'05 Z4 Does not turnover

[Midas]

Searched forum and found similar problems but not the same.

Over three months I've replaced the battery and then the starter. It happens at the worst of times of course! The BMW dealership replaced the starter and the next day it would not start again. They kept it for another three days trying to get it to fail. They couldn't. I can and do . It also 'seems' to start harder now.

Here are my list of possibilities:
1) Starter is incorrectly installed and not getting the power needed to turn over
2) An electronic ignition problem exists
3) Anti-theft system (I'm grasping here...)

Any other words of wisdom?
-T

[Grumpyowl]

Welcome, and a little bump for you.


Could it be your TPS ?

[Spikey]

I'd go with option 3 then 2 ?

Surely if the starter fires it up sometimes then it's working ok ( so long as it sounds 'normal' in operation)

Any codes?

[Bing]

Possibly the alternator, not charging the battery enough when running ?

[pvr]

1) is unlikely as it is a direct feed from the battery.

What is not clear from the description is if the starter runs at the same speed all the time, but that the car does not catch or whether the starter is turning slower at times. That is an important point as that would then point to power delivery to the starter, i.e. low battery / alternator not charging it and so forth.

If it was an immobiliser related issue, the car would not give any indication of starting at all, so does it ever sound like it is almost catching? To eliminate the key part of the immobiliser circuit use the spare key instead. Did you give the space key to the garage by any chance which could explain a difference in behaviour if it was relating to the alarm / immobiliser.

[AnttiO]

Is the ignition switch already replaced from steering column? Would you like to describe what exactly it does when you try to start it.

[Filtermike]

Have you checked the earthing strap connection to the engine?

[GingerNinja]

Have you checked the earthing strap connection to the engine?

You beat me to it, was going to suggest the same.

Had an Opel which exhibited alsorts of odd symptoms and that was all down to a bad earthing strap.