Quote:
Originally Posted by x3heh
Better not lose the battery... Also I think if one loses the battery/electric and engine simultaneously while moving - stopping would be quite difficult, not to mention the steering.  |
My e30 M3 had a Single Point Vulnerability (single failure point) that, if it still exists, and it might, would cause exactly that.
While nearing home after an almost 200 mile trip I looked at the instruments and they were doing wierd things. Just as I commented to my wife about something being goofy, the car just died, everything.
The ground strap between the alternator body and the engine block failed. The car ran with headlights and A/C on until there was no battery left to run the engine management computer. This 1988 technological wonder still had a manual transmission and mechanical steering so control of the car while coasting to the side of the street was not difficult. I used a jumper cable with one cable end clamped to the alternator and the other end to the body for a temporary fix. A good push on the door frame and a quick jump in the drivers seat to pop the clutch got us home.
I doubt highly this type of failure on an X3 (or most modern cars) would be so easy to recover from or allow the car to be so well behaved after all the electrics shutdown.