[Kalani Prince]

It all starts with my lifelong friend, Sterling and HIS obsession with projects.. Projects, projects, projects...

Recently he's become obsessed with buying sub $3k BMW's on Craigslist & Facebook Marketplace. Here on Maui, everything is 20% more so he's hard pressed to pass up a good deal.

After seeing his bimmer projects materialize, I began to catch the BMW bug.. What is this "Ultimate Driving Experience"? PS: I have still NEVER driven a BMW in my life. I'm 47.

Anyhow, after researching the N/A N52 engine, I was excited to keep my eyes out for the perfect Wagon. 6spd ideally, but on Maui, that probably wouldn't happen, ever... We'll see, maybe this girl will get a tranny swap if I can get her running.
........................................

Series of events. Bought the car with 97k miles for $3k. The previous owner said his (now ex wife), stalled out at a stoplight, and the car never ran since. When I bought it, I could tell someone did some checks of the DME, The Glovebox Fuse box panel was off, the rear seat was off to check Fuel Pump, and the Battery Cover was off with a 2yr old battery.

I immediately changed the fuel pump, naively thinking I had it all figured out, but alas, she'd just crank and crank, and crank. I cleaned the Vanos Solonoids, replaced the camshaft position sensors, and replaced the oil (which was FILTHY). Still nothing...

I then pulled all plugs and WAS going to do a compression test. For no reason other than curiosity, I wanted to know what the motor sounded like TURNING WITH NO PLUGS. It seemed to spin effortlessly... Till.. The 3rd crank it just clicked. The same sound a bad starter would make.. Anyhow, here I am.

No Crank, No Start - Could the original stall out from the ex wife been caused by the CAS going out WHILE driving?

I tried all the temp fixes, unplugging the Valvetronic Motor, Eccentric Shaft Plug, IBS blue plug, replaced the Relay in glovebox, checked all fuses etc..
..................................

Can supply any additional info, or shoot video, etc if anyone wants to help.

PS: If you're an excellent BMW tech and want to talk about coming to Maui, let me know Not joking. Even better if you're a content creator and want a challenge in paradise!

[Serf27]

How does the ground strap on the right side of the engine going to the chassis look?

It cranked at first and now doesn’t crank?

[Kalani Prince]

Originally Posted by Serf27

How does the ground strap on the right side of the engine going to the chassis look?

It cranked at first and now doesn’t crank?

Hey Mike, yes, cranked first, then stopped after I cranked with no plugs. Both ground straps kinda greenish but no fraying and adding temp ground support = same.

[e90yyc]

Battery Cable Recall

Has this recall been completed? If not, start there. Might mark the end of your journey if you’re lucky!

Edit: As others have said, you’re at the mileage where it’s probably not a bad idea to replace the starter if even preemptively, but that doesn’t *sound* like your primary issue.

[bmwbob89]

If the ground straps are greenish they need replaced regardless. Replace them as they are cheap. See if anything improves.

[jsunma]

Well, that's a beautiful car...in a beautiful state...so I think we all need to chip in and try to get it back on the road for you ;-)

I agree with all that has been said in the replies thus far. I also think you should do two other things to try to narrow down the issue re. the ground and also the starter itself.

In terms of the ground, you should try the thing where you bypass the ground strap by using jumper cables to ground the engine to the negative battery terminal. Look it up. OR, alternatively, go ahead and replace that "greenish" ground strap. In your salty air environment, I'd look to that as being an issue. And as it has been said, if it's green, replace it. (the OEM part is about $50. You can also fabricate your own strap if you want.)

In terms of testing the starter, I point you toward this video (

). The guy seems a bit bumbling, but starting at around 1:50 (watch the whole thing through) he explains how you can test the starter, bypassing the CAS. The idea is to see if the starter actually turns. If the ground is good, and it DOES NOT turn via this test, then you have a bad starter. If you haven't addressed the ground, then it could still be the ground and/or the starter.

You seem like someone who's into the adventure of testing this stuff out. Excellent. Give it a shot and let us know what happens.

BTW, you will want to get a BMW-specific code reader. Your issues here may well be addressed without that, but guaranteed, you're going to need that sooner or later if you keep working on this car.

[spazzz]

I had the CAS >A0C1 terminal 50 after oil pan gasket in the shop.
Mechanic thought it was the starter since it wouldn't start. I drove it home and next day no click, nothing. Had it towed back

It was the alternator-starter-base B+ cable from engine bay positive terminal to starter and alternator. I told him to replace all the grounds while he was at it.
He did these for free.

[e90yyc]

Originally Posted by Kalani Prince

The previous owner said his (now ex wife), stalled out at a stoplight, and the car never ran since.

I would have divorced her too.

[Kalani Prince]

Originally Posted by spazzz

I had the CAS >A0C1 terminal 50 after oil pan gasket in the shop.
Mechanic thought it was the starter since it wouldn't start. I drove it home and next day no click, nothing. Had it towed back

It was the alternator-starter-base B+ cable from engine bay positive terminal to starter and alternator. I told him to replace all the grounds while he was at it.
He did these for free.

Xlnt, will definitely check them! Do you know the typical lifespan of the starter & alternator in BMWs?

[jsunma]

Originally Posted by Kalani Prince

Do you know the typical lifespan of the starter & alternator in BMWs?

IIRC, the car you're working on has 97K miles. "Typically" the starter and the alternator should be good for nearly double that. There seem to be a number of folks posting concurrent with this thread about starter issues on their 2007/2010 E90s, and those are all around 150 - 175K. Alternators in these cars seem even more reliable than starters.

BUT, "typical" is just about a meaningless concept unless you factor in a strong understanding of what has been done to the car and how it's been used. You don't really have either of those pieces of info from what I can tell for the car you're working on. Also, there's simply a matter of luck of the draw. Typically a lot of things don't happen to cars...but they still do.

[Kalani Prince]

Originally Posted by jsunma

IIRC, the car you're working on has 97K miles. "Typically" the starter and the alternator should be good for nearly double that. There seem to be a number of folks posting concurrent with this thread about starter issues on their 2007/2010 E90s, and those are all around 150 - 175K. Alternators in these cars seem even more reliable than starters.

BUT, "typical" is just about a meaningless concept unless you factor in a strong understanding of what has been done to the car and how it's been used. You don't really have either of those pieces of info from what I can tell for the car you're working on. Also, there's simply a matter of luck of the draw. Typically a lot of things don't happen to cars...but they still do.

very true. I suspect/hope the starter is fine as it WAS doing a crank/no start scenario but we'll see : ) They really buried the starter in this motor!