Reply With Quoteyours is an automatic yes?Originally Posted by borderchris
id check the neutral switch, and that power is getting to the solenoid on the starter, the solenoids are known to stiick when warm, so it could be either of those issues
1989 535i No Crank, w/ Check Control
Hi all-
Hopefully I can get some ideas. This is an intermittant problem, and usually only after the car has been driven quite a bit, on a warm start attempt. She will go into a no crank condition- no click, nothing; I just sit there listening to the various relays popping and clicking in the car on position 3. After a while, the lovely CHECK CONTROL OWNERS MANUAL will start popping up. I fiddled with the LKM and CCM, to no avail. Once again, no crank at all- the starter is just not getting juice. After 2 hours, I went to Walmart to buy a tow cord, and upon my return, she started just fine. Any ideas? Help!
Chris
1989 535iA
Big Time Poster
yours is an automatic yes?
id check the neutral switch, and that power is getting to the solenoid on the starter, the solenoids are known to stiick when warm, so it could be either of those issues
OK- sounds like a good idea. Anybody know where the neutral safety switch is, and how much do they cost?
Thanks
Chris
Grand Master
It is the same range switch at the bottom of the ...
shift lever. First debug operation by testing voltage to ground at pin 11 of diagnostic connector.
If you have 12 volts there when turning ignition key to start position, then your Park/Neutral switch, and your starter relay are OK, so check starter connections, and starter it self.
If no 12 Vdc at pin 11, then check starter relay K1 (Right next to fuse F1). It should click in/out when operating transmission shift lever in/out of N or P wile ignition key is in Run position.
If no clicking and exchanging relay does not solve it, then you may start considering to dig in the Range switch and clean it. I'm sure I've seen in the internet a writing about that job, just can not remember where it was.
Javier
Major Contributor
Fast and dirty method of checking a bad neutral switch. next time it does not crank, keep holding the key over in start position, with your foot on the brake reach over with your left and and push the shifter farther up into park, if it does not start pull it back into neutral and see if it starts there. the neutral switch can get a dead spot at its normal "rest position" and moving it out of that spot will often allow the car to start.
Thanks for all of the help, fellas. BTW, it always starts when cold, so I'm starting to think it may be the starter solinoid. Any thoughts? Also, the start relay clicks on and off when I move from N to D in position three- I guess that means that the switch and relay are working... Hmmmmm. How hard is it to replace the starter?
Chris
Yep- dead again, and after 3 hours in an Albertson's parking lot, she cranked right up, and again and again. She only seems to do it after there has been heat soak. Any ideas beyond neutral switch and relays?
Chris
Major Contributor
Try useing a remote starter when it doesn't start, that will bypass all the relays and such and confirm the starter good or bad. Not unusual for for starters to fail on hot soak. Sometimes you can give them a sharp rap with the end of a broom handle or something and make it wake up, but you run the risk of breaking the magnets inside it.
You can cobble up a remote "switch" if you dont have one. Just put an aligator clip on the end of a 5' length of wire and bare the other end. clip onto starter and press the bare end against the positive lug under the hood.
On my 89 535i I was able to start it from the 10mm bottom lug on the solenoid and a 12volt hot. I used the jumper lug. When it acts up see if it has power at the solenoid then relay. My problem was a secondary alarm someone added. Anyway, good luck.
Dizzy 1989 BMW 535i 5speed mfg date12/88 E.A.T. chip, new uppper (750i bushings) and lower controle arms, swaybar links,dogbones.
Well, every time it does it, I can hear the relay click in the fuse box if I move the shift selector in and out, so I know that it has power and a signal from the neutral switch. Also, there is power at the solinoid, because I've been able to jump the two nuts with a long screwdriver, but this only results in the WHIRRRRRRRRRRING of the starter motor- it does not engage the teeth. Any more ideas? And of course, a few minutes later, it starts. I'm going nuts!
Chris
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