I have a '90 535i. I was coming home last night and all of a sudden I heard a funny noise that I can only describe as a screeching sound, not loud, but noticable. It appeared to be coming from the center or rear of car. I lost all engine power and it died. The engine cranks fine, with no unusual noises. After thinking about it I decided it might be the fuel pump had gone bad.

I have this morning done the following.

I pulled the hoses off the fuel pump and turned on the key. No buzzing of the pump motor and no fuel. I then turned the engine over, and fuel pumped out of the delivery side connection. Is this normal? I was expecting the pump to pressurize as soon as the key was turned on. I have checked spark by putting a timing light on and it flashed., so I do not believe it is a spark issue.