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View Full Version : Stuck in Mcdonald's drivethrough....Bimmer trouble



g-mcstud
04-19-2005, 09:15 PM
Today a buddy and myself drove to the Northland Mall McDonald's for lunch in my 99 328is. It was kind of hot in the car, it had been sitting in the sun, and so I turned on the AC. Normally my car is like a fridge when I turn it on, but it wasn't kicking in, I couldn't hear the fan or anything. We were in line at the drive-through when I pulled up the the intercom. All of a sudden the AC kicked in, and I tried to put down my window to place my order, but for some reason it wouldn't go down, and then my friend tried his and it wouldn't go down either, so I tried the sunroof and that wasn't working either. The engine still sounded like it was running perfectly. I thought maybe something needed to be reset so I tried shutting off and restarting the car.

I tried to start it again after shutting and it wouldn't start! It wouldn't crank or anything, the accessories would turn on and that was it. The clutch was depressed, everything was normal but the starter would fire at all. I could hear this wierd buzzing sound coming from under the hood and the fan belt was turning the whole time. Unfortunately, if anybody know's this Mcdicks drive through they'll know it is uphill and it could have been tough to push it up. There were about 5 cars in front of me and 3 behind. I got out and asked the cars behind me if they'd mind backing out and so they did, and so I rolled it out on to the street and pushed it into the McDonald's loading bay. Tried starting it again but nothing. This buzzing sound was louder and I popped the hood, and grey smoke came out of the engine compartment. I couldn't tell if it was coming from the engine or something else under it, the sick smelling smoke was seeping around the engine.

After about five minutes of buzzing and smoke, it all of a sudden died down and and few sparks flew from around the dipstick area and the sound stopped. Tried starting again, nothing. Pulled out the dipstick and the oil seemed kind of sludgy for a car that had been running 5 minutes prior, but I had just had my oil changed when i got the car 2 months ago. By then I had called the dealer and they sent a flatbed, loaded the car and took it to the dealer. Once I got home I got a call from the dealer and they said that once they got it off the truck they tried starting it and it started up fine and the windows were working, and everything.

They are going to take a look at it tomorrow and see what happened. I have no idea what it is, seemed electronic with the windows, AC and whatnot?

Does anybody know of anything like this ever happening to them or someone else, and what might be the problem?

thinmyster
04-19-2005, 10:11 PM
all i can say is i hope you have some kinda warrenty

RickDaTuner
04-19-2005, 10:30 PM
High amp arc once again.. they do weird things to your car, to everones car really

marq-jt
04-19-2005, 10:33 PM
its a ghost... :D

Ben
04-20-2005, 12:59 AM
Sounds like a McBreakdown...would you like fries with that?


hahaha, sorry, I couldn't help myself.

Really have no clue what would be causing that, sounds messed. Does sound electrical though...alternator grounded on something else or lose connection perhaps?

prodjsxb
04-20-2005, 06:20 AM
McBreakdown :rofl: that was funny actually.

I had weird issues with my wiper blades not working one rainy night... glad i used rain x. but the problem never returned, dealer could not replicate it. weird ass gremlins

:thumbsup:

g-mcstud
04-20-2005, 07:52 AM
Yea it sounds funny, I know. Stuck in the drivethrough of all places.... It was pretty embarassing.

2m0a0x2
04-21-2005, 01:07 AM
Well, this never happened to me, but the windows thing could be a fuse thing...happened in our uber old camry....one fuse would go and AC and windows would all go at the same time...but I don't know ......cause your car wouldn't start either....

g-mcstud
04-21-2005, 05:04 PM
Update:

Turns out that the dealership had done some work on the fuel injection with the previous owner, and had replacd a clip of some sort. Unfortunately they misplaced the clip they had taken out, so they wrote it in the file and sent the car on its way.

Well the clip found its way onto the starter and was causing it to short out and fried the power cable into the starter.

The BMW gallery payed the service charges and tow truck fees.