E92 Starter Won't Fully Activate

Newb_bimmerE92 · 07-19-2022, 02:48 PM

After a year of inconvenience, I am throwing in the towel of troubleshooting and asking for all of your infinite wisdom.

In June of 2021 I went to start my car with no response from anything in the car. Had someone jump me and it came to life but on the drive home, I slowly experienced power failures of various systems and then the car died completely as I coasted into my driveway... Talk about luck.

This ended up being a result of a broken ground strap on the passenger side of the engine. Because there wasn't a ground from the engine to the chassis, I don't believe the alternator was actually charging the battery causing the car to run on battery only for that drive home. I replaced the battery (Autozone battery) and grounding strap. However, after this incident, the starter would no longer activate when going to start the car. After inserting the FOB, pushing in the clutch, and pushing the start button, the start just barely starts to activate - not a click, but like a partial engagement.

I thought what are the chances the starter went bad in this process? I wasn't sure so I bit the bullet and replaced the starter. Same problem. At this point, I was thinking okay this is software/hardware communication issues so I tried doing a CAS sync using a Schwaben scanning tool from a friend. No luck. Admittedly, I could have done something wrong but it seemed straight forward.

I got tired of not being able to drive the car or get it started so I unplugged the solenoid trigger wire and created my own trigger wire from the power post in the engine bay and a push button that I rigged up in the car. Car starts no problem via this method. This method is embarrassing and getting old; I want to be able to start my car with the actual start button instead of some trigger wire I rigged up that bypasses the car's starting system. The way my button works is it can kick the starter on regardless if the car is on or not.

I found a similar thread to someone having issues like mine but the person never solved their problem and sold the vehicle. So, wise people of the world wide web, what are your thoughts/advice? I am leaning towards a shorted CAS module that likely needs replaced. Thank you for any help or advice you can offer.

07-19-2022, 02:48 PM	#1
Newb_bimmerE92 Enlisted Member 19 Rep 47 Posts Drives: Space Gray E92 335i Join Date: Mar 2017 Location: Columbus, OH iTrader: (0)	E92 Starter Won't Fully Activate After a year of inconvenience, I am throwing in the towel of troubleshooting and asking for all of your infinite wisdom. In June of 2021 I went to start my car with no response from anything in the car. Had someone jump me and it came to life but on the drive home, I slowly experienced power failures of various systems and then the car died completely as I coasted into my driveway... Talk about luck. This ended up being a result of a broken ground strap on the passenger side of the engine. Because there wasn't a ground from the engine to the chassis, I don't believe the alternator was actually charging the battery causing the car to run on battery only for that drive home. I replaced the battery (Autozone battery) and grounding strap. However, after this incident, the starter would no longer activate when going to start the car. After inserting the FOB, pushing in the clutch, and pushing the start button, the start just barely starts to activate - not a click, but like a partial engagement. I thought what are the chances the starter went bad in this process? I wasn't sure so I bit the bullet and replaced the starter. Same problem. At this point, I was thinking okay this is software/hardware communication issues so I tried doing a CAS sync using a Schwaben scanning tool from a friend. No luck. Admittedly, I could have done something wrong but it seemed straight forward. I got tired of not being able to drive the car or get it started so I unplugged the solenoid trigger wire and created my own trigger wire from the power post in the engine bay and a push button that I rigged up in the car. Car starts no problem via this method. This method is embarrassing and getting old; I want to be able to start my car with the actual start button instead of some trigger wire I rigged up that bypasses the car's starting system. The way my button works is it can kick the starter on regardless if the car is on or not. I found a similar thread to someone having issues like mine but the person never solved their problem and sold the vehicle. So, wise people of the world wide web, what are your thoughts/advice? I am leaning towards a shorted CAS module that likely needs replaced. Thank you for any help or advice you can offer.
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