[Flam72]

Hi All,

I'm new to BMW. 1st time owner. I'm also a DIYer.
Back story.
I bought a 2011 BMW 528i for my youngest son as a graduation gift. He is now in college about 1.5 hrs from the house. He sometimes comes home home on the weekends.
This particular weekend, he was heading back to school when he notice that 3/4 of a tank of gas went to 1/4 of a tank in a matter of 10-15 minutes. He told me it was dark and saw some trash in the road he could not avoid. While on the pone with him, he was smelling gas. I was out of town at the time. My thoughts were either a punctured tank or broken fuel line. The car was about 20 mins from the house. Called for several tow trucks. Some refused to tow due being unable to get the car into neutral (electronically).
Once at the house the car sat until I came home, which was a week later.
The car was partially blocking my driveway, so I tried several attempts to put the car into neutral to move the car. In those attempts the car would turn over/ try to start but couldn't due to no fuel. The did show, on the dash, increase battery drain.
Still couldn't get the car into neutral, so I jacked up the rear of the car enough to get the rear wheels off the ground, and push the car out of the way of the driveway.
The problem with leaking fuel was a punctured fuel tank. I patch that up with fuel tank petroleum resistant JB-weld. I then put fuel in the tank, no leak to this point. However, the car won't start or turn over. The brake pedal is very hard to press.
Troubleshooting performed already.
1. Checked every fuse in the car. (Glove box, Trunk, Battery & ISM (Integrated Supply Module) only fuse blown seem to go to fuel pump straight from to the fuse panel on the battery. Jumped that section until new fuse panel comes in.
2. Checked engine ground to ensure that the started is getting proper ground.
3. Checked the battery. Battery has 43% health, 63% charge ,with 556 CCA. Tested with a TopDon B200. Possibly need a new battery. I have charged the battery several times. Every time after the charge I try to start the car the battery goes from 13.3v to 12.3-12.5v.
4. Thought on the hard brake pedal was that maybe the brake is not engaging. The rear brake lights would not come on when trying to press the brakes. SO I bled off the brakes so I can press the brake pedal. The brake lights lite up. I tried starting the car . No luck.

Sorry for the long winded post.
Now I come to you guys for help in anything I can check or miss prior to changing out the starter, fuel pump or the battery. To me the battery seem weak but the tester says its good.

Your help & thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

[Yazebe21]

Maybe give a slight knock to the starter motor? Use a short pole or stick to knock the starter motor to see if your car can start up.

If yes, change the starter motor and it will sort your issue out. I had a similar issue where everything was fine but car couldn’t start. Towed my car to the workshop, they used a pole to knock on the starter motor and immediately the car started up.

Good luck!

[Yazebe21]

Also, just wanted to add that I had the same issue with the brakes being very hard to depress and the starter motor was the culprit. Once that was changed, car went back to normal.

[M_Bimmer]

Flam72 you have a lot going on.

1. Don't worry about the brake, it requires vacuum to assist, which requires the engine to run....so this won't get better until you get your engine running.

2. Don't waste your time on the battery. 13.3VDC is a charge voltage, while 12.3VDC is just fine to start the car...and once you get your car engine running, it might be a good idea to get a fresh AGM battery installed...but that will only put it up to 12.6-12.8VDC....let's get your engine running first

3. Your Start button is connected to your CAS (Car Access System) and does require a set of parameters to be met before it sends a Terminal voltage over to the DME, which then in turn engages the starter. The terminal voltage is supplied from the CAS to the DME passes through the IVM on top of your cabin blower, passenger side, rear engine compartment for LHD vehicles. I would NOT assume that your starter needs replaced yet.

4. You might want to invest in a cheap BMW code reader like Foxwell NT510/530....it will minimize the guessing that might occur in your situation, which could cost you way more than a scanner tool from Amazon....and if your CAS or DME has an error, your Starter may not engage

5. Verify that you have 12VDC on your jumper post with a digital multimeter (DMM) in the engine compartment....if you do not, your Starter will not start and the primary voltage wire from the battery in the trunk to the jumper terminal in your engine compartment has been compromised (typically because of corrosion as the wire passes from the inside trunk to the outside the vehicle body near the the rear axle, or the wire is not connected to the "red" panel on top of the battery, or the wire is not fastened to the Jump post tightly (use a 13mm wrench to tighten)

6. Measure with a DMM between the chassis and engine to ensure that the resistance is less than 1 Ohm. If a lot higher check your bonding strap between the engine and chassis body. A bad engine ground to chassis will result in no start and DME issues

7. Make sure your keyfob battery is not rundown, but if it is, you can place it next to the right side of the steering wheel colum where the key ICON is located and through induction, the CAS system will pick up your key code

If you've cycled through the above and still can't start the vehicle, you may want to get professional help.

[Flam72]

Thank you for the replies.

I am in to process of testing the engine ground and look into following every suggestion given. I will post an update of my progress or lack there of..
I'm currently waiting on replacement parts to come in.
In the meantime, I'll continue to test the continuity throughout the car..
The current scanner I have is an Innova 3100RS.
The Innova does has an option to do a BMW OEM Enchanted.
The following codes came up.

[Flam72]

I was able to solve the no crank / no start. The issue turned out to be the starter solenoid.
I replaced the starter and the car sterted right up. Although it is idling rough, it started.

Thank you for your input as to the issue I was having.