The battery that was in it was 8 years old and running low so took it in for testing just in case and decided to just buy a new one. The old one tested fine and just needed a charge. I have been replacing things regularly, all new top side, starter up, alternator. CCV, etc etc. I love working on the car, it is a pleasure how well this car is engineered to repair. It just takes a bit of learning the systems.

I am going to focus on the ignition side of this tomorrow. As well I am going to revisit the wet area around the Amp/NAV system. Thank you for the getting my thought refocused.

Usually if it's the DME or EWS it would kill things at the ignition switch. I don't believe it would even allow the starter to engage.

Thank you 1BadMX, I needed someone to confirm that for me. I am backtracking to the point where I replaced the Amplifier to see if there is some short back there.

Okay here is what I have done and where I am at:
Checked all connections and fuses. Car is turning over very well battery has full charge and sitting at 12.5 V.
I have connected fuel pressure gauge and we have full pressure at 50 PSI with engine off and during cranking.

When I turn over the car it seems like it wants to start but not quite hitting as if it is out of time. I am starting to think the crankshaft sensor is bad but no codes are being thrown.

Anyone have any other diagnostic I could do on the electronics side of this? I am about to throw in the towel but will try anything at this point.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions anyone might have.

Let me rephrase that, if it's the immobilizer it would prevent power to the starter. The DME likely wouldn't. I wouldn't rule that out completely but you might be on to something with CPS. It is a known issue. It's tough when you can't pull a code. Are there any shadow codes?

:rofl:
You will not believe this,
So I quit on the car. Put it all back together I mean everything, getting it ready to ride away on a flat bed to a mechanic two hours from here. I Decide to top the battery off with a trickle charge while I go to eat. 2 hours later I come home battery all topped off and put it back together, decide one more try on a start. Damn thing turns over and cranks right up. Runs like a champ for 20 miles. WTF?!!!!
I am beyond ex tactic but more pissed that I don't know what changed. The only thing I did today was throw a new set of plugs in that I skipped over last year. The old ones were a tough to get out and looked peaked. Replaced with Bosh Platinum 4. It started trying harder to start but never got there.

Do you think that the ECU was remapping itself as I continued to try and start? Don't know but my X is back on the road and running like a champ I might add.

Never give up, but when you do finally let it go things seem to always come back if they were worth having...

That's awesome because I didn't know what to tell you. Are the terminals clean? Adding electrolite/water might have done the trick and allowed it to hold a charge. Weird.

Another poster on the Bimmerforums had a similar problem. It was solved by this guy post.


https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...0#post25719750

Read the entire post and perhaps you would avoid the Cliff Clavens of the world.

Hey Joshdub sound familar?

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...3#post25722903

The final results "It's Alive!!!"

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...1#post25749391

Post Script on what I think really happened.
 

Just wanted to give an update on what I think happened here. Yes you need spark fuel and air. but what is in the middle is controlled by the ECU, DME.

I think that the low battery caused a grave malfunction in the ECU where it lost its RAM. Thus why I read the RAM error code right after it happened. Yes it was important that we trouble shoot all of the systems as suggested to isolate the problem to one of the three critical elements. I tore that car up end to end all fuse panels out, pressure test fuel, relay's etc all of it checked out and just did not seem to line up and work together hence back to the brain. Now I am just a shade tree mechanic and do this for fun, make old things work and keep them clean so I do not profess to be any kind of expert but I believe in this case that the plugs where on the edge of bad but there was no gas trail to make me believe they were not firing, actually they were very much nice and brown and looked okay. The new plugs gave the start more life but where not the one and only make it work. I think that the ECU was actually remapping itself as we continued to start. The new plugs gave it life but the ECU had to reprogram. It ran rough for the first few minutes and slowly started to get all of its power back and over the last week it has gotten back to better than I have ever had in the last 3 years. Full acceleration and thanks to the new front drive shaft handling better than ever.

At any rate thank you for all of the well thought out input and I do appreciate being able to share and get so much from this forum to keep my X running like a top.

Just got her all detailed up ready for a road trip to Florida and then off to Costa Rico. :rofl:

Post Script on what I think really happened.
 

Just wanted to give an update on what I think happened here. Yes you need spark fuel and air. but what is in the middle is controlled by the ECU, DME.

I think that the low battery caused a grave malfunction in the ECU where it lost its RAM. Thus why I read the RAM error code right after it happened. Yes it was important that we trouble shoot all of the systems as suggested to isolate the problem to one of the three critical elements. I tore that car up end to end all fuse panels out, pressure test fuel, relay's etc all of it checked out and just did not seem to line up and work together hence back to the brain. Now I am just a shade tree mechanic and do this for fun, make old things work and keep them clean so I do not profess to be any kind of expert but I believe in this case that the plugs where on the edge of bad but there was no gas trail to make me believe they were not firing, actually they were very much nice and brown and looked okay. The new plugs gave the start more life but where not the one and only make it work. I think that the ECU was actually remapping itself as we continued to start. The new plugs gave it life but the ECU had to reprogram. It ran rough for the first few minutes and slowly started to get all of its power back and over the last week it has gotten back to better than I have ever had in the last 3 years. Full acceleration and thanks to the new front drive shaft handling better than ever.

At any rate thank you for all of the well thought out input and I do appreciate being able to share and get so much from this forum to keep my X running like a top.

Just got her all detailed up ready for a road trip to Florida and then off to Costa Rico. :rofl: