3.0i Sport won't start - HELP!

[UrbanFlow]

Hi all,
My X5 has been perfect since I bought it - never failed to start.
But just had a call from my wife who is about to pick kids up from school and it turns over fine but isn't firing.

Serviced last month and was running impeccably yesterday.


Any ideas before I have to get the RAC on the case?



Cheers

[AW8]

Sorry no help here....it could be failing to start due to any number of issues.

My neighbour collected a hire car from Surrey yesterday & had to have it recovered. She was told it was apparently one of a number of cars recovered due to bad (possible water),contaminated fuel in the area.

I would probably check fuses & look far anything obvious under the hood before giving up & waiting for the RAC.

Good Luck

[UrbanFlow]

Thanks for reply, AW8.
Sorted it. Well, not me, I'm still at work. The RAC turned up in 23 minutes!
Took one look at the model and asked my wife if she'd moved the car, turned it round or started it up briefly at all. She said yes, she turned it round on the drive to empty the boot of shopping. RAC blokey said "You've flooded it then, these big 3.0 BMWs of this age are renowned for it. If you're just starting up briefly, let it run for a bit. I'll sort this in two ticks - you watch - it'll start up with a big cloud of smoke".

With that he faffed around with the accelerator and turned it over a few times - sure enough it started with a nice cloud of fumes!

She's out in it now and it's perfectly happy again.
You learn something new every day!

[AW8]

Didn't know that was an issue on that engine. I will bear this in mind on the Z3 - that has a smaller Cc version of the same M54 engine as in your X5.

Floooding prevention memories of RX-8 ownership....I had to hold revs before shutdown when cold to avoid flooding when cold.

Glad all sorted

[gchristofi]

I'm gobsmacked..... thought that 3.0 engine from 2000 onwards was bulletproof and ultra reliable....??

[UrbanFlow]

[quote=""gchristofi""]I'm gobsmacked..... thought that 3.0 engine from 2000 onwards was bulletproof and ultra reliable....??[/quote]

I was under that impression too mate.

Reviewed my wife's starting up porcedure
but she wasn't gassing it or anything - so can only assume that the act of starting up, turning it around on the drive and switching straight off caused it to flood.
Definitely a one off but worth noting.

[gchristofi]

[quote=""UrbanFlow""]

Reviewed my wife's starting up porcedure
.[/quote]

Even if her procedure had been to blame, you know better than to imply such directly to her......

[petert]

It never happened on our 3.0i but maybe we just didn't go through that particular sequence of events. I'd trust the recovery guy's experience...
Peter T