Car stopped while driving and hasn't turned on since.

[Henkka]

Hi,

I'm from Finland and could use some help on my BMW 120i (-05). I bought it last year in November from Germany for my wife as a second car for the family. It has worked fine until this week. My wife took off with the car on Tuesday morning to go to work. Before that the car had been three days outside in extremely cold weather (-15 to -22 degrees) without driving. The car started this morning but as you can imagine it didn't start very easily. My wife drove 5 minutes to work. After the day at work the car started again with a little of difficulty but started anyway leaving the oil-warning light on. At that time it was about -22 degrees. Suddenly on her way home the car just stopped, I mean the engine. My wife said that she heard some noise from the front of the car maybe engine but it wasn't loud. The ABS-warning light came on the same time as this happened. After a few minutes all the electronics failed and it wasn't even possible to lock the doors because of the loss of electrics.

I hooked up the car with jump leads to my own and got the electrics back. Then we towed the car back home to our garage to the warmth. I tried to recharge the battery and start the car but it didn't start. The starter ran but it didn't start the engine. Then I tried with another battery (old as well but still with some life on it) and it was the same, didn't start.

I haven't bought a new battery yet because I'm not sure if the problem really is the battery. Any ideas?

The car is 2005 and has been driven about 70k. My wife has been driving only short stops (5-10 minutes) and during the winter. I'm not sure if the car still has it's original battery but at least it's BMW's own battery (white). And the battery is only a 46Ah battery.

So please if anyone has any ideas I would be glad to get all the advice!

-Henri

[lynnedickens]

Hi sorry to hear about your problems my husband had a similar problem with his battery last year. We called breakdown out & they said the battery was fine but we weren't convinced. We took the battery out of the car & had it tested & it showed it had a faulty cell so we bought a new one. We thought it was a straight forward swop & we could just put the new battery in but although we could open the doors again without the emergency key it still wouldn't start. The radio & all the lights worked again though. We did have the car taken to BMW as we had a warranty & were told that the battery had to be programmed into the car computer. £95 later everthing was fine again & no problems since.

[Henkka]

Thanks lynnedickens for your quick reply!
After you changed the new battery did the starter still run when you pushed the starter button although the engine itself never started?

-Henri

[edstrom76]

If your battery is on its way out (which by the sounds of things it is), some really strange symptoms can manifest. Not just the fact that the starter motor won't turn over. Batteries only have a limited life span and if it hasn't been replaced since the car was new, I would think it probably needs doing. Especially with the cold winters you have over there. I guess if you are unsure, you can always have the cells tested.

I have to say 46Ah sounds a bit measly - I'll check mine but I'm sure it's something like 80 or 85Ah. Mine is a FL model and might have a more powerful battery because of the Efficient Dynamic features but I wouldn't have thought that the difference is that great. Worth noting is that I've read somewhere that you might need your new battery coding if you deviate from what the car came fitted with.

Hyvää Iltaa!

[Vince1976]

Try a new battery first of all. A low charge could mean that all of the pre-heating elements required on the modern BMW may not be heating the elements to the desired temperatures, considering your extremely cold environment at present.

Unless you can get a diagnostic OBD tool and find out what could be wrong.

[Flying_Scotsman]

Terve Henri!

I think you may be one of the first Finns on here!

I am a frequent flyer there as my other half is a Finn!

Another suggestion would be the diesel? You have got winter diesel
In the car?? If not that could be frozen?

Get some heat on in the garage warm up the car, a good charge on
The battery and try again.

Alternatively are the glow plugs heating the engine, you will get the swirl
Symbol on the dash that goes out once it's heated.

Fuel filter blocked??

Good luck!

[lynnedickens]

Hi Henri everything worked once the battery was changed including the starter motor but the engine wouldn't that's when we were told the battery had to be programmed to the car. Never had this before though on previous cars just changed the battery & off you go. There again none of the previous cars were BMW's. It was the original battery that was replaced & the would have been about 5 1/2 years old with about 65000 mileage. Both the seller of the battery & BMW said it had lasted longer than the recommended battey life. Just before it went the car had done a lot of short journeys so they was more going out than in. Might be worth getting it tested before you do anything else.

[lynnedickens]

sorry about the spelling in my previous reply, typed it a bit quick as i'm getting ready for the new series of TOP Gear. Good luck

[redwizard]

Another suggestion would be the diesel? You have got winter diesel
In the car?? If not that could be frozen?

Get some heat on in the garage warm up the car, a good charge on
The battery and try again.

Alternatively are the glow plugs heating the engine, you will get the swirl
Symbol on the dash that goes out once it's heated.

Fuel filter blocked??

Good luck!

120i - hopefully not using diesel or glow plugs.

Also 46ah may be the standard option for 4-pot petrols, the diesels require more power.

[Flying_Scotsman]

Another suggestion would be the diesel? You have got winter diesel
In the car?? If not that could be frozen?

Get some heat on in the garage warm up the car, a good charge on
The battery and try again.

Alternatively are the glow plugs heating the engine, you will get the swirl
Symbol on the dash that goes out once it's heated.

Fuel filter blocked??

Good luck!

120i - hopefully not using diesel or glow plugs.

Also 46ah may be the standard option for 4-pot petrols, the diesels require more power.

Silly me! Ignore my comments!

[Henkka]

Thanks for all the replies!!

No I haven't been using any diesel or glow plugs

The 46Ah battery is probably the normal size battery for the car but I suppose you could also assume that it's the first/original one for the car. At least nowadays in Finland you can't find as small battery for a E87 as 46Ah. But I will start by checking the cells.

And thanks once again for all the comments.

I will put some info when the problem solves.

-Henri

[steve87]

It sounds more than likely the battery, but if its not turning over, and your oil light came on, have you checked your oil level. Worst case would be no oil and a seized engine.

[Henkka]

The oil level is fine according to the cars computer. The engine doesn't have a normal stick where you could check the actual level but I assume the oil level is ok.

[Henkka]

Hi,

I went to check the battery and it was fine. Damn.. So no help on that one.

I also checked the fault codes and found one, P2610 (ecm/pcm internal engine off timer performance). If anyone could help me with this one I would appreciate it a lot.


-Henri

[Vince1976]

Hi,

I went to check the battery and it was fine. Damn.. So no help on that one.

I also checked the fault codes and found one, P2610 (ecm/pcm internal engine off timer performance). If anyone could help me with this one I would appreciate it a lot.


-Henri

http://www.mazdaspeedforums.org/forum/f ... nce-84820/

Here's some info, although it's not BMW, it would seem that they're the same component.

If you Google P2610 (ecm/pcm internal engine off timer performance), there are a few posts saying the same kind of thing.

Hope this helps?