Hello, my first post here.

I have an '87 740 GLE auto with 262K miles. Lots of stuff is starting to go wrong, but this problem is worse than the rest.
The problem arose last night. In drive, my gas would suddenly cut out, and my power steering would fail while I'm driving. This is not a stall though. The engine would just idle at ~900 RPM, but the gas wouldn't rev it at all. (By the way, it's really hard to steer without power steering at 5 MPH!)

I'm trying to get into the whole fix it yourself thing, so please bear with my ignorance. If you have any ideas, I would greatly appreciate your help - and if you think it would be better just to take it into the shop, then I will surely take your advice (but it would be wonderful if it's possible to fix myself to save money and gain experience).

Thanks for all of your time. Crossing my fingers..
Have a good one,
Jeremy Rosenberg

 

Something seems weird about your problem it kind of doesn't make sense.Usualy when what you describe happening the car stalls.You say it doesn't stall though.Check your engine speed sensor and your fuel pump relay.Another thing to check would be your crank pulley.I'm wondering if maybe it is spinning.If you look at your crank pulley closely you will see there is 3 parts to it an inner,outer and rubber in the middle.Using either paint and a small brush or chalk mark the inside and outside in the same spot.In other words make a straight line all the way across.Start the car turn on the a/c and rev it up a couple of times then turn off and check the marks.If they dont line up the pulley is spinning and needs to be replaced soon.I've seen them come apart and they wipe out things when they come apart.
If there is any other signs of what else happens when your problems happen post it.It kind of seems as though you are missing some info no offence.There might just be something else your are missing when it happens.All the info you can provide will help me help you faster.

 

Thanks for the quick reply, tech.

Indeed it is strange, but yes, the engine continues to idle when this happens. I haven't been able to reproduce the problem since yesterday (happened twice yesterday). I'll try and post as much info as I can to you:

A/C does not work (missing a couple components so I just don't turn it on).
Problem seemed to occur when I'd accelerate quickly. Engine would rev up, then all of a sudden, I could "feel" it shut something off (car would jolt slightly). Then engine would gradually go down to idle speed. No power steering or acceleration.
The only thing I've replaced recently is a headlight low seal beam. I've done some work on oil pressure sensor but that was a long time ago.
Headlights, fan, radio, other electrical things still work when power steering cuts out.
When I restart the car, everything is back to normal.

That's literally all the information I have. If it happens again I will note more details before I restart the car. I'll look into that crank pulley but I don't know too much about this stuff, so what you said sounds a bit overwhelming.

Thanks for your help.
Jeremy Rosenberg

 

I will be waiting to hear from you again.

 

hey had the same problem look at where your throttle cables n stuff are next to the throttle body your see a stick thing that’s supposed to connect the throttle cables to the throttle body it got disconnected... I hope that made sense man!! if not just look at that area