I bought a well used 530i for my son, price was right... Ok, you've heard that story before. Now the issues... The car was rebuilt from a body shop apparently and the person I bought it from was the owner's niece. I towed it to my barn as battery was dead so I installed new battery. Did battery reset with cheap code reader. No crank no start, installed new starter. Bingo we were running! The dash was lit up like a Christmas tree. DSC, Air Bags, ELV, pretty much every light. Did some research, replaced seat belt tensioner on drivers side. Replaced gauge cluster (Kombi) with new digital cluster. Drove for a week and boom, no crank no start. My son got the remote stuck in the ignition on the last trip and we took apart the column and dropped the pin to let the remote out. We tried a couple things to get it running but remote was stuck second time and now remote won't stay in ignition. I don't know if this is my issue or how to test. I have tried the IBS unplug and no luck. Bought Foxwell scanner and reset ELV, still dead. I am an ok parts swapper, but not as up to date with all the electronics BMW has. Do I need ISTA to diagnose and where do I get a copy?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

I had a similar issue with the key fob getting stuck in the ignition, pulling hard to get it out, then being unable to keep it in the slot. Car would start and I placed key fob on the screen shelf; continued to destination then turned car off and repeated to get home. Like you, I also removed the original ignition switch and reset the pin, but the problem came back. Ultimately I had to replace the ignition switch with a brand new one to get good results. I lightly rubbed my key fob edges with white lithium grease and then wiped it down with a cloth, and it seems to help the key sliding in and out of new ignition switch.
Good luck.

 

Was there any recoding required for your fob to work?

Thank you!

 

No, no coding was required. The ignition switch is “generic”.

 

thanks again!

 

You are likely already aware of this, however be sure that you disconnect the battery before you start dis-assembling the steering column as you don't want to trigger the airbag.