Choson1

my 2007 550i wouldn't start this morning. the battery is fine as all the electrical systems turn on and function. there is plenty of gas in the tank. my steering wheel was not locked. my gear shifter was firmly in park. i placed the key in the dash, stepped on the brake, and pressed the "Start" button...and nothing. any thoughts?

PS i got my first service done about 2 months ago...but the techs forgot to reset my service indicator. my indicator currently shows that i am over 1500 miles overdue for a service. would our cars shut down if you go way over the scheduled service interval like this? could this be a feature built into our cars by BMW to prevent us from driving the car if you don't change the oil?

rearwheeldrive

Hi

BMW would not have incerted such a feature that the car won't start because of that.
It's more likely a system failure. My colleage from work had a problem with his BMW - Actually it would not stop when pressing the start/stop. BMW had to fix it.
I have heard of BMW ignition/start problems before, so it does happen.
What does your display say - any faults in the screen ?

Choson1

the only fault is "Service Overdue" and the meter reads -1500 miles. other than that, no other fault or lights

rearwheeldrive

Hi
I am not a tech or specialist in anyway.
If you want to try something, then remove the battery power just for a few minuttes put battery power back again and then see if it will start up.
Other than that I dont have any input other than the techs at BMW.

Rudy

The battery disconnect idea might not be a bad idea -- the only other thing I can add at this point is to try to see if you can take the transmission lever out of Park (and put it back in again.)

Sometimes, if it's not into Park exactly right, the car may think it's out of Park and not let you start it. I haven't tested this recently but something tells me that if this was the problem, you'd still get some sort of warning telling you to put the thing in Park.

If you can't get it out of Park, the interlock switch on the brake pedal may be faulty (but again, I'd expect a warning to come up telling you to apply the brake before starting, etc.)

Keep us updated on how you make out...

ExGMan

How did he eventually stop the engine...take it to BMW, let it idle until the fuel ran out? Interesting problem...

SilberGrauE60

Excuse me if this does not apply to the 2007 model, but my manual states that the car will start with the auto tranny in either P or N. It also sounds like this car has comfort access (start button), so my comment may not apply to this configuration either.

Rudy

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying here...

The presence of a start button does not automatically mean that the car has comfort access. Comfort access or not, the car will not start unless it's in Park or Neutral. I was suggesting that the OP move the lever out of Park and back in again to make sure that it was, in fact, in Park. I imagine that there might be a microswitch embedded somewhere in the shift lever that tells the car what position the lever is in so moving it around might cause the switch to open and close again or close if it was somehow stuck open.

I realize it's a long-shot but it's certainly worth a try, right?

MiamiPhill

Don't assume the battery is fine because the dash & i-drive etc. light up. Your 550 has a high compression & requires very high cranking amps to turnover the engine, very little current is needed to light up the dash, so you could have a bad battery.

EBMCS03

I had a bad battery but it still showed some kind of life when cranked... so unless he his battery totally died... but ya... its still very likely to be a battery problem...


Also what you can try is pump the brakes a few times... sometimes its the brake switch... check and see if the brake lights are lighting up when you step on the brakes before you push the start button.