Starter just clicks, Please help.

[weeks252010]

Hi, first off I own a 2003 BMW Z4 2.5. My car was in stored at a buddies place for nearly a year while I was deployed over seas, I returned to find out my car wouldn't start and had a BUNCH of problems :/ but I'll stick with this one for now. When I try to turn the key I can vaguely hear the starter. So, I pulled the starter out brought it to autozone and it tested good. I scratched head for a couple minutes then decided to check out the battery because it had been sitting for so long(I hear that batteries don't last long when you don't use them?) however I charged the battery for an hour or 2 but there was zero progress when I tried to turn the key again. The charger says the battery was juiced more then enough to start so this couldn't be the problem even though one of the other problems was water leaking into the trunk compartment and filling a small puddle around the battery and amp(frying my amp). All my interior lights, headlights and all other electricals work so the battery ground must be fine. I'm thinking it's the ground wire to the engine? or starter? I don't know much about the ground wires or where to locate them. I've searched for 3 hours now on google and no luck. Any idea where the engine ground wire is? Helpful advice would be much appreciated.

Also, as I mentioned before my amp is fried( I took it out, took it apart and could see the burnt patch in the micro-chip) however, the other day it started working again but didn't sound good at all. Sounded like a very fuzzy radio station but it was a brand new CD. Then 10 minutes later it stopped working again. This confused me a bit. Any ideas of what is going on here?

Thanks beforehand guys, I really appreciate your advice ALOT. My car is uninspected and unregistered so I can't even take it to a dealership for advice so I'm really depending on you guys right now. Enjoy

[krnnerdboy]

it's your battery! simply jump it off of another car for a quick assessment. starter clicking is a sign of not enough amperage, and not a failing starter. Assuming you tested the battery off of a home charger system, you most likely have a trickle charger or some sort. They are not capable of charging a dead battery and will just prematurely say that it's done charging. 99% sure it's the battery.

The best thing to do after starting it is to remove the battery and get it charged/tested at your local auto parts store for free. then report back

as for the leaking, it's b/c your drains are plugged and now it's overflowing ... http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63033


BTW
welcome back!

[inTgr8r]

Welcome back!!!!
& I agree with krnnerdboy.

[weeks252010]

I didn't use a trickle charger I used my speed charge engine starter and let that charge for hours and it didn't help the engine start 1 bit even though the charger said the battery had plenty of juice it did nothing. I've already ruled the battery out of the equation as I mentioned earlier. I pushed started it and it runs fine tho so I know it nothing too serious but yeah the battery is golden.

I read a glimpse about those drains earlier but I thought they were only on electric soft tops? I have a manual soft top.

[weeks252010]

The battery charged to over 12 amps and will hold a charge for days.

The head lights and interior lights all work fine so I know the battery ground is fine. Does anybody know where the engine ground is located? I can't find any diagrams on google. Thanks again.

[inTgr8r]

Originally Posted by weeks252010

......

I read a glimpse about those drains earlier but I thought they were only on electric soft tops? I have a manual soft top.

The drains are in all roadsters.
When they get plugged it causes water to leak into the trunk area.

[CFoote]

For the heck of it, I would try another battery out of another vehicle just to see if its the battery.

I would also try disconnecting the battery for 30 minutes and then reconnecting to see if it helps the computers. German electronics can get very grumpy

Chris

[trsbmw]

Originally Posted by weeks252010

The battery charged to over 12 amps and will hold a charge for days.

The head lights and interior lights all work fine so I know the battery ground is fine. Does anybody know where the engine ground is located? I can't find any diagrams on google. Thanks again.

you mean volts...

[SHEEDI]

Get new battery, try it, if it doesnt work then replace starter. if this doesnt fix it then get it towed to dealer.

[weeks252010]

Nobody knows where the engine ground is located???

[CFoote]

Originally Posted by weeks252010

Nobody knows where the engine ground is located???

There are multiple ground points throughout the car. Which one are you looking for? The one for the starter?

[Monologue]

Engine is grounded off the right fender near strut tower to the head ... Confused why you need to know

[weeks252010]

I've taken the starter out of the car and had tested at auto parts store, tested fine. Put it back in the car but does nothing when turn key. I have power to the starter from the battery cable.. What do I check next?

[weeks252010]

Originally Posted by Monologue

Engine is grounded off the right fender near strut tower to the head ... Confused why you need to know

Some guy one another bimmer forum was telling me it could be a grounding problem but that can't be the problem because I can push start the car and it runs fine, right?

[JFleming]

When you are jump starting the car, where are you placing the cables when you are able to get the car to crank and start normally?

Are you placing them on the battery or on the jumping lugs under the hood?

If you can jump it from the lugs under the hood, but NOT by placing the jumpers on the battery itself, you need to check the positive battery cable safety disconnect (located right next to the battery).

If you can jump start the car from either place you have a bad battery.

[weeks252010]

Originally Posted by JFleming

When you are jump starting the car, where are you placing the cables when you are able to get the car to crank and start normally?

Are you placing them on the battery or on the jumping lugs under the hood?

If you can jump it from the lugs under the hood, but NOT by placing the jumpers on the battery itself, you need to check the positive battery cable safety disconnect (located right next to the battery).

If you can jump start the car from either place you have a bad battery.

I tried placing the battery and the lugs from under the hood of a running truck, nothing. I havn't been able to jump start the car, I was only able to push start it.

[Finnegan]

Originally Posted by weeks252010

I tried placing the battery and the lugs from under the hood of a running truck, nothing. I havn't been able to jump start the car, I was only able to push start it.

Could be power from the "start" position on the ignition switch isn't being relayed to the starter. Then again, it could be a lot of things. Sounds like you have enough juice (jump with a truck flowing juice to the car), and the starter has tested out okay.

Are you getting any power to the starter at all with the key in "start" position? If not, the issue may be with something electronic (relays, modules, anti-theft, etc.) or may be the ignition switch itself. Wait, you don't have some ignition kill alarm thing installed right (stupid question, but hell, thought I'd ask).

It may be time to find a good indie BMW shop and call it a day. If you can push start the car, get it running, and drive and get it checked.

[weeks252010]

Originally Posted by Finnegan

Could be power from the "start" position on the ignition switch isn't being relayed to the starter. Then again, it could be a lot of things. Sounds like you have enough juice (jump with a truck flowing juice to the car), and the starter has tested out okay.

Are you getting any power to the starter at all with the key in "start" position? If not, the issue may be with something electronic (relays, modules, anti-theft, etc.) or may be the ignition switch itself. Wait, you don't have some ignition kill alarm thing installed right (stupid question, but hell, thought I'd ask).

It may be time to find a good indie BMW shop and call it a day. If you can push start the car, get it running, and drive and get it checked.

The starter doesn't get any power at all, I had it taken out and tested at the auto parts store and it tested good.
I'm thinking it is something electrical considering how much of a hassle german electrics can be but I really don't know.
No, I do not have any kind of ignition kill alarm.

I thought about taking it to the BMW dealership but the car is uninspected and unregistered and I'm in somewhat of a hole right now financially so I can't afford to put hundreds into the car at this moment in time. However, my room-mate is a chevy mechanic so I'm hoping we can figure without having to spend hundreds to tow the car to the dealership and hundreds just to have the bmw mechanic tell me what's wrong nevermind actually fixing(hopefully it's nothing serious). I'm praying it's something simple

[Mirko]

Have you tried following the wire(s) that go into the starter all the way to the battery? If the car was stored maybe a mouse chewed through a wire somewhere buried inside. If you can push start the car, the starter is good tested on its own and battery isn't dead then it has to be a wire leading to the starter.

[Finnegan]

Originally Posted by Mirko

Have you tried following the wire(s) that go into the starter all the way to the battery? If the car was stored maybe a mouse chewed through a wire somewhere buried inside. If you can push start the car, the starter is good tested on its own and battery isn't dead then it has to be a wire leading to the starter.

Wow! Good idea! We had a family of mice set up shop in our air intake on a car we kept outside once--they pretty much blocked off the air intake!

The little buggers are notorious for chewing through wires and wrecking all kinds of havoc. (IIRC there was a thread here long time ago about a rodent that had nested and died in a Z4 bumper, which stunk up the OP's entire car. )

It's very possible with a car that's been in storage awhile. Squirrels and other rodents can do similar damage and it's pretty common.

Weeks, I hear you. German electronic are hard to diagnosis. If you look at the cruise control doesn't work over 65 thread you'll see they basically did a piece by test "replace with known good/test" to rule out 5 different things to get to the point the ECU was bad.

The best thing here would probably be the mouse. Wires are cheap, electronics tend not to be and electronics/moduels are a PITA to track and diagnose. Let's hope this was a mouse. Keep us posted.

[krnnerdboy]

mice would suck! I had 15k in damages from mice chewing on my 997 w/ only 3k mi on it(only in a weeks time)! luckily insurance covered that. But your issue doesn't seem too large since the car runs once its started....sounds like a power supply issue or relay

[Finnegan]

Originally Posted by krnnerdboy

mice would suck! I had 15k in damages from mice chewing on my 997 w/ only 3k mi on it(only in a weeks time)! luckily insurance covered that. But your issue doesn't seem too large since the car runs once its started....sounds like a power supply issue or relay

Holy infestation Batman! That's astounding!

Like you said, since the car runs it's likely a wire or a relay. Best thing is to trace the wires and see if there's a short. I'd expect that turning the key to position (III I think--starter "on") position should produce current to a relay or module which triggers the starter. Here's wiring diagram thing that Cfoote posted yesterday on another topic. It might help. http://wds.spaghetticoder.org/en/

The other thing that comes to mind is the clutch starter switch (OP must have a manual if he push started it). The starter will run if the clutch isn't in, or if the car doesn't think the clutch is in. (If you use a clutch stop to shorten the clutch travel you know all about this one--I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier.) Something could be amiss there, and if the switch doesn't make contact when the clutch is engaged the starter, well, will not start. The spaghetticode can help here too. I entered "clutch" in the search section and got a bunch of diagram hits for the switch. Lots in there on relays and etc. as well (thanks Cfoote--a very useful link).

So, it looks like the possibilities are:

Mice (wires)
Relay/Module
Clutch Switch

Anyone else have things that Weeks should check?