Start Button Stays Depressed - Car Won’t Start
 

Yesterday morning I went to start my car. I closed the door, put the key fob in the ignition, put my foot on the brake, and pressed the start button. It stayed depressed and the car didn’t start. The engine didn’t even attempt to turn over. The dash lights came on and the radio came on, but the radio turned off after a couple of seconds.

Is this a start button switch failure? Or is this indicative of a bigger electrical problem?

I saw the warning light indicating an ignition problem (the one that looks like the car is on a lift), and after a couple of times inserting and removing the key fob, I also saw the low battery symbol. No matter how many times I inserted and removed the key fob, the start button stays depressed. I tried to jump the car, thinking that if the battery got some extra juice the start button would pop out, but it did not. Of course, even with the jumper cables the car wouldn’t start because the button is still depressed.

2006 530i with 162k miles

I replaced the starter 16 months ago and I replaced the battery 6 months ago. I drove the car the day before with no issue - ran and started fine. I have had a SES light, which I have diagnosed as a thermostat heater element failure, but haven’t gotten around to changing the thermostat.

Disconnect the negative cable of the battery and keep it disconnected for about 5 minutes. Reconnect after 5 minutes and start the car. Also, check and see if your battery is fully charged, with sufficient cranking power. Good luck!

Just to follow-up onthis, for anyone who may be interested …
I purchased areplacement switch and started to remove the faulty one from my dash. As I was prying ever-so-gently, I got thebutton about 1/2 inch out of the dash and the start/stop button suddenly sprungout to its normal position.Because Ihadn’t disconnected the battery, my car was completely dead (silly me, Iknow).I pulled my other car into thegarage and hooked up the jumper cables.After about 20 minutes of charging, the car started fine.


I think the problemwas simply a sticking button, as there seems to be no other electrical problem.