No start from my 2000 x5 4.4
 

I have been scouring the forums the past few days trying to trouble shoot this issue

History- ran out to run an errand, was in store for 10-15 minutes, came back out turn the key and nothing. No attempt to try to crank. Park car in the lot overnight, came back next morning before work and car started right up. After that it would intermittently start/not start.

Car has now not started at ALL for 4 days

Things I have tried/replaced
New key
New starter
New ignition switch
Replaced relays (at least the ones I can find related to ignition system)
Checked all fuses, including f105 above the battery.

Ran test 14 through the gauge cluster and got the following faults:
1- 8c 84
2- 88 81
3- 90 84
4-be 88
5- bd 90

All have 000 as the last digits


I am now at a total loss for what to try next, if nothing else is there a way I can try to bypass the ignition system to get it to crank to get it to the local service center for them to diag this issue?

Any help greatly appreciated

Your car has the M62TU engine. Did it ever experience coolant leak at all? Check your thermostat above the water pump and trace the wiring harness back to the ECU / E-Box and see if there are any traces of coolant or moisture.

Then open up your E-Box and check behind the DME (Close to the firewall), there is a White or Grey box that contains 4 fuses - I think they are 28 Amps. Make sure they are all okay. Then check the 30 Amp Large Red fuses in that area as well. Make sure they are all okay. Blown fuses down there will disable the car and prevent it from starting.

If the Thermostat looks like it is burnt on top or there was coolant leak, replace that thermostat.

Will check, thanks for the info

I did not find any signs of coolant from thermostat/water pump. I have only owned the vehicle for about 6 months so don't know of it previously had a issue.

As for the E box (top of the picture is the firewall-http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/6336/f59m.jpg

The only fuses I found were located in the tan housing near the front middle of the e box, all 5 30A fuses were good. The only large fuses I know of are I the glove box, all of which check ok as well.

Can anyone tell me what the brown and pink relays are for (towards right side of the picture)? From what I have found the green relay on the right is the ignition relay correct?

Okay.. it was worth a shot to check this. Any additional progress. There are a couple of Large Red Fuses in the same area as that housing. I'm sorry I can't remember how many amps they are. They look like Dark Red - Almost Orange in colour and the filament is usually in a "Z" shape.

The only large fuses I have come across are in the glove box (50A), pulled all 5, none blown.

As for progress, not much, other then getting broken drivers side exterior door latch replaced.

I fear I have reached the limits of what I can do in my garage and may be time to get her to the dealership and see what they can pull from her diag report.

In the mean time, can I bypass the EWS system to try to "manually" (direct 12v current to the starter)crank it up? Would it be possible to run a cable from the "+" jump point and find a chassis ground to see if she will turn over?

Skip the dealership and find a local Indy mechanic that works on german cars. Your wallet will thank you and so will your X5.

and naturally, the battery is in a confirmed good state, right? not just lighting up the interior lights but cranking the engine with confidence... and the fuel pump primes the fuel lines when you turn the key, just before you crank the engine... right? you should hear some noise coming from the back right side of the rear seat - the fuel pump priming the lines...

Not sure what you expected to get from TEST 14...I would have run TEST 9 (ignition in position 1...engine NOT running for at least 2 hours) to see what the battery voltage was. :)

I'm not sure many people outside of BMW engineers knows what the hexidecimal codes of TEST 14 mean:

Replaced battery, old battery was roughly 3 years old (based of dates I found on it), while checking battery found negative clamp on battery post was actually broken, so that was replaced with battery, cleaned up ground location while swapping negative cable. Where are/how many engine ground points are on the 4.4 motor?

This problem progressively got worse over a 5-6 day period where eventually I could not get it to finally start to turn over.

Get the normal whine from under passenger seat when ignition turned to position 2-3. Don't think it is fuel related as the engine does not even attempt to turn over at key start. From everything I have been able to dig up, it is pointing to ignition/immobilizer system, again this is just my opinion based off of the umpteen threads I have found related to this.

I do appreciate all of Te help/responses as it is always great to check/double check things I might have missed/overlooked.

Thanks everyone