Nolan222

Hey all,

So I took my 04 in last week into the Center BMW in the SF valley last week (where I bought the car) and for a cranking problem. The problem is the starter cranks for an extended period of time, sometimes for 3-6 seconds before the engine catches. I follow the normal start up procedure where I push down the brake and turn the key once. It doesn?t happen all the time but does happen daily. Also it doesn?t happen in the morning when the car has sat the whole night (so not a cold start problem).

It just sounds like the starter is turning and the engine is on but the starter keeps going until the engine turns completly. So the dealer says it?s either the starter or fuel problem. They ran some diagnostics on it and said it was the starter. So they replaced the starter out of warranty (my car had 70K on it) for $800 bucks. I get the car back the other day and few hours later the problem reappears!

I call my SA and told him the problem came back and which point he told me he guessed it was the starter because the fuel test didn?t show any problems. He also said it was hard to replicate the problem at the dealer so it was hard diag it and I would have to leave the car for at least a week so his shop foreman can drive it home and see what happens.

I searched the threads for similar problems and found this thread: http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=20104
Which the OP has similar sounding issues.

HELP

Also attached is a clip of how it sounds.

Nolan222

Anybody?

carfucious

I had something similar. Mine would crank, but not fire up, acted like a fuel problem. Took it in and the shop kept it for a few weeks and couldn't figure it out until they got a bad reading from the crank angle sensor. I had them replace it and the problem has not returned. Sometimes the car would try to start, and would begin to run very rough and die, other times it was not a problem.

Good luck.

Nolan222

Thanks for the info, will mention it to my SA.

bigbadbull

Try the fuel pumps that would be a good guess as any if you know for sure it is not a bad Batt. or bad cell on the Batt.

carfucious

I thought the same thing, wait until you price one of these $740 -parts only!

Turns out the reason the fuel pumps are so expensive is they rarely fail. That was true in my case. Also there was discussion of a known TSB regarding failed/leaking injectors causing hard starting. They test by monitoring the fuel pressure drop after key is turned off.

Paavju

Mine is suffering exactly the same problem that occures usually when the engine is "half warm". Crank shaft pulsesensor has been replaced without any results. Let me know if the reason/fix will be found!

Nolan222

Will do. The car is with me right now as Im waiting for BMW loaner. My SA wants me in BMW loaner as it might take a while to figure this out, so he says.

gbaty0001

had almost the exact same thing with my 04 530i, they replaced the batt and starter, no problems to speak of now. good luck

Nolan222

Good to know, thanks!