Car not starting

[Geor74]

Hello all,

I've awoken with an issue to my 2011 BMW 23i. The car isn't starting. It allows me to put the key in and press the start button, giving me the first ignition. However, upon pressing it for a second time it turns the car off without starting.

My first thoughts were that the battery was low, I've had a battery warning light over the past couple of weeks since having had a new battery put in and haven't really driven during the current lockdown. However, I went for a roughly 3 hour drive the night before this issue arose. All readings of the battery look fine, it was receiving 14.1v when trying to jump and this didn't work. Standing battery voltage was 10.96, which is slightly low, but the fact it didn't work whilst being jumped implies it isn't the issue.

Other signs do point at the battery - interior lights not working, no heated seats or AC. Could just be because the car isn't reaching to the second ignition stage.

Has anyone got any advice on where to start from here? I'm hearing no noise when the button is being pushed - the weird behaviour of the ignition insinuates it's something to do with this.

Many thanks,

George

 

[clarker63]

Has anyone got any advice on where to start from here? I'm hearing no noise when the button is being pushed - the weird behaviour of the ignition insinuates it's something to do with this.

Many thanks,

George

Hi George. the Z4 is very prone to misbehaving with low battery voltages... will it jump start with another car? I am assuming you have the clutch down. that confused me a few times when jumping in and out of different cars.

 

[Geor74]

Hello mate,

The clutch is down. I've also checked the voltages, it's reading 14.1v when being jumped and it's still not turning on. I'm getting no noises upon pushing start either. I'm thinking possibly a fuse has blown somewhere but not sure where to start checking.

Cheers,

George

 

[clarker63]

Hello mate,

The clutch is down. I've also checked the voltages, it's reading 14.1v when being jumped and it's still not turning on. I'm getting no noises upon pushing start either. I'm thinking possibly a fuse has blown somewhere but not sure where to start checking.

Cheers,

George

strange. I'm assuming you have no codes coming up as you've not mentioned them.

Fuses are a nightmare to access on the Z4 if you haven't tried before - the designer must have thought, how can I make this REALLY hard to access. if he did, he certainly did it properly (in a bad way)!

I'd check the battery cables/earth too.. always worth a go.

 

[enuff_zed]

I'd be leaning towards why you had a battery warning light after you fitted a new battery?
Sounds like something is draining it.
Did you have that warning before?
Has it been correctly connected?
Was it registered to the car on fitting?
Is it the same type of battery?
Are you jumping it through the connectors under the bonnet?

As with all these things, if you change something, then get issues, it's worthwhile re-checking everything you did (or had done) before you look elsewhere.

 

[Smartbear]

Hello all,

I've awoken with an issue to my 2011 BMW 23i. The car isn't starting. It allows me to put the key in and press the start button, giving me the first ignition. However, upon pressing it for a second time it turns the car off without starting.

My first thoughts were that the battery was low, I've had a battery warning light over the past couple of weeks since having had a new battery put in and haven't really driven during the current lockdown. However, I went for a roughly 3 hour drive the night before this issue arose. All readings of the battery look fine, it was receiving 14.1v when trying to jump and this didn't work. Standing battery voltage was 10.96, which is slightly low, but the fact it didn't work whilst being jumped implies it isn't the issue.

Other signs do point at the battery - interior lights not working, no heated seats or AC. Could just be because the car isn't reaching to the second ignition stage.

Has anyone got any advice on where to start from here? I'm hearing no noise when the button is being pushed - the weird behaviour of the ignition insinuates it's something to do with this.

Many thanks,

George

What you describe sounds like normal behaviour, unless you depress the clutch the car won’t start.
Pressing the start button for a second time will turn the ignition off just as you say.
Rob

 

[buzyg]

May not apply as I have an MR, but it took two cars to jump start my Zed from a flat battery today. I had 14v from my alternator and ended up with 12.3 volts from the battery after an hours running.

 

[Chippie]

10.96v is very low for the battery, it should be around 12.6v, I f this is a new battery then either your cars alternator isn’t charging correctly or something is draining the battery, when jump starting the car it can take several minutes of the 2nd car running at a fast idle to put enough change across to get your car to start, if the jump leads don’t have a good connection or aren’t thick enough you may not be getting enough amps across to start the car, with the leads attached try pulling the crocodile clips across the connection points and see if you get any sparks, and if nothing then you have a bad connection

 

[Geor74]

Hi all,

Many thanks for your replies.

I've booked in a local mobile mechanic to see if he can diagnose further, I don't have a code reader at hand (or quite frankly the know-how).

Had some interesting behaviour that perhaps might be a signal to someone. I'd had a go at attacking the fuse box but gave up out of fear of causing more damaging, it is indeed a minefield trying to get the f'ing thing out! Around 2-3 hours after locking it up, the car went berserk, the alarm was going off; the key fob no longer worked. Managed to get into the car with the manual key, but the ignition wasn't registering the key. Hazard lights were flicking at a thousand miles an hour and the interior lights very dim/ also flickering. Car appears dead this morning.

Seems to be a case of something draining the battery, it lost ~1.5v standing for around 45 minutes. Possibly an alternator?

Cheers,

George

 

[enuff_zed]

Hi all,

Many thanks for your replies.

I've booked in a local mobile mechanic to see if he can diagnose further, I don't have a code reader at hand (or quite frankly the know-how).

Had some interesting behaviour that perhaps might be a signal to someone. I'd had a go at attacking the fuse box but gave up out of fear of causing more damaging, it is indeed a minefield trying to get the f'ing thing out! Around 2-3 hours after locking it up, the car went berserk, the alarm was going off; the key fob no longer worked. Managed to get into the car with the manual key, but the ignition wasn't registering the key. Hazard lights were flicking at a thousand miles an hour and the interior lights very dim/ also flickering. Car appears dead this morning.

Seems to be a case of something draining the battery, it lost ~1.5v standing for around 45 minutes. Possibly an alternator?

Cheers,

George

Are you sure the new battery has been correctly connected? Nothing shorting out around it?
I think if it were mine I'd be disconnecting it until you find out what the issue is. Don't want to come out to a smouldering car!

 

[Geor74]

Hi all,

Many thanks for your replies.

I've booked in a local mobile mechanic to see if he can diagnose further, I don't have a code reader at hand (or quite frankly the know-how).

Had some interesting behaviour that perhaps might be a signal to someone. I'd had a go at attacking the fuse box but gave up out of fear of causing more damaging, it is indeed a minefield trying to get the f'ing thing out! Around 2-3 hours after locking it up, the car went berserk, the alarm was going off; the key fob no longer worked. Managed to get into the car with the manual key, but the ignition wasn't registering the key. Hazard lights were flicking at a thousand miles an hour and the interior lights very dim/ also flickering. Car appears dead this morning.

Seems to be a case of something draining the battery, it lost ~1.5v standing for around 45 minutes. Possibly an alternator?

Cheers,

George

Are you sure the new battery has been correctly connected? Nothing shorting out around it?
I think if it were mine I'd be disconnecting it until you find out what the issue is. Don't want to come out to a smouldering car!

I had a check at the connections, everything appeared fine. I had it done by a reputable BMW specialist so not worried on that front. I now can't access the battery to disconnect as the car is dead with no manual access to the boot.

 

[enuff_zed]

Hi all,

Many thanks for your replies.

I've booked in a local mobile mechanic to see if he can diagnose further, I don't have a code reader at hand (or quite frankly the know-how).

Had some interesting behaviour that perhaps might be a signal to someone. I'd had a go at attacking the fuse box but gave up out of fear of causing more damaging, it is indeed a minefield trying to get the f'ing thing out! Around 2-3 hours after locking it up, the car went berserk, the alarm was going off; the key fob no longer worked. Managed to get into the car with the manual key, but the ignition wasn't registering the key. Hazard lights were flicking at a thousand miles an hour and the interior lights very dim/ also flickering. Car appears dead this morning.

Seems to be a case of something draining the battery, it lost ~1.5v standing for around 45 minutes. Possibly an alternator?

Cheers,

George

Are you sure the new battery has been correctly connected? Nothing shorting out around it?
I think if it were mine I'd be disconnecting it until you find out what the issue is. Don't want to come out to a smouldering car!

I had a check at the connections, everything appeared fine. I had it done by a reputable BMW specialist so not worried on that front. I now can't access the battery to disconnect as the car is dead with no manual access to the boot.

Connecting a battery across the terminals under the bonnet will give enough power to unlock the boot I believe.
However, I confess I'm not certain exactly how to open the bonnet manually.

 

[Geor74]

Hello all,

I've awoken with an issue to my 2011 BMW 23i. The car isn't starting. It allows me to put the key in and press the start button, giving me the first ignition. However, upon pressing it for a second time it turns the car off without starting.

My first thoughts were that the battery was low, I've had a battery warning light over the past couple of weeks since having had a new battery put in and haven't really driven during the current lockdown. However, I went for a roughly 3 hour drive the night before this issue arose. All readings of the battery look fine, it was receiving 14.1v when trying to jump and this didn't work. Standing battery voltage was 10.96, which is slightly low, but the fact it didn't work whilst being jumped implies it isn't the issue.

Other signs do point at the battery - interior lights not working, no heated seats or AC. Could just be because the car isn't reaching to the second ignition stage.

Has anyone got any advice on where to start from here? I'm hearing no noise when the button is being pushed - the weird behaviour of the ignition insinuates it's something to do with this.

Many thanks,

George

What you describe sounds like normal behaviour, unless you depress the clutch the car won’t start.
Pressing the start button for a second time will turn the ignition off just as you say.
Rob

Thanks for confirming this Rob. Couldn't quite remember. Could this possibly be related to a switch that detects whether the clutch is down?

 

[Geor74]

Are you sure the new battery has been correctly connected? Nothing shorting out around it?
I think if it were mine I'd be disconnecting it until you find out what the issue is. Don't want to come out to a smouldering car!

I had a check at the connections, everything appeared fine. I had it done by a reputable BMW specialist so not worried on that front. I now can't access the battery to disconnect as the car is dead with no manual access to the boot.

Connecting a battery across the terminals under the bonnet will give enough power to unlock the boot I believe.
However, I confess I'm not certain exactly how to open the bonnet manually.

I'd give it a go but... I left the jump leads and multimeter trapped in the boot

 

[enuff_zed]

I had a check at the connections, everything appeared fine. I had it done by a reputable BMW specialist so not worried on that front. I now can't access the battery to disconnect as the car is dead with no manual access to the boot.

Connecting a battery across the terminals under the bonnet will give enough power to unlock the boot I believe.
However, I confess I'm not certain exactly how to open the bonnet manually.

I'd give it a go but... I left the jump leads and multimeter trapped in the boot

 

[Geor74]

Just wanted to post an update in case this further relates to anyone.

The tech has just visited, tried connecting with a snap-on code reader but couldn’t get it to work due to no ignition.

Battery was also low and has been taken to charge overnight for testing. They’re returning tomorrow with a BMW compatible reader that doesn’t need the ignition for access.

 

[ronk]

Fingers crossed for a simple solution to the problem

 

[enuff_zed]

How did they get access to it?

I'm still thinking that if, as you say the issue only occurred after the battery change, then it's either a duffer or something was disturbed when it was changed.
Are they going to check out the battery too?