e46 330d non-start. I need some help please

Hey Guys

I need some tips on how to move forward diagnosing my problem please. I will try to be concise and logical:

The problem: My car won't start. The fuel pump IS priming, the ignition IS cranking, but the engine is not starting.

Some background: This morning while I was getting my alignment done, I noticed a pair of wires hanging down on either side of (and inside) the front bumper. Driver's side pair is green, I believe they are intended for the heated sprayer nozzles temp sensor - or something to that effect. Passenger side pair is blue, they in turn would be for the Ambient Air Temp Sensor. I am missing both of my splash panels after a recent off road incident, so this makes sense. I taped the wires up individually so they can't short to anything.

I then saw an exposed piece of copper on the wire leading to the plug connection for my lift pump (in-line fuel pump), located underneath the car on the passenger side. I unplugged the lift pump connector, taped the wire up and plugged the connector back in. I did not disconnect the battery for any of this though.

Car started fine, drove fine, and when I got home it started fine again after having been off for about 5min.

1 hour later it would not start, but the fuel pump was audibly running and priming, and the ignition was cranking. After a few cranks the battery started getting weak, so I tried jump-starting it with the help of a friend's car. Same story, fuel pump runs, car cranks but doesn't start. Also: The jump-start attempt only occurred 2 hours after the initial failure to start, during which time I left the negative battery terminal disconnected.

I have checked fuse#54 (fuel pump) just to be safe, the fuse seems fine. I don't think the pump would run at all if it was the fuse or the relay though, so I didn't check the relay. Am I correct in this assumption?

I then checked for continuity across the fuses inside the DDE box in the engine bay using a multimeter, all seem fine.
Battery voltage reads 12.3V, although after reading up a bit I see that there could still be a dead cell on the battery and would not affect the voltmeter reading - unless cranking at the same time. I will try this as soon as I have another pair of hands/eyes again to help. Any advice on the battery situation would be much appreciated, this is not an area that I am comfortable with.

Additional info: All the interior lights come on at proper brightness, as well as the radio and climate control.
The climate control however, reads 23C inside the cabin, where it should be 16C. I have never seen this reading change by itself, even if the battery was left disconnected overnight. I changed it down to 16C, but it went back up to 23C as soon as i tried to start the car again. This leads me to think it might have something to do with my problem?

I have left the neg battery terminal disconnected for the time being again.

This is how far I have gotten and I am out of ideas:thumbdo:. I would really appreciate any suggestions or advice.

Thank you kindly

I would suggest having the codes read. It doesn't always give you something to work with, but its a good start.

applehero said:

I would suggest having the codes read. It doesn't always give you something to work with, but its a good start.

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That is my plan for the morning yes, but I was hoping for something that I might be able to check in the meantime. I've had enough for one day by now though, will start fresh tomorrow. Thanks for the reply.

Already posted this link in another thread, but it might be of help here:

http://www.bmwforums.info/general-g...roubleshooter-guide-power-smoking-issues.html

Here is a general checklist for non-starting diesels:

http://www.thedieselstop.com/forums/f23/troubleshooting-no-start-condition-252803/

Hi, I hope to get an answer for my problem. I have a E90 330D, she runs great the only issue is, when the car warms up and I switch it off. I then need to wait 20Mins for it to start again, I have seen a lot of forums out pointing to hot start issues pointing at fuel pumps, crankshaft sensors and so on, would anyone have an Idea?

Calling Gizmo!!:tiptoe:

I'm not an expert on diesel engines, but if it's cranking and not taking, it might be ignition related. Not sure if these cars have ignition coils or ignition packs, but it might be related to one of those. Not sure how glow plugs affect the starting sequence either, but maybe a bad glow plug? Again, I'm not expert on diesel, but these are faults that could prevent a petrol engine car from starting.

Good luck with the diagnosis, please keep us updated!

GavinNortje said:

Hi, I hope to get an answer for my problem. I have a E90 330D, she runs great the only issue is, when the car warms up and I switch it off. I then need to wait 20Mins for it to start again, I have seen a lot of forums out pointing to hot start issues pointing at fuel pumps, crankshaft sensors and so on, would anyone have an Idea?

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that is almost the exact problem I had on my E39-530d, and caused me to sign on to these forums many years ago.
over and above the advice of getting codes read etc, I was advised to consider
1) crank-shaft sensor
2) Cam-shaft sensor

seeing as the Cam-shaft sensor is an easy DIY (it sits right ontop close to the radiator, I elected to replace this item first in my process of ellimination..

viola

been starting first time every time since then (7 years or more ago)

my 2c contribution

Bugger said:

I'm not an expert on diesel engines, but if it's cranking and not taking, it might be ignition related. Not sure if these cars have ignition coils or ignition packs, but it might be related to one of those. Not sure how glow plugs affect the starting sequence either, but maybe a bad glow plug? Again, I'm not expert on diesel, but these are faults that could prevent a petrol engine car from starting.

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Uhm, diesel engines do not have ignition coils. And the glow plugs are only needed/used for cold starts.
:=):

OBD codes will most likely tell.
My guess is that the fuel pump had enough after 12 years of service, if still the original.

Turned out the battery just needed to be filled up with distilled water. It was completely empty, as I haven't done this once since I bought the battery about 2 years ago. So far all seems to be well again:coolShake:

Thanks for the replies guys
Cheers

That was a lucky break. All I can think is that there wasn't enough juice left in the battery to crank the engine AND power all the paraphernalia needed to make it run. :=):

Maljan said:

That was a lucky break. All I can think is that there wasn't enough juice left in the battery to crank the engine AND power all the paraphernalia needed to make it run. :=):

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no the engine was cranking. but a diesel engine needs to crank FAST enough to start.
the battery simply could not turn the engine the required rpm to ignite..

Hi Everybody

I'm new to this forum and this is my first post. My 2003 318 F/L has a red oil light lit permanently with oil deposits in the expansion tank. My car is currently on 225k. I removed the oil cap and started the engine and noticed no oil shooting out through the opening. I suspect my oil pump may have failed ......Any suggestions or advice ?

Glad to hear you got it sorted SandmanEnters.

@silverstreak, open a new thread for your car, also introduce yourself in the New Members area. Sounds like you have a blown head gasket.

Hey Guys

Just an update on my starting problems. Turns out the battery had a couple of dead cells, so I got that replaced. Unfortunately, the car refused to start after the bettery replacement. After some intense daignosis and code reading, it turned out to be a failing high pressure pump:thumbdo:

Luckily I met a very skilled mechanic that was situated very close to the battery center where my car died. He in turn contacted an engineer he knew that specializes in fuel pump and aircon compressor re-conditioning. He had to replace some bearings and valves after he had the pump on a bench where he tested it properly.

Pump has been re-installed and the car now starts first time and accelerates like a bat out of hell! Unfortunately I still have an electrical problem somewhere that causes the engine to cut out if the kick down switch is engaged violently. I have had this problem intermittently for over a year now. I even thought I solved it a couple of times, but it keeps coming back. It logs a fault code as 0120 Pedal Potentiometer short to B+. It's not the pedal, had that changed twice, so definitely a wiring issue IMO. I have followed the wires looking for short circuit or open wires, but to no avail. I will have to get an auto electrician to look at it sometime.

Anyways, I still got lucky with the pump, as a new one from the stealers would probably have been 15k+, which is 4x what I paid for the recon.

Cheers

^^^ Can you PM me the engineers details? I have a mate with a faulty aircon compressor.

Ta,

Gbyleveldt said:

^^^ Can you PM me the engineers details? I have a mate with a faulty aircon compressor.

Ta,

Click to expand...

PM sent

^^^ Thx!