95 e34 no crank - BMW Forum

gec · 11-17-2008, 05:15 PM

I have a 95 525i with manual trans that has not given us any problem in over a year. On Friday my wife drove it to work and when she went to go out for lunch the dash lights and heater fan came on put starter won't crank.
I got a ride to her work and checked that battery had a full charge, then turned the key to on and bump started it...fired right up, no service engine, ran it home shut it off, tried to restart and same thing no power to starter.
Got out the Bentley and no picture of my exact fuse box and no listing for the starter relay under the fuse panel in the back or under the hood. Did a part search on bimmerspecialist and only one starter relay found for automatic cars only...does the 5spd. not have a relay? If it does can anyone help me pinpoint which one? I would normally just pull the starter and bench test it but according to the manual the intake has to be removed first although it looks to me like it might just squeeze out from underneath if i can get the passenger side bolt out. I do get a click from a relay under the back seat and a click from one under the hood but nothing from the starter. Phoned a local BMW dealer and he could not find a listing for a starter relay, only one he thought might be it for $79.95.
Sorry bout the long post but I'm starting to get just a wee bit frustrated...lol

gec · 11-17-2008, 06:55 PM

Just unhooked the battery and checked out the fusible link and its good, hooked the battery back up and the hazard lights came on for about a minute. that normal?

marti5 · 11-18-2008, 10:56 AM

I would say starter solonoid or the starter itself, dont know if yours comes as a complete unit, I would have it off and test it.

gec · 11-18-2008, 11:26 AM

My guess too thanks for the reply Marti5, gunna crawl back under it today and see if it will squeeze out from the bottom. Hate to take all the intake off, get to the starter and then find out its the ignition!

marti5 · 11-18-2008, 02:16 PM

Dont think it will be the ignition.

gec · 11-18-2008, 02:27 PM

Dont think its coming out from underneath either!..think i lost a few knuckles and can't get at the right side bolt. Oh well she can still drive it if she parks on a hill...lol

marti5 · 11-18-2008, 02:39 PM

I think you will need to invest in, well we call it a flexible extension for your socket set they are cheap and get you out of lots of problems, they are around 300mm long, look rather like a tight spring and bend anywhere, just put your socket on get it on the bolt, other end on your rachet and hey bresto!!

bavarian · 11-18-2008, 03:21 PM

hi gec it could be the solenoid as marti said.disconnect the battery before you do this

gec · 11-18-2008, 03:55 PM

Has anyone ever taken a starter off an M50 without removing the intake as the bentley manual suggests?

gec · 11-18-2008, 05:51 PM

On my way to the auto supply tomorrow after checking ebay I'm not sure why I don't already have one of those extensions in my tool box. Just hope it will give me enough torque to free the nuts.

Ricbmw · 11-23-2008, 03:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gec

Has anyone ever taken a starter off an M50 without removing the intake as the bentley manual suggests?

Hi Gec, Did mine Friday, took about 30 minutes, out through the bottom didn't touch the inlet manifold. Disconct neg .10mm ring spanner for the headblots 17mm ring spanner fo the nuts. Top bolt out first (this is slow and longest part). Bottom bolt, drop starter on to steering rack undo wires and drop out the bottom. Installing the reverse only need to tie start up with string to reconect wiring. I replaced the brushes it starter as it was slow in turning over.
Hope it can help.
Ric

gec · 11-23-2008, 07:37 PM

I finally got back around to looking at this again, my wife has been using my truck while her car is inop and she brought the truck home with the exhaust hanging off it on friday. I'm having a major vehicular meltdown here. Anyway I decided to get at the starter from the top, removed the intake and the rest of the stuff, got the starter nuts loose until the torx bolts started to spin then while I was removing the small wires off the starter I hit the ground that comes from the starter housing to the solenoid and it fell apart! Now I'm not sure weather to try and solder a new wire on there without removing the starter or what. Is it possible to put the wires back on the starter and check if that was the problem without putting the intake back on or am i gunna screw something else up. Cant get the starter completely removed until I get a torx socket tomorrow anyway. Does anyone know what size they are to save buying a set?

gec · 11-25-2008, 01:19 AM

Just in case anyone has the same problem, I had about 1/4" of positive cable left coming out of the starter, I cleaned it up with a dremmel and tried to solder a wire to it but could not get it to hold. After looking at an old starter that had a solid connector from the starter housing to the solenoid, I took a battery cable connector bent the hole end at about 45, twisted, and squeezed the cable end, drilled a small hole in it to fit over the 1/4" of wire coming out of starter. Hooked up the solenoid nut and soldered the connection to the wire coming out of starter...looks and feels a lot stronger than the bare wire from bosch. Car fired right up...will see how long it lasts. I'm used to working on chev/gmc and only had the BMW for a year with no problems so Im not gunna complain about taking off an intake to get to a starter...not half as bad as working under the dash of a Corvette...my back is still screwed up!

Reuling99m3 · 08-09-2011, 05:04 PM

did this fix the problem?? im having the same issue.

Jack Dabsy · 08-10-2011, 02:38 PM

You could have whacked the starter with a hammer! Worked for me, must be the dust off the starter rotor-bushes LOL