Fail to start-'02 BMW compact 318ti

[rozzaxw1]

Hi guys.
I wonder if anyone could shed some light on this for me.

I was driving around today probably stopped and restarted
About 6 times. Then I came to start the car and it cranked
Over fine but didn't even try to turn over. Just the starting noise
No coughing or firing at all.

The car was nose down on a steep hill at the time.
After 15 minutes of trying and almost killing the battery
I rolled it onto a flat area. After waiting another 5 minutes
It fired up first try.
I was left with the traction control light lite up and the Amber
Warning light for the engine. Also the steering felt very light.

Once I got home I turned it off and restarted. All seemed normal.

Any opinions on this? Do you think the hill might have caused
It to happen

Cheers

 

[Sankekur]

I would guess either the cam position sensor or the fuel pump, but it would be best to have the codes read that should give the best indication of what is wrong in terms of sensors etc.

 

[rozzaxw1]

Hi Sankekur.
Thanks for the reply mate.
Can you explain what the cam and sensor do. I read on the
Net that someone else had problems similar to mine and
It was the cam sensor but although I know a bit about cars
I'm no expert. Just wondered what the cam is?

Thanks again mate

 

[Sankekur]

In the most basic sense the cams (camshafts) are shafts mounted at the top of the cylinders to open and close the right values (inlet or exhaust) are the time.
Camshaft:

And in a four stroke engine:

The camshafts are the two lobe like things at the top of the engine that open and close the inlet and outlet valves. They are normally driven by either belts or chains (in the case of BMW) from the crankshaft.
Images poached from wikipedia

What the cam sensor does is to sense the position of the camshaft and this allows the timing to be varied slightly (the sensor only does the measurement, but this give actuators the necessary info to change the timing).

This is fairly general, hopefully this is of some help to you

 

[rozzaxw1]

Quick update... It was the crank sensor that had died