occasionally X5 will not start, please diagnose
 

Hi all, i need some help with my car.

I have a BMW X5 2005 (E53) 3.0Diesel

About 2 months ago, I had an instance after filling up at the petrol station and the car would not start. The battery was fine and cranking hence i knew its was not the battery.

Someone there suggested that it might be the immobilizer that i should lock and reopen teh car. This did not do the trick.

Anyway I sat there waiting for a tow truck (10min) and then the car started again. This sort of incidents occured a couple of times.

2 weeks ago, stopped at the supermarket and same thing happened, this time car did not start for well over 4hrs,
The Road assistance chap came and still no joy and i waited another 2hrs for tow truck to turn up (still trying to crank the ignition but no joy)
Car was towed back home and the chap said it might be key related hence that I should try my spare key, like magic that started the car up!.

So I started carrying both keys around pretty much using them Interchangeably as both are on my key holder now ...

Well yesterday on the way from the airport, I stopped to get my daughter some sandwich and the car wont start. I tried both keys and no luck, tried locking and unlocking the car no luck. I was on the phone ringing for a taxi when the car cranked back into live.

I drive daily to work (120miles round trip), so I'm only in the car at start & end of journey and no stops in between. All these incidents seem to have happened withing short stops.

please can you guys give me some indications as to where the problem might be?

Thanks very much

cooa99

May be the cam position sensor...I had a similar problem, engine would crank but not start. Real intermittent, wouldn't do it every time. The problem got worse over time. Is your check engine light on? You may have to take it somewhere to see if any problem codes are present. My problem was the cam position sensor, replaced myself.

Good Luck
Mac

I had a similar problem but mine was the high pressure fuel rail sensor - basically it was telling the Engine Management unit that the fuel pressure wasnt high enough and therefore the engine wouldn't start.
The only option is to have the fault codes read and see if anything has been stored.

looks like i will have to book the car in to be checked. BMW want to charge £175 just to diagnose!

My car has currently go 91k miles on the clock as i have done 30k miles in the last year. Is it ready now for an Inspection. I dont want to go by the dashboard just incase it could have been reset prior to me buying it


cooa99

I think it's a DME/ECU issue

It may be best for you to find an indepedent workshop to have a look at it for you - I managed to find a diesel specialist local to me who diagnosed a problem for free and fixed it first time for a good price.
I have had no good experiences with dealers where faults are concerned as they generally have a diagnosis script to work to - this has resulted in costing me a fortune in the past with the dealer replacing parts that were not the problem.....but they "had" to do it as it was part of their diagnosis process.

As for servicing, my '02 3.0d has needed servicing roughly every 13,000 miles - I know the '05 has a different engine but I assume the service interval is roughly the same? I have just had an inspection 2 service done at 95,000 miles. In any case, I would have thought that you'd done a service of some sort in the 30,000 miles that you've done?

I dropped in at bmw on my way from work yesterday to book it in for an inspection.

They told me that it will cost £175 just to look at the non starting issue!, Am I being ripped off here or its just their standar riffoff charges

To make matters worse, the car wont' start on their drive way, so I've had to leave the car there last night and rent a car for a whole week cos they said they are busy till new week Tuesday.

I have had the car for just over a year now, and i have done all break pads & discs all round and given it 3 oil & filter changes since i bought the the car. All this i did myself

These cars do cost a fortune!

:(

At my dealer we have a diagnosing fee to pay just so people don't take advantage of free diagnosis and get the work done elsewhere... If they get the work done the fee is not applied. That would be what I would ask about.

1st, is the diagnosis fee still applied if the work is done.
2nd, what will they do for you if they misdiagnose the first time and it doesn't fix it.

Is that a bmw main dealer ?