UPDATE

So the day that my car broke down, my mechanic told me to try starting it with another key. I only had one key so i went and purchased another key immediately. Tried the key yesterday and the car still wouldn't start.

I told my mechanic about people with similar issues having replaced the battery but he wouldn't agree that the battery was faulty. He looked at the car some more and finally said it was the starter. He guaranteed the starter was the problem and said if changing it doesn't fix the problem there would be no charge so i let him do it. Picked the car up this afternoon and shes back up and running! I can't believe a car thats 4 nearly 5 years old would have this problem, its ridiculous :thumbsdown: !

$180 for new key @bmw mainline Bala Cynwyd (needed another one anyways so not money not wasted)
$480 to fix the starter including labor (I'm extremely young so most mechanics rip me off but holy fuck this dickwad charged me nearly $400 for labor at his shitty shop... but oh wells live and learn, never taking the car back to that guy again.)

anyways, finally my car is back home! Going to give it a nice wash later
Thanks to EVERYONE who gave me suggestions, i actually learned a lot. appreciate it!

 

Starter... ok. Glad she is up and running again!

Moral... no more pickup truck tows, pickup/tow driver crack shots and hokie indie mechanics!!!

 

Glad to see you got it worked out. I'm sure the stealership would have been that much and probably more. They wanted $1200 for an alternator replacement on my 2003 X5 but got it covered under warranty since it was only out by 30 miles.

For reference, starters don't usually last very long, like alternators. Depending on how much you start/stop determines the life more than the age of a car. A co-worker has 2 toyotas that have lost starters within 2 years of service each and one lost an oil pump. That's bad.

 

yeah lol, going to do more research the next time i take my car to a mechanic. I hope everything will work out with your car good luck man!

Yeah, the stealership would def be more expensive. I actually called a more known bmw performance shop (VAC motorsports in philly) yesterday and they quoted me ($400-500) to fix a starter. I would have taken it there, much less shady and more reliable but towing my car there would end up costing me more money than letting this indie mech finish the job.

And lol, you would think a toyota would be more reliable!

 

So it wasn't the battery and was the starter after all........

OP, glad to hear all is well now.

 

Hi, Glad you are up and running. If you had the starter done at the stealers it would have cost you double what you paid. Pity you had to buy a key.

Good Luck

 

Always flatbed. Our cars maybe complex but those symptoms all said starter. Maybe you can haggle with him and get him to pay for ya key since HE said get one and that was NOT the prob. Glad you got it up and running though

 

I know this has nothing to do with the problem that you are experiencing but it could create more problems for you in the future if you keep towing this way. You know that the E60 has to be on a flat bed when towing, right! Or dollies assuming the rear tires will fit!

 

Had exactly the same problem with my car 1 month ago.

Here's the topic

https://5series.net/forums/topic/105...5#entry1261735

 

Could have been the starter, maybe not.....unless problem remains to be seen. We'll see.