BMW 116i - BMW 116i 2005 Wont Start

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Mon 5 Jan 2015 14:01
BMW 116i - BMW 116i 2005 Wont Start - Becky Wyatt

I would be grateful for any help :-)

I have an 116i which I purchased this year 05 reg with a one lady owner full BMW service history. Unfortunately I ran low on petrol but had 15miles left. Just as I approached the petrol garage my car started to shudder. I pulled over turnt the car off and tried to re-start and wouldn’t. From this I assumed I ran out of petrol and so I refuelled to a QTR of a tank.

The car would still not start and the battery drained. I called the RAC who came out and did the checks and told me to not worry as I have just ran out of petrol nothing major. He jumped start the car and it would still not start. He sprayed quick start spray and still would not start. Diagnostic machine said it was clean, only error was a crank shaft intermittent error. He recommends towing the car to a recommended garage which he did. The garage called me to tell me it was the timing chain. When I spoke to a number of people including a couple of mechanics who confirmed it was not true as I would know about it.

Long story short I got my car back and had a recommended mechanic to look at my car and it was actually contaminated fuel. He treated this and replaced the crank shaft sensor also the battery as it was not holding its charge and the computer says ready to start? But the car will still not start.

It wants to start but just won’t kick in to ignite :-(

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Mon 5 Jan 2015 14:24
BMW 116i - BMW 116i 2005 Wont Start - dieselnut

" The garage called me to tell me it was the timing chain. When I spoke to a number of people including a couple of mechanics who confirmed it was not true as I would know about it."

I wouldn't poo poo this garages diagnosis, it;s a common failuer on this engine.

The engine would have run erratically as it ran out of fuel & those are the circumstances that woul induce the chain to jump the sprockets putting the timing out.

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Mon 5 Jan 2015 17:02
BMW 116i - BMW 116i 2005 Wont Start - elekie&a/c doctor

So after the contaminated fuel and the crankshaft sensor have been replaced,the car will still not start.I doubt if the car ran out of petrol.Sounds like the timing chain has jumped,as suggested above.Very common on this age of car/model.

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Mon 5 Jan 2015 17:48
BMW 116i - BMW 116i 2005 Wont Start - John Boy

Timing chain problems are well documented here in the Car by Car reviews:

www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/bmw/1-series-e81e87-...d

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Tue 6 Jan 2015 13:09
BMW 116i - BMW 116i 2005 Wont Start - Railroad.
Incorrect valve timing can be easily identified using a vacuum gauge measuring manifold vacuum. A steady but low vacuum reading would be shown on the gauge. Any technician suspecting such a problem would check this.
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