2001 bmw x5 4.4 e53 won't start. New battery new alternator

90

Asked by Olskool1 Sep 03, 2016 at 02:43 PM about the 2001 BMW X5 4.4i AWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I went and had it tinted. Brought it home, left it for
a day. Took it out to wash it and got to the end of
the driveway before it shut off. Battery light was
solid. Changed out the battery. Then the ignition
clicked once then nothing. Changed out the
alternator today. Charged the battery, still same
issue. I really need my car up and running by
tomorrow. Help? Please.

6 Answers

2,950

There are so many OTHER reasons a car won’t start. It could be a bad starter, corroded cables, or the main relay. It could be a bad spark plug, bad plug wire, or a combination of the two, carburetor choke, water in the distributor cap, bad points, bad injectors, accelerator pump, timing, broken timing belt, engine is flooded, a vacuum leak, or even a bad temperature sensor, or a combination of some or all of these. A blown head gasket will also prevent your car from starting if the engine is a four cylinder with two dead cylinders.

3 people found this helpful.
90

Spark plugs and wires are brand new, no water in the oil. No other problems. Truck ran and drove just fine before. All maintenance was always done on time and correctly. If there's a main relay which would be causing the battery light to come on then I can't find it. Is there a relay or fuse that controls the battery and or alternator? If so where can I find it. And is there some fancy trick you need to do to reset the computer? I don't need to have the key re- coded, as my key still locks and unlocks the truck just fine.

4 people found this helpful.
90

I have finally gotten my truck up and running. I do still have a few small bugs to work out but I can live with them. I wanted to write an update and hope that this can help somebody else out there. I will try to be as detailed as I possibly can. I have a 2001 BMW X5 4.4. I have had it for about 6 months. The previous owners had all receipts and proof of all maintenance. I took care of all routine maintenance as well. On time. Within the last month alone I did a larger tune up, new spark plugs new wires, new oil, filter, cabin filter, air filter, brakes, coolant flush, new head and tail lights windshield washer fluid, new wiper blades new tires. I also had the carpets shampoo'd. (Not too relevant, but just proof that I take great care of my cars). Being in California, it's very hot here in the summer. So I finally got a day off and took my truck to go get it tinted. I took it to the shop on a friday, they told me the obvious don't roll down the windows for 3 days. Luckily for me I didn't need the truck for the next 4 days. So I parked it in my backyard and locked it up. Now on the way home I did notice something strange, something that has never happened before. I have not yet gotten around to changing out the radio and that horrible piece of junk DSP system. So I have been using cds. I was listening to the cd, and randomly without touching any of the buttons, the radio would just change songs, to the next track and start in the middle of the song. I'm still not sure what caused that. But then again, the radio is junk. I have already ordered a whole replacement kit, just haven't got around to installing it. Saturday morning, I was fixing the bed and I mis- steped, and tore my knee right out of its socket. Therefore rendering me unable to drive. My husband offered to wash my truck and put the car cover on it and put in the garage, I apreciated the offer and that evening he got in the truck, turned it on drover it about 20 feet when the battery light turned on and the truck turned off. We have a 07 silverado, a couple Hondas and a few other random cars, and every time a battery light has come on, it's always been the same cause. Battery and or alternator. Not even a week before the BMW died, the silverado did the same thing. Again, thanks California weather. We changed out the battery and alternator and the chevy started right up. Not the same case for the bmw. We changed the alternator and battery and the darn thing would not turn over for anything. We checked the voltage, the amperage, the conections, fuses, relays, anything you could think of. I asked for advice and got absolutely no good answers. I heard answers telling me that my key came un- synced with my truck, but the fob still locked and unlocked it. So that was ruled out. Well long story short, after a 2 weeks of trial and error, lots and lots of error, lol. I kept telling my husband to check the starter, he said it was getting no power, so I asked him if maybe we should change it? He took it off had it tested and it tested good starter, so now what??? We were at an absolute loss, I was actually in the process of posting it on the Internet for $1000 obo, not sure what's wrong with it, just can't fix it. When my father in law showed up and told us he called a mechanic, the mechanic was an absolute idiot, he swore he could fix it, but couldn't even figure out how to use the OBDII scanner. Geez. My husbands wheels finally started spinning, he took a wire and jumped the starter from the positive terminal of the battery. Removed the wire and the truck started. Now it runs again, ahhhhhh. But I still have a few lights on the dash. Abs, brake and the triangle with the circle around it. I have a pretty good idea what's causing that, so we will have it up and back on the road by this weekend. I hope this helps somebody out there struggling with the same issue we had. Thanks for reading!

5 people found this helpful.
10

My x5 the 2001 4.4 activity in don't want to start got enough fuel petrol pump working. I want to know what the problem is could be

1 people found this helpful.
200

so you jumped car from positive terminal of the battery that is in the trunk and car started. But what was the reason that battery was drained to make it not able to start? did you replace positive terminal afterwards or was it Battery safety terminal or worn out battery positive wire from back of the trunk? I am going through same problem now and car is dead. (new battery, new alternator) but car won't start with self charger.

3 people found this helpful.

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