I am stumped... DME Issue?

[AlpineWhite3.0]

Hi everyone,

First post here, longtime lurker. I own 2 E53 3.0's and love them to death. However one of them has been giving me trouble. 2006 3.0i 136000 miles. One night I noticed the traction light was on, and was driving up a hill on about a 13 degree cold night and car immediately shut off and threw a "Engine Failsafe Prog" on my dash. Let the car rest for about a minute and attempted to start - car just cranked no start.. while waiting for tow I tried a few more times over the next few hours and it would not start at all.

My Foxwell NT530 read 3 IKE No CAN Identification codes with 2 being (DME).

Had the car towed back to my house and started to diagnose the no start. I had just replaced all 6 coils and spark plugs, so I started to check fuel related issues. Fuel pump would not turn on with key in the on position or while cranking. I checked fuel pump fuze and relay. Everything was good. I manually provided power to the fuel pump relay socket and the pump manually engaged. I tried to start the car with the fuel pump manually engaging and STILL NO START.

Where do I need to be looking next? I am stumped. I have a horrible feeling I have a DME issue but I am sure if I have done enough diagnostics / testing to just assume I need a new DME module.

All I know is now that there is a fuel supply the car will still not start. Only cranks. And I still have the No CAN Identification codes that will not clear.

[X5chemist]

Welcome to the site.

Check the ground strap between the coils. If it's broken or bad, it will fry the DME. Without CAN communications, the car won't start (fire).

[Effduration]

Just for a giggle...check the intake connection between air box - MAF - intake boots - throttle body.

I am having trouble keeping the plastic intake boot connected to the MAF...particularly in cold weather.

When they separate (big vacuum leak), I get traction lights, failsafe and the car won't start.

I owned two E53 3.0's once...man that was a lot of work...

[andrewwynn]

EWS sync issue will create crank no start. What scanner is that? (Never understood why it won't just stop the starter).

[Clavurion]

Can you even connect DME with diagnostics? Is the coolant temp sensor going to red when you turn on ignition?

[Bdc101]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

EWS sync issue will create crank no start. What scanner is that? (Never understood why it won't just stop the starter).

When I had lost synchronization between the EWS and DME due to low battery, I did not get these codes. He is using an NT530 and I was using an NT520 but I didn't get any of these CAN codes.



(Also if they just locked out the starter to keep the car from being stolen, you could still push start a stick shift car, so they kill the fuel pump to prevent that)

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

EWS sync issue will create crank no start. What scanner is that? (Never understood why it won't just stop the starter).

Andrew, have a read of how the key, the EWS and the DME/DDE work together - it will become obvious how you can get a crank but no start when the EWS - DME/DDE sync goes west...

By design, an EWS ident failure (no chip in key, dead key or fake key etc.) will produce a no crank situation but if the EWS is happy with the key, it will allow the starter to spin, even if the DME/DDE doesn't agree with the current rolling code (a sync failure) and stops the ignition/injection etc.

You could say this is poor design but it IS how its designed.

[andrewwynn]

More I'm surprised. My first car with theft/key interlock just did nothing except flash an icon on the dash when anything was out of sorts.

To me it makes a lot more sense for nothing to happen when anything is out of place with EWS.

It's a lot harder to diagnose what is going on when the starter will engage. There may be very good reasons I'm just not aware of them and it's s nuisance.

[80stech]

I think somebody once posted the TIS page about how the EWS works, was that maybe you Wayne? Would be nice if had stickies of that kind of reference material!

The fact that it works like that actually might make it easier to diagnose.

[Clavurion]

Originally Posted by 80stech

I think somebody once posted the TIS page about how the EWS works, was that maybe you Wayne? Would be nice if had stickies of that kind of reference material!

The fact that it works like that actually might make it easier to diagnose.

EWS 3.3

http://www.e38.org/EWS.pdf