peter321

So....my 2007 525i has left me stranded for the second time in about 6 months. Maybe I should consider myself lucky, first time was about a block away from my house, failed water pump. Latest, in my driveway, car won't start, no turning over, no click, nothing except sound of fuel pump. My indy dealer replaced battery about a week ago after I noticed starter seemed to labour a bit after sitting overnight. Yes, he reset whatever it is that needs resetting, battery still has full charge.

Wanted to check fuses but in BMW's infinite wisdom a lot of symbols on diagram are meaningless to the average person. Why don't they put this stuff in the manual? Can't even find anything on the internet. And why is it they can give you warnings about all kinds of fairly useless info like a bulb burning out but there is never any indication when you are about to have a major failure with something that can leave you stranded out in the middle of nowhere. I travel to a lot of car races in the summer which usually finish late at night and are out in the middle of nowhere. These types of failures don't exactly fill me with a lot of confidence when I'm travelling out of town.

If they are going to build cars that rival the space shuttle with all the electronics etc can they not have critical systems a little more bulletproof.

I'm sure the dealer will probably say it's my fault somehow, like when I had to spend $600 to replace a cracked rim. That was me hitting a pothole at about 30mph, seriously?? Happens all the time according to them.

Well, that's my rant for the night. Anyone have any ideas on the starter thing.

latitude39

Sorry to hear about your starter issue. I referred to my Bentley E60 manual, which suggests trying the other key--thinking there might be a problem with the CAS (Car Access System). If that's not the problem, Bentley says to check the voltage (12.6v) at the B+ terminal on the solenoid. This is located under the intake manifold, attached to the bell housing. Access will probably require removing some intake air ducts, etc. If you get serious about that, I can send a photo of the location of B+.

I haven't found the fuse location in Bentley, yet. I'll take another couple of minutes looking and report if I can help find the correct fuse.

How many miles on your car?

You got my attention when you mentioned a water pump failed on you. My wife has a 2006 530xi with 92k miles. I "know" something important is going to fail and strand her so I'm trying to be proactive. These types of failures interest me in that I'm trying to avoid them. $1100+ in parts to replace hoses, pump, thermostat, expansion tank, etc.

peter321

Car has about 76k ( miles ) on it. My limited understanding about water pump is that electronics ( circuit board ) can fail prematurely from heat.I think this may have been fixed on later series, not sure.

I have tried both keys,everything appears to be normal, all dash lights, windows etc work, no error messages showing.
When I press check button indicates all systems ok. Unfortunately I don't have resources, garage.... to do any kind of work on car other than basic maintenance so I guess it's off to the dealer.

I'm kinda pissed because I love this car. I don't mind quirks, like my passenger side mirror which seems to have a mind of it's own but this kind of stuff scares me. I know I'm repeating what has been said thousands of times but at least with older cars you had half a chance of getting the thing going when something failed. I guess those days are gone. haha

turboawd

pull the trunk carpeted side panel out, and wiggle the battery connectors to make sure they are tight.

peter321

Got the word back from my Indy that starter is gone. Thankyou extended warranty.

phlfly

About the rims, it's strange to me too, if this is real BBS rims, then must be made somewhere else but BBS factory. Is bmw buying them from cheap Chinese "BBS" factory?
The BBS should be shame to sell this rims for BMW, I would never buy again those famous BMW/BBS wheels.

Excession

Coincidence?

http://www.insideline.com/bmw/7-seri...fire-risk.html

?BMW is recalling 2,846 vehicles, including the 2012 7 Series, X5 and X6, because the circuit board for the electric auxiliary water pump can overheat, leading to a smoldering of the pump or an engine compartment or vehicle fire, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
?The recall, an expansion of an October 20, 2011 BMW recall of 32,084 vehicles, also includes the 2011 BMW 5 Series, 5 Series Gran Turismo and 6 Series.

peter321

Hmmmm...........I guess maybe they haven't fixed the problem.

As far as the rims, mine are just stock 17" 5 spoke rims. I know they had a real problem with the 19" in the UK, stopped offering them as an option cause they had to replace so many cracked wheels, PR was really bad, even made BBC consumer news program. I think part of the problem is they are always experimenting with new alloys etc to try and lighten things up and sometimes they don't get it right. But, they'll never admit it of course.