TGreene

Good afternoon guys,

A few months ago I picked up a project car. Decent condition 530i that would not start. Previous owner was a young lady who said it had a transmission fault and that the shop could not fix. She had it towed home and then it stopped starting. I was able to easily jump start it, reset the transmission with the 30-second brake pedal procedure, and drive the car home. I drove it around for a few weeks and it was hang shifting a bunch into 3rd and 4th so I dropped the mechatronics to replace the seals.

I did forget to disconnect the battery when I removed the mechatronics, and I think the first time I put it back in the seal sleeve was not all of the way in so the pins were not connected.

First result was to put the key in, have the trans fault remain, and the car would not crank. Replaced the battery because it was suspect, but no change. Found a parts car '04 530i mechatronics and threw it in (without putting the pan on or any fluid in) to see if there was any change - nothing.

From other threads, I have gathered that it is possible to start the engine without trans fluid. This could be wrong, but I have not seen any other transmission failures that cause the car to not crank/not start. It looks like DME relay and crank pos sensor will both cause no starts, but the car will still crank.

Is there a transmission failure that would cause the car to not crank? After reading about all sorts of E60 trans failures, I have not seen any that cause the car to not crank.

Thanks,

Trevor