I'm betting either battery, starter or fuel pump are on their way out. I have changed both of the first two in the last year, just waiting for my fuel pump to die now (but will prob just change it soon anyways, it is 7 years old already)
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Got the day off so I did a little searching and found this thread....
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=666083
might be of some help and there are a few links in post 15. Some possibly good ideas and some not, so take it for what it's worth.
I was thinking maybe EWS but it sounds like it will still crank with a bad EWS. Maybe bad ignition switch? Or clutch switch? Tried pushing in the clutch farther when it happens? Check battery voltage if you haven't already and clean or at least give all the battery cable connections a twist. I've seen perfectly clean cables not make a good connection before.
Starter going bad should dim the lights when you hit the key and a fuel pump shouldn't prevent it from turning over.
EDIT: did you wash in the engine compartment when you washed it?
Good luck man.
Barry
Barry, thanks for the link... I agree with what you said about the starter and fuel pump...
It sounds like the OP in that E46f thread had the same symptoms, but the majority of those replies aren't correct.
If fuel pump, it'd crank over with no fire... If battery, it'd be weak or you'd get the clicking of the starter solenoid... If starter, it might try or be weak...
I'm thinking this is a connection of some sort, or one of the magical mystery electronic devices in the car.
So here's more detail on my issue... I get in, push in clutch, turn key to start, absolutely nothing. No clicks, no dimming lights, NOTHING... All appears as normal. The other day when it first happened, I held the key to the start position, and after 2 seconds or so, it started. Starter cranked up quick and car jumped right to life, just like before...
Now this morning, I tried that again, holding key to start... Yet, even after 4-5 seconds, I had nothing... So, I turned key to off, and then tried again. On the second try, it cranked and started up right away, like nothing had happened...
Hmmm. Couple other things I've run across.....possibly a bad stater relay? Not even sure where that's at......fuse box or under the hood somewhere? I'll check it out. Or maybe clutch stop adjusted too far out but that doesn't sound right really if it always starts second try.
Sure sounds like it could be a bad ignition switch but it sucks to just start throwing parts at it. Would that require having to buy all new keys? Have you tried a different key?
Here's another thread I'm reading but it sounds like this is mainly about starter issues.
http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showt...+solved&page=2
What? Crank hp is immeasurable when the engine is in the car. Why do people think that there is a magical formula for drivetrain loss...just take the real world numbers. Its much easier.
Probably not going to get then installed today. Dad took both keys to his car so mine has to wait for everything to cool down after I take my drug test.
Probably going to work on the suspension.
Sent from my GSIII, bitches.
Am I wrong or is it not common knowledge that there is an estimated calculation for every type of drivetrain out there to calculate crank to wheel HP losses?
For example my B5 Audi had shown ranges of 25-30% drivetrain loss due to its Quattro system. Where as my e46 showed a 17% drivetrain loss to rear wheels, while my brothers front wheel drive gti showed a 20% drivetrain loss to the front wheels.
Oh and these were all done at the same dyno so we can throw that possibility out the window.
Set up the Bluetooth system that came with the car. I had no idea that even for a 2006, that it would sync my contacts and I could control everything on the cars steering wheel. Hell, it even has voice command, but that portion of it probably sucks.
Great thing to have. Yesterday I was making a few calls driving and man does driving a manual on the phone suck.
Obviously he's using a correction factor... no need to be grumpy! :)
How were those losses calculated? By assuming the cars had exactly their original output I'm assuming?
Just curious.
I've seen estimated figures for our cars from 15%-18%. Some of the E46 M guys seem to think it's 18%, because apparently much more of them get to 333 that way!
It is great isn't it! I didn't think it'd load all my contacts either. I have the first bluetooth TCU that BMW ever made in mine, retrofitted in 2005 by the original owner.
The car wasn't even sold as having bluetooth, so suffice it to say it was a nice surprise!