2005 X5 3.0d... intermittent (oh god) starting issue

[LornaF]

BMW X5 3.0d Le Mans Blue Sport Edition 5d Auto 2005/55, 115k on the clock

Hey there - cry for help for a dreaded, intermittent issue! Now and again she just wont start. Symptoms are:

On turning the ignition key, all seems fine, no warning lights etc but no sign of life from the engine. Nadda. Sometimes trying a couple of times "unblocks" the problem, sometimes it needs twenty of more attempts and other times I give up, leave her alone and come back another day. Then starts first time. Sometimes.

She can go months without this issue reappearing, then I might experience the problem several times over a week or so - then it's fine again for a while. There doesn't seem to be any correlation with the weather/temperature, parking location (flat/on a hill), starting from cold or warm, amount of fuel in the tank etc.

First time it happened I called out Green Flag who couldn't find any problem (having assumed it was the battery or battery conections, which it wasn't). Booked her in to the garage but they couldn't find anything wrong.

Any suggestions what I might try to diagnose the issue - albeit intermittent and therefore almost impossible to troubleshoot?

Many thanks in advance for any help received.

Lorna

[guards red]

Ignition switch - common problem on these.

£20 from a breaker and about 1/2hr to change it.

[LornaF]

thank you so much for the speedy suggestion, I'll give that a try!

[E-bmw]

By "no sign of life from the engine" what exactly do you mean?

No turning on the starter.

Warning lights dim/sounds like it may be trying to turn over.

No starting of the engine.

[LornaF]

The engine doesn't turn over at all, nor can I hear any sound of activity from the fuel pump. Just the click of the key turning but nothing else. :-) The dashboard lights up as normal and there are no warning lights to indicate a problem.

[d_a_n1979]

As said first port of call would be the ignition switch; although personally I'd fit a new one rather than 2nd hand as sods law that'll potentially play up too...

It's an issue that haunted the E39s too

But worth checking the battery health too; needs to be c12.4v with engine off/car asleep and c14.4v with the engine running

How old is the battery?

[LornaF]

Thanks and yes, I will go for a new part else i wont be able to effectively eliminate it as the cause of the problem. The battery is about 4 years old, I'll get the voltage checked. If the battery is the cause, would it make sense with the intermittent nature ... i.e. works fine most of the time and when it doesn't, can then start to work after trying 20 times or more?

[E-bmw]

LornaF said:

The engine doesn't turn over at all, nor can I hear any sound of activity from the fuel pump. Just the click of the key turning but nothing else. :-) The dashboard lights up as normal and there are no warning lights to indicate a problem.

By that description it is exceedingly unlikely to be battery.

[d_a_n1979]

LornaF said:

Thanks and yes, I will go for a new part else i wont be able to effectively eliminate it as the cause of the problem. The battery is about 4 years old, I'll get the voltage checked. If the battery is the cause, would it make sense with the intermittent nature ... i.e. works fine most of the time and when it doesn't, can then start to work after trying 20 times or more?

It's worth checking for peace of mind; same with the connections etc...

But does sound more like the ignition switch...

As E-BMW said; it's not the battery that's at fault; but a failing battery / old battery is never a good thing either!

[LornaF]

Diagnostics kit is on the way, quite looking forward to a bit of a tinker. :-)

[LornaF]

Diagnostics kit is on the way, quite looking forward to a bit of a tinker. :-)