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Re: 318ia locked up and went bye bye

> From: "DEV::ASR_2" <ASR_2%DEV.decnet@domain.elided>
> Date: 20 Dec 94 11:41:00 CST
> Subject: 318ia locked up and went bye bye
>
> Ok a moment of silence for my Brother in Law's 318ia (130k?) that is probably
> totalled.  I have a few questions for the professional drivers on the net
that
> about the accident.  The car had an automatic transmission and I tried to
> get as much info out of the driver as possible and this is what happened...
> He was going around a turn on the freeway at about 60 when someone cut him
> off. He is not sure what happened next but thought he might have flinched and
> accidentally hit the shift lever, which has the top broken so will shift any
> place, but is not sure.

	What do you mean by the top broken?  I am assuming the lockout for
automatic shifter is broken since you are able to shift into any gear.

> Anyway the car locked up(I guessed he slammed on the brakes) and he lost
> control and slid into the center divider rear end first spun and then slammed
> the divider again headon.  So the car is pretty thrashed but we are waiting
> for the insurance report to hear what is up.  Anyone have a guess as to the
> reason the car might have slipped into the wall rear end first?

	Well, here is my suspicion... your brother_in_law slammed it into PARK.
 In order for the car to slip into the wall rear_end first you must have a
funky weight distribution bias in which the car must have been loaded alot in
the rear (i.e. rear_engined porsches are notorious for rear_end first crashes)
or he locked up the rear tires and threw it into a turn.  I really doubt that
your brother_in_law over_weighted the rear of the car.  By the description of
the broken shifter... he must have accidentally slammed it into PARK.

> Is this one of those twitchy rear end things?

	I honestly doubt it... it's more like driver error.  Most BMW sedans
are relatively well balanced.  But I seriously doubt that a twitchy rear_end
would be the cause, for if it was, the driving characteristics of the car
overall would be dramatically changed.

> I tend to think he wasn't really aware of the performance ability or the
> limits of the chassis and discovered rear end twitch and rear wheel drive
tend
> to make things a little dangerous.

	Hmmm... I still think he slammed it into PARK.

> Does anyone know what could happen if the transmission had accidentally moved
> from D to N or R?

	To neutral the engine will just rev... until you let off on the gas
:^). If you stick it into reverse it will just kill the engine and stress your
driveline a little.  But if you slammed it into park you will really stress the
driveline as well as the rest of the car.

> Is there an ignition kill doodad in the 84 so that this
> cannot happen?

	Yes, it's called momentum and laws of classical physics and alittle
mechanical engineering.  Defy them and you will kill the engine.  Unless your
firing sequence is set up that it will run in reverse firing order?  Does
anyone know if that is possible... reverse firing order?
	Simple recommendation... get the shifter fixed.  Well in your case...
it's a little late.  :^(

> Any replies would be appreciated I would hate to have him
> blame a really nice machine and be able to explain what had happened.

	Tell him that "HE" probably messed up and it was his fault and not the
car is not to blame.

> This may end up being a parts car, so I will post again if this is the case.
> He bought it from a kid who didnt take care of it at all, so it wasn't in
> great shape, few knobs missing etc, but the mechanics looked good.

	Are the mechanics female?  Naw, just kidding.  I am assuming the
mechanicals looks good.

Latas,
Allan Chen
Silicon Graphics Inc.
Mountain View, CA
allanc@domain.elided