My 2003 (13k miles) is having troubles starting...

Last week (5/17), I had troubles starting the car, it acted like the battery was week. But it did start.

5/18, I tried to start the car to move it into the driveway to wash it. It wouldn't crank (all lights come on when key turned, solenoid clicked, but no starter). I took the batter to be tested, it tested ok, but since I've had batteries with bad cells that tested out fine, I replaced it. Car started fine.
I haven't driven it since 5/18.

This morning (5/24). I decide to drive the Mini instead of the the motorcycle and once again, it won't start. Hook it up to my charger (w/ 50 amp starter assist). Doesn't change how it cranks (as in won't). All I get is a clicking solenoid, but no cranking.

The car is now sitting on the charger with 2amps charging the battery just to make sure.

So... how do I troubleshoot this without removing the starter (just yet)? unless someone has a better idea. I'm going to remove the starter and have it tested. Any hints on removing the starter?

I saw in another thread where it could be the key. The key unlocks and locks the car fine. I'm going to try the spare key and see if that makes any difference.

Any other hints?

Last summer, I had a problem where when I turned the key to start, the whole dash would go dead... I reseated the plugs on the ECU and haven't had that problem since. This problem is different because I can hear the solenoid clicking, it just won't crank. (sound just like a car sounds when the battery is weak)

 

I went home at lunch... disconnected the charger from the battery, tried to start with the key I always use... started perfect.

Darn, I hate intermittent problems...

 

a 2003 with only 13,000, you need to MOTOR more dude

 

If it started after charging all morning, assumption is the battery was drained. Although my 1st place to start is to double check the battery cable connections, make sure they're clean in tight. If I understand your 1st post, you replaced your battery recently.

If that's the case, I rekon it's one of two issues:

1) Something is draining it while the car is off. - Boot light maybe?
2) It's not charging while the car is running. - Check altenator?

 

Could be a relay switch draining the battery. Hook up a voltmeter to the battery disconnected from the car and check for voltage drop. If it's dropping considerably, your battery cells are damaged. If nothing,then hook it back up to car and check again WITHOUT turning on ignition. If its dropping, then it's most likely an ignition switch or some kind of relay switch problem. This happened to me on my Bus that I drive at work. It was a short in the relay switch for the auxillery lights.

 

After you check for shorts and the cables are clean, the next step would be to look at the selonoid http://www.realoem.com/bmw/partgrp.d...21&hg=12&fg=25 .

 

disconnect the negetive battery wire . to this connect the negative side of a multy meter . connect the positive side of the multy meter to the neg. bat . post . the multy should be arranged to read amps and should now be in "series" with the negative side of the bat.if you read say more than one amp', pull one fuse at a time until the amps go low .(computerized cars draw a bit ) if you get a change in amps then you've likely found the cicuit .

 

I had that problem once...it turned out to be the cooling fan. I think it had a bad relay and it would not turn off. It drained the battery completely to the point that no lights would turn on. If the car gets really hot, like in traffic, it will stay on after the car is off until it gets to a certain temperature. If it runs after the car gets turned off, check on it in 10 minutes. For now, you should just disconnect the negative cable and then reconnect it when you are ready to start the car.

Good luck.

 

Did you find out what the problem was?

 

I finally did... I think it was a bad cell in the original battery (several years old, so that's fine), but the new battery I bought turned out to be bad.... I've had another new battery in it for the past couple of weeks and it's been working great... even left it for a week while I was on a cruise and it was fine...

Thanks for all of the hints...