Start Up-please shed some light

E

ell_p

Member
 Portsmouth, England
Hi Guys,

I really hope you can help with this one, for the last 2 weeks my zed has had real problems starting up. I have taken it to my local bmw dealer and they can't seem to find anything wrong it. They have run various tests and they have come back all fine. They also tested my battery which came in at 98% charged so this rules out the battery as the problem.

On the first key turn it will not start, struggling to turn over and no way on earth its having any of it. However once turning the key off and back on it starts fairly easy but not fully working as it should. It happens in all conditions not necessarily when its cold outside. It has also been starting then cutting out! Bmw told me that after your turn the key back to its normal position the car resets therefore may start better the 2nd time round and if the problems arises again to drive it straight to them but considering the car wont start on the first key this will be impossible.

Bmw looked on the technical help website which said maybe to get behind the dash and clean up the switches etc nut they werent sure whether that would help. For the next few days after it started fine but now it has come back and there is obviously something wrong with it.

Has this happened to anyone before or does anyone out there know what it could be? please help as my z'ed is poorly :(
 
Your description confuses me a little.

'Struggling to turn over' do you mean the starter motor is physically labouring to turn the engine? If so I'd be looking at that side of things. Poor starter connections or engine earth, starter motor/relay dying, battery terminals poor, etc.

2nd turn 'starts fairly easy but not fully working as it should' - what not working as shoudl? Engine spinning, but not firing? Then I'd be looking at fuel and ignition.

Any symptoms once running. Misfires, stopping, hesitation, etc. Might point to fuel or ignition side of things.

Still if BMW cannot find anything then that worries me. I'd be off to a local auto electrician.
 
Thanks for your reply.

As BMW have looked at the car I would assume they would have looked at poor connections. Yes I mean the starter motor is making the chugging sound which is trying to turn the engine but it is off and on as in somedays in starts first time and other days in will not start first time. Always seems to start the on the 2nd key turn.
 
Can the dealer replicate the issue?

If they can and it happens all the time, book it in, get a courtesy car and leave it with them till they fix it.
 
i dropped the car off at closing one evening because they needed the cold in the morning for a cold engine start. They had it for a day but couldnt find the fault. Maybe I need to leave it there longer like you say.

Surely someone out there has had this happen to thwir zed.

Mine is only an 06 with 14,000 miles on it!
 
ell_p said:
Thanks for your reply.

As BMW have looked at the car I would assume they would have looked at poor connections. Yes I mean the starter motor is making the chugging sound which is trying to turn the engine but it is off and on as in somedays in starts first time and other days in will not start first time. Always seems to start the on the 2nd key turn.
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I'd be looking at the starter motor given what you say. If the commutator is dirty or the main solenoid, it could easily do as you describe.

Still I'd expect BMW to be better at finding it with all their equipment than me. ...
 
ell_p said:
i dropped the car off at closing one evening because they needed the cold in the morning for a cold engine start. They had it for a day but couldnt find the fault. Maybe I need to leave it there longer like you say.

Surely someone out there has had this happen to thwir zed.

Mine is only an 06 with 14,000 miles on it!
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It's under warranty and if the dealer acknowledges there is a problem, I would leave it with them till they fix.
 
Try starting it with your spare key. See if it does the same thing. Maybe it's a problem with the key itself... :idunno:
Just an idea. My wife's honda had an issue with a bad key that would not work intermittently.
 
Do what I did. Leave it there until it's fixed. They obviously know there's a problem. Shame on them for sending it back to you with a shrug of their shoulders :x
 
hey guys, after getting the zed back and using it for a few days the problem was getting worse 3 turns of the key to start the engine. However now its cutting out after starting and even going dead at the traffic lights. I took it straight back to bmw, they started it fine yesterday back today it was dying on them aswell. Turns out its the crankshaft apparently. Does this sound like the problem and how much would this cost?
 
It seems unlikely to be the crankshaft to be honest, could it have been the crankshaft position sensor?
 
im not sure bmw have taken it upon themselves to order a new one and fit it then test the car for a few days. surely if they knew it was this why keep the car any longer to test it!!? does anyone know if the crankshaft is expensive? :(
 
A crankshaft is expensive but I can't see any way in which this could cause your problem. There is a crankshaft position sensor and a pick up ring on the crankshaft itself ( similar to an ABS pulse ring ) these are more likely culprits but are both available seperately and do not require replacement of the crankshaft.
 
I'd agree with Curtis here no way it has anything to do with the crankshaft itself. Coming from my experience with Jeeps where we get the engines bathed in mud and water on a regular basis then the Crankshaft Positioning Sensor has to be replaced. When it fails there are al sorts of starting and running issues.

Fitting it should be easy and cheap and for sure they woudl want to test if on start up from cold at least one morning.

As an aside if they do replace the crank then it's engine out and pretty much a full rebuild of the bottom end. Big expensive job
 
thanks for your comments it really helps. i hope they don't stitch me up with a nasty bill. hopefully as you say it could be the sensor that needs fixing.
hopefully ill have my zed back for the weekend :driving:
 
ell_p said:
thanks for your comments it really helps. i hope they don't stitch me up with a nasty bill. hopefully as you say it could be the sensor that needs fixing.
hopefully ill have my zed back for the weekend :driving:
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Your car is still under warranty so there should be no bill at all
 
im not sure about the warranty as i purchased the car from a bmw auction not a dealership. Maybe it has a bmw warranty?
 
If your car is an 06 you shouldn't have a problem. You get 3 years warranty on BMW's here in the UK.
 
ell_p said:
im not sure about the warranty as i purchased the car from a bmw auction not a dealership. Maybe it has a bmw warranty?
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It will still have three years BMW warranty regardless of where you bought it, as long as it's been serviced to manufacturer specs.
 
I seem to have a similar issue, did the dealer solve it??? Pls help Im worrying my car will ditch me one day... :(
 
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