E39 m5 non starter

[Mjsykes]

I mentioned in an earlier post I was having trouble with starting the car. It would idle rough then stall. Restarting was an issue after stall then last night opened the car fine all lights on then turned ignition and nothing happened but quick clicking. I'm thinking battery? Can anyone help?

[Quinten]

Battery may be low, or now beyond recharging. Can you measure it?

I had the same thing last winter (at extreme temps) and replaced the battery with a Bosch from Eurocarparts, but then later discovered that my old battery was just too low to start and after putting it on a charger for a while, it was fine.

[Rog B]

Could be any manner of things old chap, battery is most likely cause of the starting issue, however the idle problem may be an electrical issue like the alternator for example. I suggest you get the charging voltage measured when the car is running to see if it is ok.
Even if you replace the battery it may be ok, for a while, then just end up in the same predicament.

[Hair Flick]

fast clicking would get me checking pattery first

the rough idle is always best to check the cheap easy things first such as leads, points etc rather than dive in at the vanos end.

If this is the battery (easy to check) then my next move would be a set of new leads, if problem exists new plugs correctly gapped.

Not had mine long enough to look into the plug types but if they are platinum tipped I would move to copper tip but regardles the path of checks go:

battery > leads > plugs

Also as mentioned check the alternator is working, either get a pro to do it or measure it carefully yourself

[M5Dave]

As I said on the other thread, the car needs to go to a specialist who knows them and can interprate the fault codes correctly, this is the cost effective solution.

Unless you're very lucky, just replacing things willy nilly in the hope you get it right probably isn't going to work.

You could end up spending a fortune and still be no closer to solving the problem.

[Hair Flick]

True, but the jobs above are good routine maintenance that anyone could do and if it fixes the problem its good, if not, they've been done anyway so one less thing for the specialist. If its thrown a CEL then get the code read but its a shame the days of home diagnosis are out of the window

[Mjsykes]

Thanks for all the help guys. Took the battery out and blasted it all day and put it back in tonight. She fired up alright but I will check the the power output and if the alternator is alright.

[tjlazer]

You can check the alternator voltage with the 'secret' menu, should be north of 12v on charge. W orth checking fsu if alternator is ok.

[Mjsykes]

Cheers for the heads up on that, I would if only my dash pixels hadn't of half died( future project) until then ill be doing it the good old fashioned way.