2007 BMW 530i Sedan e60 Started shaky with multiple warning lights now won't start

[anamator]

So to start my car usually starts a little rough but then smooths out after a minute if I haven't started it in a week or two, however I went to start my car the other morning and it started up rough and didn't smooth out like it normally does. I hit the gas to see if that would do the trick but it only sounded more intensified as it was still shaking. I noticed the lights on the dash all came on and the warning messages on the NAV were flashing by. I shut off the car and didn't think it was smart to drive and ended up taking my truck to work that day. When I returned home from work, I tried to start the car again to see if I got the same results and I did. This time it seemed a little worse so I shut off the engine after about 1 min so I wouldn't cause other issues. After that, it wouldn't start back up at all and it's now locked in Park and I'll need to tow it to a shop. Any ideas what would cause this issue?

Back story, this was on a Monday and I drove my car all the prior week before and on Saturday so it should have started normally and smoothly without shaking. The prior week, I did get a message that the radiator fluid was low so I added some of my BMW certified radiator fluid to the tank on the front left side of the engine compartment where the radiator fluid goes (I know that was the correct place as I could see radiator fluid in the tank and it had a float on the stick in the tank under the cap). The radiator fluid was probably 1-1.5 yrs old.

Thanks,
Kevin

[bmwdirtracer]

This will have nothing to do with the coolant. Since the car won't start at all, you'll have to have it flat-bedded to a good BMW specialist shop, as you've surmised. Getting it out of Park shouldn't be that difficult, though: hook up a jumper box (if the battery is dead), insert key, and push the start button, without putting your foot on the brake, until all the warning lights come on. At that point, you can put your foot on the brake, and pull the shifter into neutral.

Until the BMW shop can read the stored codes in all the computers, there's no way to tell you what's wrong. But make absolutely sure that you go to a BMW / Euro specialist shop, NOT a generic mechanic. There should be plenty of really good shops like this in Austin...

[thejlevie]

Hmm, the winch on a flat bed can easily pull something much heaver and resistant than a car in Park. It wili have no difficulty with your car. The rear tires will los a tiny amount of rubber. But is the worst that will happen.

[anamator]

Thanks Chris. I was thinking about getting an ODBC bluetooth devise to check the codes myself prior to towing to the shop but wasn't sure I would know what the codes meant but I'm sure i can find that info online. Plus, whatever happened to my car might be something I can fix myself.

[shadowpuck]

exactly what kind of device are you looking at? i'm familiar with ODBC (computer world term - windows specifically), but not in relation to vehicle interfaces.

a generic reader (which most code readers would be) will not suffice. there's many computers onboard and we need to know what they think is wrong.

regarding a code reader - you do have some options, one being the foxwell NT510 from ECS Tuning - it's about $200. other than that, a laptop running INPA with a cable would likely work too (although, i'm not as familiar with the 5 series chassis and will have to defer to other experts) but you'd have to order the cable, etc.

[anamator]

@ shadowpuck

Like the ones I found on Amazon using the search term ODBC bluetooth https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...odbc+bluetooth

[anamator]

@thejlevie

Thanks but I would rather not put rubber skid marks on my driveway nor do I want flat spots on my tires. I found that you can put the car in neutral by flipping the level next to the shifter handle located under the cover and would prefer to do that to save the tires and driveway. Not sure why a BMW Tech Expert would suggest that but thanks for your suggestion.

[anamator]

@bmwdirtracer

Thanks for the suggestion but my battery has juice and was able to start the car fine, it was just sputtering and shaking. So I turned it off and that's when I tried putting it into neutral and found that it was locked into park. As I suggested in another post, I found that I can put the car into neutral by flipping the lever next to the shifter under the boot cover.

[shadowpuck]

ahh - i see - amazon's search algorithm is correcting the typo. these would normally be referred to as OBD connectors (on-board diagnostics).
these devices, without the right software, will only give you OBD-II codes - which are not helpful or relevant for most issues on BMW's.

if you search for carly - you'll find the adapter on amazon and then the app is available through the normal channels - they do offer BMW specific software but its performance is hit or miss in my experience.
as mentioned previously, the foxwell nt510 can be a good choice as well.

as to towing the car - wow, someone obviously cannot recognize sarcasm....haha....at this point i suspect jim has forgotten more about bmw's (especially the e30 generation) than i'll ever know!

anyway - reading codes will be critical to resolving just about any issue on a modern bmw.

[bmwdirtracer]

Kevin, you obviously don't need any help from any of us.

I'm sure that you and your new OBD thingie will be very happy together -- I see, according to that link, that these are "what professionals use".

With YouTube at your side, what could go wrong?