HELP HELP.... car will not start up.. UPDATE!!...she is BACK

[Lee_thefirst]

Hi

At present I am stuck in Cornwall (Harlyn Bay) as my X5 suddenly cut out.
When I start the car everything lights up correctly, ticks loud when turning the key but I have no fire up. I have enough fuel in there too. It feels like it will start up but it simply does not.
The AA came out but the weather conditions were too bad for him to do a full check. At the moment, well tomorrow, I am set to do a 340mile relay trip back home through the AA.
The AA man mentioned it could be the fuel pump or fuel killer switch..... does anybody have any ideas??

Thanks

Lee

[X5Sport]

You don't say which version you have.

Is the engine cranking but just not firing?

If so, and given the number of similar incidents in this cold weather, it may be your fuel pump relay. Why these seem to fail in cold weather is a mystery I would like answered too. One trick we found was to look at the fuel line which is at the bottom of the engine bay at the back right as seen from the front. No fuel movement was visible when the engine was cranking and that pointed us at the fuel pump and relay - along with help from the folks here. Annoyingly, no error codes were thrown either which didn't help tracking the problem down.

It's located above the fuse board above the glove box and is the one nearest the firewall. It's a £10 part and can be done DIY as long as you can get one.

Location and part number here: it's item 1 - fuel pump relay.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=61&fg=25

[Lee_thefirst]

its the 4.4 V8 2002 version.

Thank you for that

[X5Sport]

Hope it helps, but being a petrol it may not be the answer. Fuel relay is the same and in the same place on yours too. For a tenner it's maybe worth a try...

My wife had to be trailered 250 miles back from Wales a few weeks back so you have our sympathy...

[kena]

My 4.8 did something similar last summer. Running fine one minute then cut out and wouldn't start. Loud ticking when turning the key. Turned out to be the alternator.
HTH

[Lee_thefirst]

Yeah, sounds like exactly what has happened to my car.
I am waiting on the AA recovery truck to turn up. They estimate that with a relay journey I am looking at a 10hr trip home........ the joys!!

[CondorX5]

Sorry to hear about it Lee - our Xes haven't had a great Xmas have they? At least I was really close to home when mine dumped its oil and I made it back home ok for recovery to dealer tomorrow........hope yours gets sorted soon!! Is it under warranty?

[Lee_thefirst]

No warranty.

Update.... well after a 320 mile and 11hr relay trip home with the AA, I now have the car at my local garage. They can not look at it until next week but they have kinda let me store it there for the mean time.

Fingers crossed that it is nothing major......

[Lee_thefirst]

UPDATE: the car has been in the garage for over a week now, they have been working on it inbetween other jobs. The fault has come back to an immobiliser fault. The fuel pump, relay etc were fine. I went through my car's service history and 6 months ago and it seems this problem occurred (loses immobiliser code) and the solution was to reset the code manually.
If this is the case I am concerned that this would have happened twice in 6 months............... has anybody had this problem before or have any thoughts/comments??

[Lee_thefirst]

[Lee4.8is]

Feel sorry for you Lee that your introdution to the marque has started like this.

Hope things sort themselves out for you soon & you can start enjoying your car.

By the way glad you have a v8 they sound nice & it will hopefully look after you going forward.

Lee.

[Lee_thefirst]

Thanks Lee.

I am gutted as it is like having a new toy and not being able to play with it

Besides, at the end of the day it is a second hand car, things go wrong. So all I can do is get her sorted.... hand over a painful cheque and start enjoying the V8 sound again

[Lee_thefirst]

I have owned my car for 4 weeks now, two spent in the garage....... not happy

Anyway as mentioned on this thread they have traced the cause to be an immobiliser problem, the key has lost its code.
The garage had a "friend" at the BMW garage who in the past has brought home the equipment and done the odd side job but now he is not able to do so, so the "do you a favour" option is out of the window.
The garage also rang round some local places that do recoding etc but they said they can not do this job on the BMW....
So as it stands I need to get my car 20miles away to the nearest BMW garage for them to sort out the issue, which will be a ball ache as at present she will not start!!!!

Am I correct in thinking that only BMW can recode my key or are they companies out there that will do the job cheaper than BMW & will also travel out to you?

[X5Sport]

Really sorry to hear that the saga continues, and especially that it's happened before. Have you any comeback on the original seller?

Have you only got one key? The system stores a number of old codes as the code changes regularly using a rolling code system so older codes are stored in case the other key doesn't get used for a while and only has an older code, or so I'm lead to believe. Is it the key or the immobiliser that's down?

Apart from seeing whether a Bosch electronics specialist can do it, I can't think of any other options. I know some of the modules are Bosch so it may be a shot in the dark, but.......

Will the AA relay you over to BMW if all else fails?

[Lee_thefirst]

No comeback with the seller as it was a private deal and the car drove beautifully until this happened.

Part of me is really gutted this has happened BUT the part of me is glad that I was forced to have a full diagnostic check and no other faults were found on the car.

Yes, unfortunately I only have one key.

I am hoping the AA will transport the car over..... I think I need to do a lot of ringing around tomorrow.....