<E36> Rough/No Start, Air Mass Meter

[Matthew Tremmel <tremmemm@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The saga continues....

I tried to pick up my car from the body shop who
painted the hood after the window tinter dropped
a hose nozzle on it, and part 2 of the story starts.

It's Friday ight, 11 PM, I just got in from Boston after waiting
3 hours because the first flight was cancelled.  The
car isn't in the best part of town, so I am pretty anxious
to get it home.

The car started but idle'd horribly, then stalled.
The car is still wet from the wash job the body shop
gave it.  I check under the hood and there is a lot
of water drops about half-way up the engine.  It's
pooled in some areas.  I pull the air filter and
it's dry.  I feel up inside the ducting and no water.
So I assume, while it's wet underneath, I haven't sucked
any water up.

A few more times and it seemd to go, but VERY rough idle.
I go about 2 blocks and it died, refusing to start again.
I figure something electronic got damp and it need to dry
out.  It's at least in a more open area, so I go home and come
back Sat. morning.  Same problem.

I pull a spark plug (3 months old)and it is almost dripping
with gas and is completely black.  So I know the engine is
getting gas, but the plugs are fouled. So I hike down to the
auto parts store and pick up a new set of plugs.  Throw them
in and after a few rough tries, the engine starts and idle's
great.  I let it run for a few minutes and it promptly dies.

I get it towed to the one shop open on Saturday and the 
preliminary prognosis is the air mass meter is bad, but he'll
have to verify on Monday.

Summary:
1994 325is.  Car works fine when I dropped it off to be painted. They
didn't drive the car over a mile, if at all (odometer reads the same).
Rough idle then won't start, tach never worked even with the rough
and later, short but smooth idle.  New plugs didn't help.  
Suspect: Air mass meter.


Questions:
1) Do air mass meter's just "die" ?
2) Could the heat from the paint booth kill it?
3) How do I verify it is bad?
4) How does the non-functioning tach figure into this?
5) New, used, or rebuilt?  Where? (Dealer wants $470 for the part)


TIA,

Matt Tremmel
tremmemm@domain.elided
'94 325is

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