E53 3.0 crank, no start and my wits end

[Effduration]

Welcome.

FPR is Fuel Pressure regulator...I believe it is part of the fuel filter on the E53.

I happen to think all your issues stem from the parasitic drain that I don't think you have properly diagnosed and solved.. I am working on one myself at moment.

These cars really don't like low voltage and it leads to all sorts of warnings and strange behavior.

Originally Posted by Minusonekidney

I began the process of searching for a parasitic draw. Waited until the X5 would go to sleep. Saw the draw drop the way it was supposed to as the car went into sleep. Problem remained.

Using a multimeter set on the 10amp setting on the negative battery cable, you need to see amperage in sleep mode at 50 milliamps or less (= 0.050 amps). It is not enough to watch amperage drop when it goes to sleep mode. This is summary of the testing process..search on it...

You then need to test fuses measuring millivolts (not milliamps) to try and determine which circuit is causing the problem. There are several good videos on this...It may be your FSU, radio, any aftermarket electrical component, or something else.

Hopefully, A fully charged battery, fixing the parasitic drain and an EWS re-synch willl solve this.. But honestly, after that I think I would find a good non-dealer BMW specialist and let him/her fix it.

[Henn28]

Originally Posted by Effduration

Welcome.

FPR is Fuel Pressure regulator...I believe it is part of the fuel filter on the E53.

I happen to think all your issues stem from the parasitic drain that I don't think you have properly diagnosed and solved.. I am working on one myself at moment.

These cars really don't like low voltage and it leads to all sorts of warnings and strange behavior.



Using a multimeter set on the 10amp setting on the negative battery cable, you need to see amperage in sleep mode at 50 milliamps or less (= 0.050 amps). It is not enough to watch amperage drop when it goes to sleep mode. This is summary of the testing process..search on it...

You then need to test fuses measuring millivolts (not milliamps) to try and determine which circuit is causing the problem. There are several good videos on this...It may be your FSU, radio, any aftermarket electrical component, or something else.

Hopefully, A fully charged battery, fixing the parasitic drain and an EWS re-synch willl solve this.. But honestly, after that I think I would find a good non-dealer BMW specialist and let him/her fix it.

+1. Some e53s don’t have FPRs (mine is a 2002 and has the smaller filter without one), but most have a larger filter with the FPR sitting on the output end. I believe it can be bought separately.

Low batteries can cause all sorts of seemingly unrelated issues.

Make sure the car goes to sleep…16 min is advertised time for all systems to power down. Bridge the negative at the battery, or just upstream where it goes to the chassis by the fuseable link block behind the left rear seat. Best case is you secure the meter leads, position the meter where you can read it thru a window and shut and lock the car. Hack your watch and wait. The amps may drop off in a couple increments as systems go to sleep, but at 16-ish min you should see the meter drop to .05. Mine fluctuated between .04 and .06. If it doesn’t then you need to pull a likely culprit fuse and do the whole thing again…and rinse/repeat as many times as necessary until you find the draw.

[Minusonekidney]

Originally Posted by Henn28

+1. Some e53s don’t have FPRs (mine is a 2002 and has the smaller filter without one), but most have a larger filter with the FPR sitting on the output end. I believe it can be bought separately.

Low batteries can cause all sorts of seemingly unrelated issues.

Make sure the car goes to sleep…16 min is advertised time for all systems to power down. Bridge the negative at the battery, or just upstream where it goes to the chassis by the fuseable link block behind the left rear seat. Best case is you secure the meter leads, position the meter where you can read it thru a window and shut and lock the car. Hack your watch and wait. The amps may drop off in a couple increments as systems go to sleep, but at 16-ish min you should see the meter drop to .05. Mine fluctuated between .04 and .06. If it doesn’t then you need to pull a likely culprit fuse and do the whole thing again…and rinse/repeat as many times as necessary until you find the draw.

I performed this process right off the bat, hooked up the meter and it sat at 75 for the first 15 minutes and then dropped in the low 40’s and fluctuated very little in the high 40’s. I would open a door and watch it wake up as well. I’ll run it again to make sure

[Minusonekidney]

Originally Posted by Effduration

Welcome.

FPR is Fuel Pressure regulator...I believe it is part of the fuel filter on the E53.

I happen to think all your issues stem from the parasitic drain that I don't think you have properly diagnosed and solved.. I am working on one myself at moment.

These cars really don't like low voltage and it leads to all sorts of warnings and strange behavior.



Using a multimeter set on the 10amp setting on the negative battery cable, you need to see amperage in sleep mode at 50 milliamps or less (= 0.050 amps). It is not enough to watch amperage drop when it goes to sleep mode. This is summary of the testing process..search on it...

You then need to test fuses measuring millivolts (not milliamps) to try and determine which circuit is causing the problem. There are several good videos on this...It may be your FSU, radio, any aftermarket electrical component, or something else.

Hopefully, A fully charged battery, fixing the parasitic drain and an EWS re-synch willl solve this.. But honestly, after that I think I would find a good non-dealer BMW specialist and let him/her fix it.

Thank you for the welcome to the group. I have confirmed the milliamp drop from the 75mA range, down the 40-50 mA fluctuation in sleep mode. I don’t have any aftermarket devices on this car. I’ve got an FSU arriving tomorrow, I’ve replaced one on my e46 so I’ll do that and see what happens. I’ll do some research and do the re sync of the EWS with my Foxwell 5302 as well.

[Minusonekidney]

Ok, good news, no great news. Installed a charged battery. Figured out how to use the Foxwell to resync the DME and the EWS. Rig fired right up. Ran rough, but it is smoothing out. Hasn’t been run in a few months. Oddly, there was no leak under the car until a few weeks ago, its brake fluid, weird. Any thoughts there would be appreciated. Pulled the final stage unit and found the old one with a sort of bubbled up spot that looks like it heated up at some point. Either way, it’s replaced. I’ve cleared all codes and we’ll see what comes back. The air sniffer sensor up on the cowling is giving me a code. I can’t thank this forum enough. I will be refreshing the cooling system starting tomorrow.