92 525i Not starting after 3 days cold weather

[Akhil]

Hi Guys,
I live in Houston, TX and we never had freezing temp since I own this car. But last week we had temp around 25-20 degree F. My car was parked out side for 3 days and 4th day when I tried to start it, it cranked first time and tried to fire but it didn’t. Now from second time onwards when I try to start it, it just cranks but no symptom of firing. Seem like some electrical problem or something got burnt out when I tried first time. Batter looks OK, I even tried to jump with other running car, but it just cranks but doesn’t start. Can you guys give me any suggestion what could be wrong and where to look?

Thank you all in advance.

Akhil

[repenttokyo]

try gasline antifreeze. sounds like a fuel delivery problem.

[colo525i]

Sounds like gas has water in it to me. Put in some gas dry stuff in the tank and remember to keep the tank full whenever it gets cold to prevent condensation problems. You also may want to take the spark plugs out and dry them off.

[Akhil]

Sounds like gas has water in it to me. Put in some gas dry stuff in the tank and remember to keep the tank full whenever it gets cold to prevent condensation problems. You also may want to take the spark plugs out and dry them off.


Thanks for all you suggetions. I will try all these one by one. But to me it soungs like electrical problem. Is it possible that when I tried to st
art first time after freezing cold, somthing go burnt out may be some fuse or any thing else as I know resistance becomes low at lower temp that mean current goes high. What do you guys think?

Thanks
Akhil

[shogun]

"But last week we had temp around 25-20 degree F."

That is not really cold. Think about people living in Alaska or Canada.
Check if fuel comes and spark plugs get sparks.

[repenttokyo]

Sounds like gas has water in it to me. Put in some gas dry stuff in the tank and remember to keep the tank full whenever it gets cold to prevent condensation problems. You also may want to take the spark plugs out and dry them off.


gasline antifreeze is what removes water from fuel. typically it's alcohol.


"But last week we had temp around 25-20 degree F."

That is not really cold. Think about people living in Alaska or Canada.

like me! lol. it's currently 12.2 F here. Yesterday it was -2.2 F. And that's without windchill. With windchill it was -13 F

[Akhil]

I tried all these and today temp is about 70 F, But it didn't start. This time I have "Check Control" displayed on dash board. Any idea what should I try next?

Thanks
Akhil

[Ferret]

Sounds like a voltage problem...

[colo525i]

Sounding now like a dead battery. I have the service history on my car from the original owner. It had been in more than 3x for not starting after a few days and every time the battery needed charging. Try removing the battery and see if it takes a charge from a charger.

[Akhil]

I tried giving jump from another car while the other car was running hence giving full power, but it did not start :( I kept cranking about 10-15 seconds but did not fire :( What shoul I try next?

Thanks
Akhil

[colo525i]

that won't always work if the car has a dead battery, try another one if you can.

[DaveVoorhis]

Start with the basics. Try to start it, then remove a spark plug and see if it's wet with gas. If so, ground it and see if it sparks. If no fuel, you've got a fuel supply problem. If no spark, you've got an ignition problem.

[Derek A.]

1. Pull all your plugs.
2. Blow out all your cylinders with compressed air - or let them air out for about 20 minutes.
3. Squirt a tablespoon of motor oil in each cylinder
4. Put in new spark plugs.
5. Fire up the motor - keep it cranking until it fires.

[Akhil]

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to thanks you all for helping me. I got my car stated just by cranking it with a jum cable 2 days ago while outside temp went up above 70 degree F. :)

I just tried Derek A. method but in but in reverse order and only 5th one got my car started with doing any thing just with higher ambian temp. Thanks a lot Derek.

Here is Derek A. 's method.

1. Pull all your plugs.
2. Blow out all your cylinders with compressed air - or let them air out for about 20 minutes.
3. Squirt a tablespoon of motor oil in each cylinder
4. Put in new spark plugs.
5. Fire up the motor - keep it cranking until it fires.

Thanks
Akhil

[Ross]

never heard the words Houston and cold used in the same sentence before

[mzarifkar]

i stopped caring, we haven't had temperatures above 0F for a week now, Batter booster pack, is standards now, along with full tank of Gas, If you have ethanol in your gas (not E85) it will chemically do the same thing to water as fuel line anti freeze/water remover