Urgent help

[Equinox]

Hi all,

Well drove to the south of France yesterday did 600 miles, today the car will not start, Battery is perfect, seems a little intermittant at changing from neutral to first but i can hear it changing, when trying to start its dead no noise whatsoever, managment light stays on but no gearbox lights on.

Ive fiddles with the bonnet switch and taken out the salmon relay and knocked it about but thats made no difference,

Any sensible suggestions before I call BMW Assist ?

Equinox

[shane@mbtech]

Originally Posted by Equinox

Hi all,

Well drove to the south of France yesterday did 600 miles, today the car will not start, Battery is perfect, seems a little intermittant at changing from neutral to first but i can hear it changing, when trying to start its dead no noise whatsoever, managment light stays on but no gearbox lights on.

Ive fiddles with the bonnet switch and taken out the salmon relay and knocked it about but thats made no difference,

Any sensible suggestions before I call BMW Assist ?

Equinox

Disconnect and reconnect battery. Leave disconnected for 10 mins.

How do you know battery is good?

[Equinox]

All dash lights are ok, everything working ok at what seems to be normal operation speeds, ck from ok I dont know that the starter is getting what it needs (9v) to start it, however I cant check the charging either. Awaiting a call back from BMW Assist.

[The Gorilla]

Hi,

As you have already tried the
usual suspects, try disconnecting the Battery for
abnout 20 mins and the re-connect.

It might help as it can remove error
codes set by default.

Might get you started, hopefully.

Regards,

The Gorilla.

Lawsy beat me to it.

[Equinox]

Thanks for the input folks, in all honesty i dont want to clear the codes, id rather BMW do it because I really dont want the same problem on the way back in a couple of weeks. I do appreciate your help thanks but watch this space ill keep you informed.

Equinox

[sailorbaz]

Could be a switch in the gear box. I had something similar, was a wee switch down there, would go into Neutral, 1st and Reverse but car wouldn't even turn. Must be a proximity switch or something that tells the car whether it's in neutral or not. Not much use to you now of course, but just for futures searches. Nothing you can do other than change the switch.

How did BMW Assist get on?

[Equinox]

Hi folks,

The car was collected on a flat bed by a local breakdown, he tried a boost pack but problem was still the same. The car then went to the local dealers which is 10 mins away luckily, (family we are staying with speak fluent French which helps) although breakdown and warranty are very good their information passing on ability is limited. We are in contact with the very helpfull dealers a lot and BMW call me occasionally to tell me what I already know or the wrong stuff generally. If somehow seems BMW France dont realise their dealers close for 2 hour lunches, either that or they dont relay the info to BMW UK. Either way the starter has been replaced on the car. I first called them at 11am on Monday and will be collecting it about 11am on Friday which isnt ideal but thats life, as we are with family we can use one of their cars Assist have found me a car I could use but quite frankly a 40km trip in 40 degrees wasnt really that urgent so I declined.

The chap at the dealers has wrapped it in corron wool for me and kept an eye on it anyway and im told i just need to go to my local dealers in the UK with the invoice and they will put the refund in place.

Tomorrow im going to tear up the French countryside and local amazing valley roads littered with steep hairpins and short straits.

God im missing it, an E320 CDi is very nice and smooth but its not a CSL, A Smart Roadster has paddles but doesnt quite have the poke from its 3cyl turbo engine.

Equinox

[Equinox]

Its back !

860 euro's lighter until i claim it from BMW when back in the UK, but god damn i missed it. My relative that dropped me off got a right good fly past when i picked it up, him being local and concerned about points off his french licence and me not giving a toss.

Whooooo