to death but maybe I'm not being realistic.
3rd, will anyone write a letter to chip foose for me?
thanks alot. -------Mike

[Jeron]

Probably killed your battery with the bad alternator.

[michael42775]

the car still turns over and cranks normally on cables. the battery is fine. I did run seafoam fuel cleaner through it right before this happened. is it possible it clogged my fuel filter ?

[Jeron]

My first step would still be to either test it with a known good battery or have the battery tested for free at the local parts store.

I've had bad batteries and even bad battery connections crank the engine but not start before.

Then check fuel and fire. Pull a plug to see if it is wet with fuel. Then check for spark.

[michael42775]

the battery checks out. same thing with a different battery. I'll check the plugs. any idea where the fuel filter is on this. every article I look at gives me a different location. I see something that might be it on the left side of the block. thanks again for the help.

[Eli at Pelican Parts]

Dear Chip Foose,

We would like for you to know that Mike has been a very good kid this year and has not parked his car on his neighbor’s lawn, well not as of lately. Anyhow we’re writing to you today to ask you what I’m certain everyone here would like to know…….
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Does he have a dead alternator or not…..

-Eli

[Jeron]

The fuel filter on a 97 e36 is under the car beneath drivers seat.

[michael42775]

this is a 93 and it's under the hood drivers side and impossible to get to. I think I'm going to give up and just sell it for best offer. It ran fine with the dead alternator before the seafoam cleaner. now I just want to get it running to sell the damn thing.

[michael42775]

this is a 93 and it's under the hood drivers side and impossible to get to. I think I'm going to give up and just sell it for best offer. It ran fine with the dead alternator before the seafoam cleaner. now I just want to get it running to sell the damn thing. it has fire but no fuel to the plugs. can an alternator do this ? I've never heard of that before.