[530d E61]

Hi All

Parked car up Friday night 2007 E61 530d no issue, went out Saturday morning got Crank but no start, I have had the car just over 1 year and when I bought it give it a service including new battery,fuel filter,air,oil etc thought battery may be the issue so returned on warranty (they did drop test and said it was low). When I got new battery home was only showing 12.3v so tried and failed to start, so left on charge for 12 hours and now showing full capacity and a stable 12.9v at start of cranking, no good so after a little google and you tube thought it may be worth changing the sky blue relay in ecu box, worth a go for £17.00 and gave me chance to check for any water ingress all looked nice and dry, have checked all fuses in engine bay (ecu) glove box and rear battery fuse's, have check and clean modules in boot disconnected relays cleaned and metered out all relays are showing between 75 - 200 ohms so took them as most probably good.

We have a icarsoft CR max obd reader at work which we use to check the vans and our cars i'm getting 5 codes but I'm 99% sure these codes have been there since buying the car. 3 are air con so not worried about that and 2 fuel but again these have been ever since I can remember and clear but return every time car starts.

Fault code 4A63 DDE EWS tampering (fault currently present)
4262 DDE Glow plug cylinder 6 activation (fault currently present)

Any help would be appreciated

[530d E61]

Right follow up good news up and running,

I'll go through the story as stated Friday night parked up as usual no issues after -6 night been sub zero for best part of week and not much better in day, came out Saturday morning and good crank but didn't even start to try to fire, the battery should of been good as two weeks prior I had gone to work over weekend to take battery off to give a full charge and clean boot modules, as I'd been having an intermittent fault where I could start car no problems didn't matter if I warmed up or just drove off cold some days I would have complete engine cut off in less than a mile maybe two or three times I think one day was around five times in less than two miles and it would just fired straight up on the button. Strange thing was it would only happen in morning and normally more chance if car hadn't been used the previous day, I thought that sounds like a moisture issue to me I could leave the car 8-12 hours a day in work car park which is normally colder than home very rare to see above freezing lately and it would fire and be happy id let screen defrost then jump on motorway and sit at 70 (obviously no one goes above the nation speed limited ), all the way home.

When I bought the car I noticed after 2 or 3 months I would be losing time maybe 3-5 mins a day, changed battery and all was well and good it's a LION lead acid 90ah from Euro's think £64 trade (3yr warranty had to be worth a try) think list was £145ish it had the original BMW battery still which I think has done its job well, the Icarsoft odb reader would register it but would only give agm as an option said it was registered so though no more.

In June 24 had a new windscreen fitted by Autoglass and the guy bodged it big time, the bonnet wouldn't even close the top trim which meets the windscreen was all bust up multiple parts missing including clips fasteners, cut the headlining had the cabin filter/catch wires trapped above scuttle, gaps you could see down into the car, scratched the paint on pillar etc absolute cowboy car sounded like was driving with all 4 windows down and boot open. (Can carry on with that have photos if anyone interested but that's another story)

Got one of the rectification guys out a couple of days later made a list of missing/broken parts put it back together as best as he could and then they sent someone else out a week or so later to change the broken bits, I'm still waiting for some parts heard nothing off them since 28/8/24 last email so been trolling with my trust pilot review, that they actually asked for I normally don't bother I bet I'm shadow banned but makes me laugh.

I'll get to the point mate at work said he mate's X5 had exactly the same problem and it was coursed by water ingress through the plastics after a poorly fitted window screen, which is a common problem


So I decided to take the car to work disconnect battery put in on charge give car a well needed wash and wax and give the rims a wipe can't believe how good ceramic coating works on wheels plus I did it myself so even more impressed

Put battery on charge grounded both battery terminals together for 4 hours and set about cleaning the modules in the boot with contact cleaner, I had done it when I first bought car, as the guy said he had raised them as had issues in past with water but I knew it was a common problem, all was good when I checked with obd reader (it had 5 codes that wouldn't reset) showed same codes I have now, service history shows he had the glow plugs changed but only 5 as one was stuck but still seems to work or if not isn't effecting it.
Once charged and cleaned took car home and it felt like a rocket ship all smiles and cutting out issue was gone or so I thought. A week later I noticed a drop in revs like it cut out but caught itself last second, then I had a day where it cut out once but again fired up and went happy as can be, then Saturday I get nothing but crank. I did run battery low trying to start, put it on charge, and waited again around 12 hours, tried once charged and just crank but nothing else, could hear what I though was fuel pump priming and was also letting glow plugs full time to heat but nothing this time battery seemed to go flat faster then I would expect, tried a different charger but again just ran flat again faster then expected, took it back to Euro's they dropped tested it and exchanged as guy said it was low, I thought sweet that will be it and put new battery on, I did run volt meter on it and only showing 12.3v I thought low but give it a whirl again crank no fire, took it off after 20 secs or so of turning over I(not in one go over three or four try's).

Left battery to change on new smart charger, and mean time went through all the fuse's and relays, even checked ecu and master cylinder to make sure the bodge job on screen hadn't let anything in, disconnected ecu to check all pins nice straight shiny, by the time battery was charged was first thing in morning only had chance to give it a couple of turns before my lift turned up and again nothing, went and put it back on charge and while at work ordered the sky blue relay 6136-6915 327.
Fitted it later that night and again nothing not a hard job but doing in the street using a head torch is not my preferred way, so stripped every thing down again and rechecked all connections and used contact cleaner on everything I noticed that one side of the ecu plugs wasn't 100% seated right and gave it a click into place, I thought I'm onto a winner here easy missed doing it in dark with a head torch after spending best part of three hours a night try to fix it. Plugged it in and just crank still no start

Now while trying to start i've had the icarsoft reader plugged in it's the Max and seems to do pretty much all the euro and jap cars/van's etc does dpf regens etc think it was around £400-£500 when we bought it a few years back, it lets me into modules to a degree and wasn't showing any faults on them, but had a DDE section but would seem to hang and I would get Communication problem with the following control unit (steuergeraet_v) and continue troubleshooting with following test module in testing schedule I(Name_Versorgung_v). It would say press right arrow when only having an ok button.

While trying to crank car I would see requested fuel pressure 400Bar actual 320Bar I think, so thought it may be air lock only had 1/4 tank of fuel when I parked Friday night so added another 15ltrs, unplugged fuel pump turned car over and got expected I drive warming of fuel pump problem, plugged it back in and cleared codes, disconnected battery shorted leads retried again no other faults than standard 5 but though what the hell I'll try the DDE module resync with reader again started seemed like it was hanging, though leave it and grab a smoke and start bleeding fuel system after seeing there was fuel in pipes under seats thought try fuel pump again and could hear it working, well this time the ok button worked and got something along the lines of modules synced you can now start car.

So to sum it up seems the battery was on it's arse, I think the voltage got too low and took the DDE sync out, which caused the no start, so fix is make sure the battery is changed get a reader and make sure modules are synced and maybe a new relay for my previous problems, only time will tell, but has started on button five times, so battery off getting full charge and see how I go.

[530d E61]

Well it's been over a week now and no issues with starting, or running no cut outs and not losing any time on clock looks to be sorted.