[Edgarr]

Hey everyone,

Finally started working on the 2nd BMW i got from a auction a 318D ES with 83k on the clock and with 6 months MOT all for £900. Bargain I thought.

its been starting up first time every time for the last few months when I've left the girl ticking over. Today the old girl hadn't been started in a week or so started her up, bit of a slow turnover but put that down to not being started in a little while. This evening went to start her up to move her back on the driveway and she did not crank, however the EML came on. So she's stuck where she is.

Below is the report from carly at 7:13pm:


Then a couple of hours later tried again and this was the report. Notice the difference.


So, its a toss up between the glow plug controller being shot, the glow plugs needing replaced or all of them needing to be replaced.

Any suggestions, as the last car i owned with a farmers engine was back in the early 90's.

[MrSweet1991]

Doesn't seem right to me, we could in theory run our diesels without glow plugs. They are only there to aid in the pre heating within the combustion chamber on a cold day. If yours only has 4 glow plugs then the likely hood is its the glow plug relay as its unlikely all 4 glow plugs developed a fault at the same time. Your best bet is to replace both the glow plug and the controller.

Wheel speed sensor is either the cable which is cheap and easy to replace or its either a rusted ABS reluctor ring or damaged wheel bearing.. Depending on your car you will either have a metal reluctor ring or the wheel bearing has these little magnetic rectangles on the side that the speed sensor picks up.

But, your car should start okay with those faults even though the glow plugs are shot unless it was very cold it should have started as the compression alone will detonate the diesel. Give your battery a charge and try starting again it should be fine, but if yours still has the DPF fitted then get the glow plug controller and glow plugs replaced as depending on the DDE version it may be a pre condition for a DPF regeneration.

[rasa bmw]

as above,,my 330d has 6 glow plug errors and starts first time every time,,id say weak battery,,battery dying will throw no end of silly errors,,sometimes the whole shebang of errors

[Edgarr]

Okay battery has been charged, still no turnover. Getting a clicking noise from the right of the dashboard, when trying to start the engine.

Carly is still throwing up the same errors as the last one taken yesterday evening. Glow plug control on all 4 cylinders.

quick video that you can hear the clicking sound at the end around the 10 sec mark.

[rasa bmw]

battery charged ? has it been tested,,just because a charger says its full does not mean it has enough power,,needs testing and alternator voltages tested,,then go from there.

[MrSweet1991]

Originally Posted by Edgarr

Okay battery has been charged, still no turnover. Getting a clicking noise from the right of the dashboard, when trying to start the engine.

Carly is still throwing up the same errors as the last one taken yesterday evening. Glow plug control on all 4 cylinders.

quick video that you can hear the clicking sound at the end around the 10 sec mark.

It's a push start isn't it? When you press the start button you can cycle ignition on and off? Assuming this is okay then you need to access the hidden menu and check the voltage that your battery has.

At around 50 seconds he enters the lock code and it then takes you back to nunber 1 of the secret menu which is now unlocked. On this menu you want to go to number 9 which is voltage, if you make a mistake you hold the trip reset for 2 seconds and that takes you back to the main menu.

With the voltage you want over 12v (as a percentage I believe 12v would be low and 12.7v would be 100%) as long as its not below 12v and its not a faulty battery it should still attempt to Crank.

If voltage is okay check the engine ground strap, if its the same as ours it's located down by the engine mount (passenger side) I took a video of all the power and Ground connection a while back its shown at around 26 seconds

See if that looks corroded? And maybe double check the other ground connection shown in the video like the one from the bonnet.

[nomiS330d]

Originally Posted by rasa bmw

as above,,my 330d has 6 glow plug errors and starts first time every time,,id say weak battery,,battery dying will throw no end of silly errors,,sometimes the whole shebang of errors

Whereas my 330d has no fault codes whatsoever but does take twice as long cranking over on very cold mornings before it starts and then produces a fair bit of smoke for a few seconds.
When I say cold I mean like below zero so it’s not really a problem so I put up with it.

[Edgarr]

Originally Posted by MrSweet1991

It's a push start isn't it? When you press the start button you can cycle ignition on and off? Assuming this is okay then you need to access the hidden menu and check the voltage that your battery has.

See if that looks corroded? And maybe double check the other ground connection shown in the video like the one from the bonnet.

Yep its a push start, get in the car press start and the lights come on as it should.

I'll check out the hidden menu and ground wires when its not chucking it down later this afternoon and get back to you.

Lets hope its something so simple.

[Edgarr]

Update.

Battery has been charged and its sitting at about 12.43v but still wont crank or anything. Infact my 320i has a poorer voltage on the battery and still cranks.

the 318D doesn't seem to have as many ground cables as in that video. Still need to find access the the one under the engine. Unsure which side (drivers, passengers side it will be under).

Am i right in thinking the 06 BMW's don't have the IBS on the negative cable on the battery?

[Bluewater335D]

Clicking sounds like a flat battery

Have you tried connecting another battery with jump leads?

[Edgarr]

Hello everyone,

The weathers been absolutely dreadful recently but managed to get outside this afternoon for a couple of hours

1) initially checked all ground wiring except ground cable at the bottom of the engine on the passenger side due to being unable to move car by myself
2) checked battery, needed a little charge. Once charged would still not start, jump starting also not working.
3) Low battery charge caused a EWS manipulation error, bought a cable and used inpa to reset it and error went.
4) checked all fuses and relays. All okay.
6) Noticed when pressing start button sometimes the dash would switch off and a relay would click in the glove box. Know that all relays are fine so not the issue.
7) Thought to myself lets ground the engine to the negative jump start location and see what happens.
8) engine starts first time.

So there we go, I'm thinking when i jacked the car up to change the tyres that the engine ground cable must have been in such bad condition its got loose.

Still getting all 4 glow plugs coming up as a error and then another single glow plug error. So that is the next job to do as the engine is sounding pretty rough on startup. My thoughts on this are that it must be the glow plug controller as for all 4 plugs to go at once the chances are low.