Car won’t start - battery fine.

[MitchT]

Sheepshanks said:

The valet key is for a parking valet to use - you obviously don't frequent the right sort of places.

I thought by "valet" it meant someone valeting your car, who would need access to the interior to do the inside, but not necessarily need the ability to start the engine. I think the chances of me ever frequenting those kind of places, when my income restricts me to driving a 22+ year old shed held together by little more than duct tape and hope, are vanishingly small!

[ian332isport]

MitchT said:

Garage called and said they couldn't find a fault anywhere, so maybe the key's not talking to the immobiliser - have I got any more keys? I was already using the spare master as the main master had broken - it was one of those fancy (but relatively fragile) ones with a built in torch and it had disintegrated years ago when I used excessive force on a stiff lock. Funnily enough I'd bobbed into a BMW main dealer last weekend for a quote to get that replaced. Anyway, I went down to the garage at lunchtime with the valet key and bingo - engine started! Perhaps if the car hadn't been sat for a month, thus prompting thoughts of battery failure or a seized starter, I might have thought to try a spare key in the first place!

Facepalm.

I guess the click you previously heard behind the glovebox wasn't the EWS relay then.

Are there any other clicks audible with a working key?

[MitchT]

ian332isport said:

I guess the click you previously heard behind the glovebox wasn't the EWS relay then.

Are there any other clicks audible with a working key?

Had a listen this evening. As far as I could tell it was making the same noises as it did when it wouldn't start.

[Penelope Stopit]

Perhaps for the future

Lots of EWS Emulators at the bay

Example https://www.ebay.com/itm/192627364642?hash=item2cd...