2004 330 xi wouldn't start in the cold

I have a 2004 330 xi, and this morning, in the first deep freeze it's
met (I'm in Toronto and we hit -23 C this morning), the car wouldn't
start. When I turned the key, I heard the starter whirl and engage the
flywheel, and it turned the engine over once before quitting. On
subsequent attempts, it made a horrible whining sound, and the engine
turned over once every few seconds - something was obviously slipping.

The car did eventually start once it warmed up a bit (by may two
degrees!), and when I drove the dealership, they were lined up 5 deep
at each service bay - seems lots of people with bmws were in trouble.

I've since spoken to the dealership and they say they are so busy they
can't look at it until next week.

So, in the meantime, has anyone heard of this? Any idea what happened?

Thanks,

Nick

"Nick Pemberton" > wrote in message
...
>I have a 2004 330 xi, and this morning, in the first deep freeze it's
> met (I'm in Toronto and we hit -23 C this morning), the car wouldn't
> start. When I turned the key, I heard the starter whirl and engage the
> flywheel, and it turned the engine over once before quitting. On
> subsequent attempts, it made a horrible whining sound, and the engine
> turned over once every few seconds - something was obviously slipping.
>
> The car did eventually start once it warmed up a bit (by may two
> degrees!), and when I drove the dealership, they were lined up 5 deep
> at each service bay - seems lots of people with bmws were in trouble.
>
> I've since spoken to the dealership and they say they are so busy they
> can't look at it until next week.
>
> So, in the meantime, has anyone heard of this? Any idea what happened?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Nick

When the starter motor is switched on, the momentum throws out a cog which
then engages with teeth on the flywheel. If there is not enough "umph" in
the battery the motor will not accelerate fast enough. The cold will also
stiffen any oil or grease in the mechanism. Sounds as if your battery is not
up to the job at these low temperatures.

Regards,

Laurie Bridges.

On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 19:12:04 -0000, "Laurie Bridges"
> wrote:

>
>"Nick Pemberton" > wrote in message
.. .
>>I have a 2004 330 xi, and this morning, in the first deep freeze it's
>> met (I'm in Toronto and we hit -23 C this morning), the car wouldn't
>> start. When I turned the key, I heard the starter whirl and engage the
>> flywheel, and it turned the engine over once before quitting. On
>> subsequent attempts, it made a horrible whining sound, and the engine
>> turned over once every few seconds - something was obviously slipping.
>>
>> The car did eventually start once it warmed up a bit (by may two
>> degrees!), and when I drove the dealership, they were lined up 5 deep
>> at each service bay - seems lots of people with bmws were in trouble.
>>
>> I've since spoken to the dealership and they say they are so busy they
>> can't look at it until next week.
>>
>> So, in the meantime, has anyone heard of this? Any idea what happened?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Nick
>
>When the starter motor is switched on, the momentum throws out a cog which
>then engages with teeth on the flywheel. If there is not enough "umph" in
>the battery the motor will not accelerate fast enough. The cold will also
>stiffen any oil or grease in the mechanism. Sounds as if your battery is not
>up to the job at these low temperatures.
>
>Regards,
>
>Laurie Bridges.
>

What's wierd is that I'm fairly sure the flywheel was engaged, because
the engine did turn over once every few seconds - all during one
"crank" - that is, I held the key in the start position, and the
starter was going the whole time (maybe 25 seconds at a time). To
describe it further, there was a whining sound the whole time, and
then a single crank of the engine (felt it throughout the car, heard
the change in sound), then more whining, then another turn - it's like
something was slipping.

Or is it possible that the battery wasn't strong enough to turn over
the engine once engaged on the flywheel, and the sound I heard was the
starter trying with what little power it had?

- Nick

"Nick Pemberton" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 19:12:04 -0000, "Laurie Bridges"

> Or is it possible that the battery wasn't strong enough to turn over
> the engine once engaged on the flywheel, and the sound I heard was the
> starter trying with what little power it had?

What you describe sounds typical of a starter motor not receiving enough
current
In such freezing conditions you need a good well charged battery.
The output capability of a battery is considerably reduced at low
temperatures. That, coupled with a low state of charge, could be your
problem.
If you have a trickle charger try giving it an overnight charge.
Mike.

I was worried about mine... 2004 330i. Put the key in, turned the
ignition, it made a "wuh" noise and fired straight away. The temperature
read -31C on the OBC. If it needed to turn over a few times I'm not sure
it would have been up to the task.

It's odd they don't put block heaters on these things. This is the first
vehicle I've had without one.

Good luck and let me know what the dealer says... if this cold snap
keeps up I may have to end up visiting mine!

Cheers.

Nick Pemberton wrote:
> I have a 2004 330 xi, and this morning, in the first deep freeze it's
> met (I'm in Toronto and we hit -23 C this morning), the car wouldn't
> start. When I turned the key, I heard the starter whirl and engage the
> flywheel, and it turned the engine over once before quitting. On
> subsequent attempts, it made a horrible whining sound, and the engine
> turned over once every few seconds - something was obviously slipping.
>
> The car did eventually start once it warmed up a bit (by may two
> degrees!), and when I drove the dealership, they were lined up 5 deep
> at each service bay - seems lots of people with bmws were in trouble.
>
> I've since spoken to the dealership and they say they are so busy they
> can't look at it until next week.
>
> So, in the meantime, has anyone heard of this? Any idea what happened?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Nick

On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 14:38:38 -0500, Nick Pemberton wrote:

> On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 19:12:04 -0000, "Laurie Bridges"
> > wrote:
>
>
>>"Nick Pemberton" > wrote in message
. ..
>>>I have a 2004 330 xi, and this morning, in the first deep freeze it's
>>> met (I'm in Toronto and we hit -23 C this morning), the car wouldn't
>>> start. When I turned the key, I heard the starter whirl and engage the
>>> flywheel, and it turned the engine over once before quitting. On
>>> subsequent attempts, it made a horrible whining sound, and the engine
>>> turned over once every few seconds - something was obviously slipping.
>>>
>>> The car did eventually start once it warmed up a bit (by may two
>>> degrees!), and when I drove the dealership, they were lined up 5 deep
>>> at each service bay - seems lots of people with bmws were in trouble.
>>>
>>> I've since spoken to the dealership and they say they are so busy they
>>> can't look at it until next week.
>>>
>>> So, in the meantime, has anyone heard of this? Any idea what happened?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Nick
>>
>>When the starter motor is switched on, the momentum throws out a cog
>>which then engages with teeth on the flywheel. If there is not enough
>>"umph" in the battery the motor will not accelerate fast enough. The cold
>>will also stiffen any oil or grease in the mechanism. Sounds as if your
>>battery is not up to the job at these low temperatures.
>>
>>Regards,
>>
>>Laurie Bridges.
>>
>>
> What's wierd is that I'm fairly sure the flywheel was engaged, because the
> engine did turn over once every few seconds - all during one "crank" -
> that is, I held the key in the start position, and the starter was going
> the whole time (maybe 25 seconds at a time). To describe it further, there
> was a whining sound the whole time, and then a single crank of the engine
> (felt it throughout the car, heard the change in sound), then more
> whining, then another turn - it's like something was slipping.
>
If the starter isn't fully engaging the flywheel you would hear a severe
whining/grinding noise and could experience intermittant cranking. Note
that this is really bad for the starter's gear and the ring gear on the
flywheel.

> Or is it possible that the battery wasn't strong enough to turn over the
> engine once engaged on the flywheel, and the sound I heard was the
> starter trying with what little power it had?
>
If the starter engaged and the battery was too low the engine would crank
very slowly or not at all. There would not be any strange whining/grinding
sounds in that case. Based on what you've described I'd suspect a problem
with the starter bendix that is causing less than full engagement with the
ring gear. That might be a parts flaw (too little clearance causing jaming
at very low temps) or simply that it was lubricated with something that
gets too thick at thos temps.

--
The instructions said to use Windows 98 or better, so I installed RedHat.

Thanks for all the replies.

When I finally did get through to the dealer, they were convinced the
problem was low battery charge. Since its a balmy -5 c this morning,
it started right away.

I'm going to look at two things: A block heater (because in Northern
Ontario, that car is likely to see much worse), and a trickle charger.

In the meantime, I'll be visiting the dealer next week, when they are
less busy, and have them test the battery.

Nick

On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 22:26:50 -0500, Not Sure > wrote:

>I was worried about mine... 2004 330i. Put the key in, turned the
>ignition, it made a "wuh" noise and fired straight away. The temperature
>read -31C on the OBC. If it needed to turn over a few times I'm not sure
>it would have been up to the task.
>
>It's odd they don't put block heaters on these things. This is the first
>vehicle I've had without one.
>
>Good luck and let me know what the dealer says... if this cold snap
>keeps up I may have to end up visiting mine!
>
>Cheers.
>
>Nick Pemberton wrote:
>> I have a 2004 330 xi, and this morning, in the first deep freeze it's
>> met (I'm in Toronto and we hit -23 C this morning), the car wouldn't
>> start. When I turned the key, I heard the starter whirl and engage the
>> flywheel, and it turned the engine over once before quitting. On
>> subsequent attempts, it made a horrible whining sound, and the engine
>> turned over once every few seconds - something was obviously slipping.
>>
>> The car did eventually start once it warmed up a bit (by may two
>> degrees!), and when I drove the dealership, they were lined up 5 deep
>> at each service bay - seems lots of people with bmws were in trouble.
>>
>> I've since spoken to the dealership and they say they are so busy they
>> can't look at it until next week.
>>
>> So, in the meantime, has anyone heard of this? Any idea what happened?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Nick

"Nick Pemberton" > wrote in message
...
> Thanks for all the replies.
>
> When I finally did get through to the dealer, they were convinced the
> problem was low battery charge. Since its a balmy -5 c this morning,
> it started right away.
>
> I'm going to look at two things: A block heater (because in Northern
> Ontario, that car is likely to see much worse), and a trickle charger.
>
> In the meantime, I'll be visiting the dealer next week, when they are
> less busy, and have them test the battery.
>

Glad you got the car started. Rather than a trickle charger, I'd recommend
a low amp charger which maintains the battery by cutting off & on as needed.
I use a "Battery Tender" model and I believe BMW makes one as well - price
should be about $50-60 U.S.

Tom