BMW E91 318I Cold Start Problem?

[wilkij1975]

I posted this in the BMW section but thought I'd give it a go in here too.

So, I bought an E91 318i tourer (2011) a few weeks back and after a few days noticed that it doesn't start very well from cold. When I press the start button the starter motor turns but it doesn't seem to fire for a good 10 seconds or more. Once going it runs absolutely fine and also starts very easy for the rest of the day but doesn't again the next morning, no warning lights or anything like that either.. It has also chugged into life a few times too but does always start.

So I've taken it back to the independent I got it from who have sent it to a BMW specialist but as it was starting fine, they didn't find anything. They will try when cold tomorrow but I'm not holding out much hope. They did find some old fault codes but nothing to do with that.

Has anyone experienced anything like this or have any idea what it might be?

I've had the car with the garage that I bought it from who also sent it to a BMW specialist and they didn't find any fault codes and said it was starting fine. Since getting it back though, it still doesn't seem to fire quick enough for my liking. It took a good 9 or 10 turns on the starter motor this morning and I know people who have BMW's that start after the first turn or two.

[thatdude]

Has anyone checked the battery under load (i.e. when starting)?

[wilkij1975]

I'm not sure what they checked to be honest. Sounds like it was just diagnostic checks. It did start fine this morning though which is equally good and annoying at the same time! If it carries on I'll get them to check the battery, plugs, coil etc. if they haven't already.

[thatdude]

My honda civic last year was cranking slowly in the mornings, but fine the rest of the day. I put it down to a weakening battery - fitting a new part cure that little ill. It's the first place I'd start, getting a simple loa test on the battery (hell, even just check the connections are all clean!)

[Penelope Stopit]

You are the only one that knows if the starter is cranking it over quick enough when it wont start, if it is cranking over nicely from cold but wont start, the first thing to be looking at is the fuel injection temperature sensor not giving a correct reading when cold or a fuel starvation problem

[AW10]

I'd look at the fuel pressure as well to see if pressure leaks down once the engine is shut off.

If the diagnostics see no fault then it's quite possibly an area that the diagnostics don't test - fuel pressure is typically one of those.