My e34 525i is having intermittent starting issues. Once every couple of months it simply won't turn over. Electrical system as far as battery and alternator are fine. Fuel pump was replaced less than a year ago. Problem happened last night. Had it towed to my house. After car was released from flat bed wrecker on my driveway, I tried to start it and voila it started. Can this be a starter? Perhaps the movement that occurred during tow, moved the starter mechanism?
ooo.... M50... eek - if there's anyway to gain access, sometimes a tap/hit can temporarily free up the solenoid - maybe access is a little better in the E34 - in an E36 Pelican says you have to remove an intake manifold, or the transmission. Obviously worthwhile to ID the problem exactly before diving in. http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/101-Projects-84-Starter/101-Projects-84-Starter.htm
My Bentley manual says just take off the intake manifold. Does the issue described sound like a starter problem, given that the fuel pump is almost new?
Yes, it's certainly a possibility - being able to tap the starter with a light whack would give you a better idea if the starter's the issue, if that seemed to make a difference to get it started. Not a guarantee though, and only works for awhile - eventually you could bang on the starter all day and it wouldn't help the starter solenoid actuate. Kind of a moot point if the starter's too buried to get at it, you might just have to roll the dice and replace it. If you're talking high mileage, entirely possible. Since it now appears to be sticking to where multiple starting attempts aren't making it happen eventually, may be the time to do the r&r. Without a distributor/ignition coil and no indication of fuel delivery issues, the starter seems a very likely possibility, to me at least.
Depending on your production date, it may be the EWS II beginning to fail. It's a heck of a lot easier to bypass the EWS II than change the starter. EWS II was on 1/95 and on production dates.
Does a failing EWS have a fault code? Looks like it might...according to the Bavarian Autosport fault code reader manual..,
Not that I am aware of. It won't trip the CEL which is what the fault readers key off of. If you know someone with a GT 1, they could probably read it, but the EWS may have to be acting up to trip the code.
