1999 528i won't crank after sitting for a few months (battery is good)

[itsbrokeagain]

Since the weather became shitty back in December, I landed a sweet deal on an E53 that I made my daily driver for the past 6-7 months. As a result, my 528 wagon was stored on the side to avoid driving it in the slush and the salty roads and further damaging the underside. I started it about once a month to let it run and get up to full operating temperature, would take it on the highway and do a few runs to get all the oils hot and moisture burned off, and then park it again.

I got tied up with work back in early May and the car sat unattended for almost 7 weeks, and the battery was dead. I jumped it, car started right up and I drove it around for two days to charge it up, was fine. Sat again for another 4 weeks and it went dead. This time would not take a jump, doesn't click, zero. So I took the battery out and down to my shop and left it on the trickle charger for a few days, and lo and behold it came up and now reads 12.6 Volts. So I finally get a free evening to put the battery back in, and the car still does the same thing. All accessories come on, but when I turn the key to start, get nothing. No click, none of the accessories turning off, nada. I re-initialized the key twice, the car accepts it and does the door lock-unlock sequence. Ignition Switch is new, even though I had the updated piece in when I bought the car, I changed it for a brand new one anyway.

Is there something else I should look at, fuse wise or relay? Or did the EWS go out of sync or something because of the battery dropping voltage? I'll have to see if I can grab a scanner from the shop this week and see if it has any codes (prolly a crap ton of undervoltage codes), but is there a possibility the starter actually took a dump? Usually with dead starters I'll get multiple clicks and what not until a good rap from a hammer gets it to engage, but I've never had a physically dead one where it refused to do a single thing.

All the vapor barriers and sunroof drains are clean and functioning too, so I don't think its a water ingestion problem into the fuse block below the passenger seat, but it may be worth looking into for sh!ts and giggles....

[jclausen]

Personally I think your battery is done. The car sits around a lot then you jump it drive it around to charge it, which the charging system in the car is not for charging up drained battery's, then it sits around again you didn't even load that the battery. If any car is going to sit get a battery tender, a happy batty is a fully charged battery and you won't sulfate the plates that way.

[itsbrokeagain]

Personally I think your battery is done. The car sits around a lot then you jump it drive it around to charge it, which the charging system in the car is not for charging up drained battery's, then it sits around again you didn't even load that the battery. If any car is going to sit get a battery tender, a happy batty is a fully charged battery and you won't sulfate the plates that way.

Good point. I'd have to look at the POs receipts and see when the battery was changed but I think it may be an old one. I have a new one for an E30 sitting at the shop, I'll drop it in this week just to test and see if I can isolate a variable.

My car sits on the street in front of the house for the time being (landlord won't let me keep it in the driveway) but working on a new living situation within a year, and would like to have a place where I can keep the battery on a tender when it's not being used.

[Mike WW]

E39s can do funny things with electricity, but aren't immune to the laws of physics either. Charge the battery, throw it in and try to crank it. Then check the voltage, if it's low it's the battery or the charger at the least. A battery recently off even a low rate charger should be closer to 13 than the 12.6/12.7 of normally sitting in the car being regularly used.

One of those cheap solar chargers that plug into the cigarette lighter might be your ticket for keeping it charged with minimal use. They won't charge it up, but will help to keep it from discharging.

[shortedaman]

Good point. I'd have to look at the POs receipts and see when the battery was changed but I think it may be an old one. I have a new one for an E30 sitting at the shop, I'll drop it in this week just to test and see if I can isolate a variable.

My car sits on the street in front of the house for the time being (landlord won't let me keep it in the driveway) but working on a new living situation within a year, and would like to have a place where I can keep the battery on a tender when it's not being used.

Why the hell cant you park your own car in the driveway you rent?

[itsbrokeagain]

Why the hell cant you park your own car in the driveway you rent?

Welcome to Long Island buddy. Anywhere else in the country you'd get to use part of the driveway, but he parks his work trucks instead, so no bueno for me.

Any other apartment or house I've seen for rent around here will charge you extra for driveway parking. I got a great deal on a two bedroom place, which is why I just put up with it and hopefully after a year I'll have my own house to move into.

[gmak]

Man. A lot of these problems have been showing up lately. Must be related to the weather. I'll put this here as well. I had a no-crank, no-start on an E60 M5 (hey, a car is a car, right?). I could hear a single "click" when I tried to start the car. This means that the starter solenoid is firing but the starter motor isn't getting enough power to start. If you don't hear that click, then starting the car isn't sending 12V to the starter solenoid, even. It can either be that the starter is toast, or that there is oxidation on various contacts and terminals on the way to the starter that is causing what everyone calls "a voltage drop". What it is, is increased resistance that is pulling amps away from the starter.

My thread is here. You can skip to post #7 for the summary - but the earlier posts do have all the things that I tried in order to isolate the problem (spoiler: It was the contacts and terminals between the boost post / terminal in the engine compartment and the starter motor. Cleaning them led to the car cranking again). It could also be the ground wires, which tend to rust and detach in the E39. It could also be something called the IVM. Google that - I believe that it's located by the DME under the RHS cabin filter housing. Or, it could just be the starter motor.

[itsbrokeagain]

Man. A lot of these problems have been showing up lately. Must be related to the weather. I'll put this here as well. I had a no-crank, no-start on an E60 M5 (hey, a car is a car, right?). I could hear a single "click" when I tried to start the car. This means that the starter solenoid is firing but the starter motor isn't getting enough power to start. If you don't hear that click, then starting the car isn't sending 12V to the starter solenoid, even. It can either be that the starter is toast, or that there is oxidation on various contacts and terminals on the way to the starter that is causing what everyone calls "a voltage drop". What it is, is increased resistance that is pulling amps away from the starter.

My thread is here. You can skip to post #7 for the summary - but the earlier posts do have all the things that I tried in order to isolate the problem (spoiler: It was the contacts and terminals between the boost post / terminal in the engine compartment and the starter motor. Cleaning them led to the car cranking again). It could also be the ground wires, which tend to rust and detach in the E39. It could also be something called the IVM. Google that - I believe that it's located by the DME under the RHS cabin filter housing. Or, it could just be the starter motor.

I definitely do not get the click. Quiet as a mouse and I had my buddy listen under the hood and he confirmed nothing as well.

I cleaned out both 'compartments' late last year as my brake booster had failed on the first cold morning (water inside) so I took the time while replacing it to clean all the drains and vacuum out both areas. I don't park under any trees.

Oxidation may definitely be a problem, but I'll have to get it towed first to the shop to get a look underneath.

For now if I have time I'll work on taking the passenger seat out and having a look-see under the carpet just to eliminate another variable. We're supposed to get severe thunderstorms this afternoon so it would also be a great time to check and see if the carpet is getting wet too.

I miss driving this thing. Was at a bachelor party in the Poconos last weekend and I would have loved to be rowing gears up and down the mountains, but had to settle for a slushbox X5 with I've cold air conditioning...

[gmak]

Yeah. If it's not clicking - it's not even getting the signal from the ignition switch. Good luck. You seem to have all the bases covered.

[itsbrokeagain]

Yeah. If it's not clicking - it's not even getting the signal from the ignition switch. Good luck. You seem to have all the bases covered.

I'll check my jump posts in the engine bay as well.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

I agree with jclausen. If the battery's cells are sulfated, a regular trickle charger won't do a thing but give you a false reading with nothing to back it up with as soon as it goes under a load.
I use NOCO Genius chargers, I have 2 3500's and 2 1100's, and the wallworth 750 that they make They just plain work. These are smart chargers that disulfate the battery if it needs it. But the way you left the car sitting without driving it around but for the short spurts that you did, will not do a thing to a dead battery., and if it already was old to begin with, sitting around with the slow drain from the alarm system just slowly kills the cells even more. 3 to 5 years is the typical lifespan of a battery..

[itsbrokeagain]

I managed to take a look at the passenger side carpet last night after the torrential downpour we had, and bone dry. So that's one thing eliminated.

Wasn't able to find any previous history of the battery being replaced so Im going to assume it's done and start by replacing it..

[itsbrokeagain]

Had a free afternoon and fired up PASoft while I had my X5 running, supplying extra juice with jumper cables. Had a lot of low voltage codes which I cleared everything out. Ran the live data stream on the EWS, and I get all green lights to proceed with starting. Did not bring home a long extension to try tapping the starter and see if I can get her to engage, but Im starting to lean towards either the starter relay being dead, and from there proceed to do the starter.

[itsbrokeagain]

Did some more troubleshooting. Checked all the fuses related to EWS and motor operation, good. Pulled the carpet up to check the main fuse box, all leads and fuses check out good, and it's spotless under there. Terminals by the battery in the trunk also check out good, ground and positive are clean and free of corrosion.

I rapped on the starter a bit with a hammer and an extension to see if I could use the age old trick to get it to kick over. Nothing.

Car was on the cables for a good hour and a half, battery was showing 13.6 and if I tried to crank it still showed the same. Not even a slight click or a nudge, nothing.

I'm beginning to think the starter has shit the bed, but I keep reading it's really rare for an M52/54 starter to crap out.

Then again, being a BMW mechanic for the better part of 14 years, you realize your personal cars have the most troublesome issues to diagnose, while customers cars end up being really simple fixes lol...

Forgot to add, but if PASoft gives me the green light for start (I have a manual so have to depress clutch pedal), that does mean the EWS is still synced right? I get the same result with both keys, so I know it's not them either.

[Wolfen]

You could also have a bad ignition switch. Had it happen to my 540. No start condition.

[itsbrokeagain]

You could also have a bad ignition switch. Had it happen to my 540. No start condition.

Ignition Switch is new, or at least less than a year old....the updated piece was already installed in my car and I replaced it with an identical one just for peace of mind. I highly doubt it went bad but worth taking the cover down to have a look.

[gmak]

Check if power is getting to he starter motor.

[StephenVA]

+1

This is the real question. Is There voltage at the starter trying to spin the starter motor? If not the issue is upstream from there.

[itsbrokeagain]

Check if power is getting to he starter motor.

That is where we have ended up at. I didn't bring enough tools home to pull the intake elbow off so I could get my hands down there and test the leads on the back of the starter. My buddy is supposed to come by in the next evening or two, so we can bump start it and get it over to the shop and up on the lift.

[itsbrokeagain]

Got her up and running today. Pulled the intake boot off to do some multimeter testing and what do I find, but a loose wire going to the solenoid. The 10mm nut must have backed off somehow (I've never touched it) and the wire was loose enough to avoid making any significant contact. Snugged it up and she kicked right over.

Still need to get it to the shop and clean the contacts, they were slightly oxidized but nothing to the point where it would strand me again.