"launched" my 85 318i, now it doesn't run

Alright, sooooo yeah. It's raining here in beautiful Maine, and I decided whilst at a stand still to launch my 318i. Rev to about 4.5k and ceremoniously dump the clutch (but not in a side-stepping fashion, slightly more gentle).

The car bogged down and proceeded to run like ass.

At first I was sure that it was my AFM stuck wide open, as was previously the issue. At first it was running, but would hardly operate under load. After checking a few things, the car won't even run now. It just sputters randomly.

The things that I checked:

1. vacuum lines
2. AFM
3. all visible EFI related plugs
4. checked for loose plug wires
5. checked for damaged cap/rotor
6. cleared the engine to check for flooding

The car is currently on the side of the road somewhere and I will be returning to it to try some other things. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Take the distributor cap off and see if its all in-tact in there (assuming E30 318 since you said AFM and not MAF...).

maybe you got water somewhere it shouldn't have been? Generally a launch only breaks mechanical things that make the car go.. not parts that make the engine run

Snorkle: I did check, but I have a spare rotor here that I'll throw in for the hell of it.

Mad_Machine: I know... it's totally stumped me. I've never heard of this happening before. I may just have to go through the motions.

318i uses a timing belt or a chain?

Might need to check your timing.. both at the distributer and the cam

Timing chain

Is that an answer or a question?

I assume your timing chain slipped?

It's broke. Sounds timing related as it seems to want to run, but doesn't.

Sorry. I found it. Pretty funny, had excellent spark at all four plugs, swapped in a spare AFM, car still didn't run, but it was backfiring sporadically.

Pulled the cap off, and turned the rotor. Uhmmm. I don't think rotors are supposed to turn 360* when the crank isn't moving.

$7.60 later at a NAPA that was a 1/4 mile away and I was on the road again.

The culprit:

{sarcasm} Awesome Made in USA part.{/sarcasm}

We had a good laugh about that.

So you ceremoniously dumped the clutch when leaving the NAPA parking lot, right?

In reply to MitchellC:

Sure did, but in a more timid manner.

What do I win :)

wooo.. love a cheap fix!

Snorklewacker, you win the pride of winning!

Unless you want the old rotor. It was going to go on my wall of shame, but you can have it if you like.