Help - 330d won't start today

DanF

DanF

DanF

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Joined
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My car's not starting, it's a e46 330d. Symptoms are:

- loudish clicking sound from I guess the starter motor or solaniod when turning over the ignition
- engine doesn't turn over
- battery was near flat 2 days ago but I've had it on charge since and shows up green on the battery charger test
- starter motor was new about 10k miles ago
- car's been sat for a couple of months with no use :(
 
Just because the battery charger says you battery is o.k. it does not mean that it can take the sort of load starting the car will put upon it. Every car has a built in load tester, the engine!.

Hook a voltmeter up to the battery, disable the fuel pump by removing the fuse & crank the car over for 10 seconds, battery voltage should remain over 9.5v during the test (ideally over 10v)
 
It doesn't turn over so I guess it's a bit under 9.5v, unless something else is wrong.

Halfords are listing 2 compatible batteries and open up tomorrow.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/...uctId_264159_langId_-1_categoryId_165762#tab1
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/...uctId_734844_langId_-1_categoryId_165762#tab1

Last time I looked in to batteries the Halfords ones where meant to be pretty good being rebranded from someone else. Anyone know about them?

Actually there's only £20 in it, I guess the Bosch should be better and has a lot more starting amps.
 
DanF said:
It doesn't turn over so I guess it's a bit under 9.5v, unless something else is wrong.
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Hopefully not, you have ignition lights etc? a weak battery should still light them up unless it's totally fubar.

Seeing as you have a diesel, I suggest to get the best & highest capacity battery recommended for your particular vehicle that you can for it. As long as it's 12v you can't do any damage by going for more ah or cca - the wheeled battery booster we had at my old place of work consisted of 6 batteries wired in parallel, so you'll have a job to beat that :D
 
Yep everything turns on and lights up, lights and radio are fine but obviously get turned off when trying to start it up. Nothing on the dash lights is weird, no faults showing.
 
DanF said:
Yep everything turns on and lights up, lights and radio are fine but obviously get turned off when trying to start it up. Nothing on the dash lights is weird, no faults showing.
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yeah, the lights going off is normal as the act of twisting the key to the crank position will bypass all but the essential circuits involved in starting and running the car, this gives the maximum battery voltage to the starter.

If the car starts from a jump battery then you can rule out a lot of other potential problems. No leads or other car/battery handy?.

People will tell you that some modern vehicles can't/shouldn't be jumped, but as long as you connect the jump leads up with the ignition off in both vehicles you'll be fine.
 
B82RES

My old 330i was identical when I ran the battery down. Makes a loud clicking sound, the headlights keep turning on and off. Radio worked but when starting, nada
 
Woohoo new battery sorted it out.

I've got a 2nd concern now, when driving the viscous engine fan is pretty loud, much louder than I remember it being last. It's like a bus fan now and gets louder with revs. When the engine is off I can spin the fan with a bit of friction and there's no play. Anyone had this?
 
DanF said:
Woohoo new battery sorted it out.

I've got a 2nd concern now, when driving the viscous engine fan is pretty loud, much louder than I remember it being last. It's like a bus fan now and gets louder with revs. When the engine is off I can spin the fan with a bit of friction and there's no play. Anyone had this?
Click to expand...

My old e36 328i did this, just prior to its water pump & viscous fan giving up the ghost.......
 
Ok cool I'll need to check it out properly tomorrow for play and leaking. Looks like £75 for a new viscous unit and pretty simple to fit.
 
heh, reminds me of the time I heard a funny noise from my E39 540. I opened the bonnet with the engine running and all I could see was the fan wobbling like crazy... Immediately turned the engine off... Almost looked like it was ready to fly off and either impale on the bonnet or take my head off :eek:
 
What is the actual point of it? I noticed mine was on a lot during summer, when I say a lot, it sounded like a jet engine on start up, now the temps are down it doesn't really come on
 
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