88 735i Won't Start

I recently acquired an 88 735i that was idling rough by drivable (I even drove it from California to Colorado. This week I tuned it up by basically replacing the spark plugs, rotor and the distributor cap. I did not replace the spark plug leads due to cost and was going to replace them only if the rough idle stayed. The tune up worked great and the car drives smooth. Until this morning.. I drove the car this morning (about 20 minutes) to a coffee shop. After the coffee shop, the car started but as soon as I pressed on the accelerator it hesitated and died. I was able to restart it right away and managed to drive about 60ft to the nearest stop sign. When I tried to accelerate it hesitated and died. I pushed it to the adjacent parking lot and left it there for about 4-hours. When I came back, it started right up, I let it idle for a few minutes, then it died after I pressed the accelerator. I haven't been able to start it since. I would really appreciate if someone can tell me what problem I am dealing with. Thank in advance.

Hello again,

Troubleshot by reinstalling my old NGK sparkplugs and the car started right up. Looks like my car doesn't like bosch sparkplugs with two-prongs. Anyway, ordered new NGK plugs and hopefully there are no underlying problems. Could still use some advise just in case I may overlooked something.

I'm completely stumped. I've been looking into this issue since you posted but have been able to turn up nill...

Have you been able to figure out the cause of your rough idle?

After I put in new spark plugs my problems went away but I believe the rough idle was caused by a worn out distributor cap. Everything seems to be fine right now.

You very well might be right on one point. I know some cars don't like anything other than what they came with out of the factory. I know on my 750 the motor runs better on the four electrode bosche plugs. Currently, I only have the single electrode Platinum series and my car runs smooth. In fact, you can place a cup of coffee on the accoustic silencer and it'll be surprisingly smooth...