328 wont crank or start - BMW Forum

ritrka · 09-16-2006, 03:38 AM

Greetings all. I have a problem with my Dec 97 328 manual. Short story: I hit a bird (gallah), broke radiator. Car over heated. Towed car 250 home. When it over heated it would still start and everything appeared ok aside from being a bit tappy. On the tow home I left on the ignition to listen to the radio and I thought the steering may lock. Around halfway home the battery went flat. I have fixed the radiator and all appears normal however it wont start, it would before I towed it? The battery has been fully charged and from what I gather the ignition lights look to all come on. The car will not even attempt to crank? The engine is not seized as I tried to push start but nothing? It gives the signs of an immobilzer being on but it has none fitted? I have checked the fuses and all appear ok but I dont know how to check the square things that are in with the fuses? The check computor is asking for a radio pin, which I have, aside from that all appears ok. I have looked through the forums but found nothing similar? I rang BMW and they said to send it in on a truck for them but if I can I would rather not. Hoping there's an easy answer, regards Ritrka

Hamfisted · 09-16-2006, 01:22 PM

So listening to the radio for a couple of hours killed the battery? I would get a new battery. Do you have the code for the radio? Some people just write it down in the owners manual or even on the radio body itself. If you can't find it the dealer can look it up for you.
Did you try jump starting from another known good battery? Or do the headlights come on nice and bright?

-Mike

ritrka · 09-17-2006, 07:47 AM

Hi Mike, thanks for the reply. The battery was probably being used for a good 5-6 hours by the time my tow arrived and during this time my girlfriend probably moved the windows at least a 100 times as well. I put the battery on a good new charger which I've used a couple of times and it came up 100%. The lights are strong and bright even when I try to start it? I then tried to start it direct from the leads of the charger on an emergency start setting with no joy. I found the radio code in my books and got that working ok. I kept reading and found in the user book that if you disconnect the battery for two minutes and then reconnect, then put the key in position 1 a countdown will start on the computor and countdown for 15 minutes....it says it will then start, which it didnt. Same thing nothing? Is it possible I've cooked a part of the computor? I rang BMW and they would send out a guy for $180 for 30 minutes and $60 for every 15 minutes after that. I thought I would have a bit more of try before I give the go ahead. The chap on the phone also said he has no idea what it could be and doubted he could fix it (promising huh). Kind regards Ritrka