And She Just Won't Start!

[sennis]

HI Everyone... Im new to this site... And love what I see... Beamer lovers helping beamer lovers!

Anyhow, I live in Edmonton, ALberta, Canada, and we get incredibly COLD temperatures up here.

EVERYTHING was working FINE with my 318IS, then I forgot to plug in the block heater one night (yes we have to plug our cars in so they don't freeze on us), and the next morning it was COMPLETELY DEAD... Not enough juice to start up...

I then tried boosting my battery with my brothers eclipse (4cyl), and for some reason, it was SOOOOO close to starting, but just didn't go. Do I need a larger vehicle boost?

Id appreciate any help, as I really don't think it's a huge problem, as it was running beautifully before this happened. The battery, I should mention is only 1 month old!

ANY HELP with this is GREATLY appreciated!

STEVEO

[YoungExec728]

what kind of oil are you using? i'd check that first. Also try to warm your engine with the heater and try again.

[Cruzin 323is]

wow, so it is true... canadian cars do plug in HUH!!! i dunno man..i live in us.. today in New York it is 5ºF with wind chill of -10º.. its pretty cold here... my car started up fine though!

[sennis]

Yeah I don't know what the prob is here...

The temp was -38 F without windchill... You've never experienced cold til you've been up here! Could this be an alternator problem?? Or the starter maybe?

Thanks again guys!

Steve

[bigred318]

it sounds battery/alterntor related.. i have never heard of the cold putting out an alternator before, but it could happen... how long did you try to jump your car> in my old 318 it tok me like 10+ tries one time all during a time of about 15min... then it finally started... other wise put a heater on the car and wait a few hours and try her again

David

[bmw323inewbie]

I had similar problem a few weeks ago in the UK, was about -10c / 14f
I flooded my engine, had to get the rescue service out, I thought the spark plugs had got wet , as snowed for 5 days and didn't start it.
It was so close to starting but didn't seem to catch ignition
( Solution I saw is to take out fuel pump fuse (I?) turn over engine with a mate ready to plug the fuse back in the second it catches) * might need jump leads as canes battery.
Don't know if that is why yours won't turn, might help - good luck

* I also found that the box I thought under the hood was the battery was the fuse box and the battery is in the boot

[sennis]

thanks for the help guys... I'll try to get er workin tonight!!!

I'll keep ya posted and hopefully get a pic of my car up here! It's decent... 2 door, black, reiger front, and back bumpers... NEED RIMS!! haha...

If I can just stop the theft of my sound system EVERYTIME I put a new one in, I may be able to afford some rims... GEEZ!! broken into 3 times in 2 months!

TIL NEXT TIME...

STEVEO

[Live_the_Curves]

-23 C with windchill close to -30 C in the morning, the car started fine even though I left it outside did'nt even put it in the garage, however notice that the steeering wheel was really hard, probably the steering fluid froze a little.

[epheterson]

Sucks.. Florida weather is nice B)

[94BMW325i]

Yesterday my car wouldn't start when it was 24 F here but today when it was 19 F it worked? For some reason my brakes were really loud tho.

[tiremann34]

T ry a car that has a stronger battery than an eclipse they use little ones and the BMW use batteries with more CCA's than a cheap jap car would.