In his #27 post he said it was a LHD car.

 

Not much to update. The battery is a bit low and the charger has not arrived yet. Same with the cable.
I did try to reset the codes, but the trans and engine failsafe is still there.
I have also looked at towing cost. A round $1,000 to tow it back to civilization.
Not looking too good I am afraid.
I only have the 16 pin connection inside the cabin, isn't that enough?
At this point I am leaning g toward a faulty throttle control, but in reality I am at a total loss.

 

Well, let's look at the bright side of things.

-- The battery charger and the cable (inpa or pasoft cable ?) are a MUST have, in my opinion. And that 16 pin connector in the cabin is right for the inpa cable K-line. So I'd wait for them.
Meanwhile, did you succeed at recharging the battery and starting the car ?!

Yes that error you posted could indicate a faulty throttle. Most likely though, it is the electric connectors or connections of the throttle to DME. I'd start by inspecting them and and cleaning it.

Again, do not worry about those fail-safe messages. They will disappear once we find and fix the root cause of the problems.

 

I will charge the battery before it is towed away, but no the car is not starting, I guess that is at the center of our little crank-no-start party.

Towing in neutral should be OK according to this.

 

Recharging the battery may fix your problem and restart the car. Save the $1000 cost of towing, and use it instead to buy a new battery and/or alternator if defective..?!

Did you receive the INPA cable and installed the software on laptop ??

 

The cable has arrived. This is the Pa Soft cable, the INPA cable never made it and was returned to China by the shipping company.
I have had the battery charged at a garage over night and it is at 13.1 V now and I will get a PC by Friday.
The cable comes with a small CD, I assume that is the software. I got some guidance from Taz, but anything else to look out for?

 

Pa Soft is fine also, set it up and we'll see what it gives us.

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the 13.1 volts youre seeing is a surface charge level....full charge on a healthy flooded cell battery is 12.6 volts. put it in the car and let it sit overnight, then reread. or turn the headlights on for 2 minutes or so and reread after turning them off.

 

I will get the PC Sunday, so fingers crossed it works.

 

We are having problem installing the correct drivers. Any tip on how to do this?
We are using a PC with Windows 10 version 20H2.

 

Are you installing the drivers for INPA ?

 

Try this or this. Both are on Win10

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Thanks Taz,
The PC I am using is not allowing me to proceed beyond the "bcdedit /set testsigning on" point in the second video and I am getting an error when trying to install the driver as per the first video.
I am totally lost at this point. Any suggestions?

 

Go in Bios and switch off secure boot.

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Go in Bios and switch off secure boot.

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Security boot is disabled, but I still can install the driver.
Any idea what to do next?

 

Also, see : Installing BMW Scanner 1.4 (PA Soft) drivers on Windows...

Did you receive the INPA cable ?

 

Type this command in CMD ( the black screen where you get the error message) " bcdedit.exe /set nointegritychecks on "
If ii doesn't work just borrow an older laptop with windows 7, but it should work.

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Thanks Taz. Unfortunately it is still not working and I can't just get a Windows 7 PC.

 

Did you run CMD as Administrator?
Try reading this, it's more detailed.

Disable / Enable Driver Signature enforcement on Windows 10

How to disable Driver Signature enforcement on Windows 10 This post will show you how to disable Driver Signature enforcement in Windows 10/8/7 permanently. Dri

www.simple-shop.si

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Did you run CMD as Administrator?
Try reading this, it's more detailed.

Disable / Enable Driver Signature enforcement on Windows 10

How to disable Driver Signature enforcement on Windows 10 This post will show you how to disable Driver Signature enforcement in Windows 10/8/7 permanently. Dri

www.simple-shop.si

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It says Users\Admin, so I assume I am running CMD as Administration.

I have gone through the steps in the link, but still same result.

 

Have you tried the steps in this link from post #100 :
Installing BMW Scanner 1.4 (PA Soft) drivers on Windows...

 

The Bimmer has left the island.

 

Did you finally fix it ? Is the crank-no-start party is over ??

 

The car was pushed onto the ferry and a local mechanic picked it up on the mainland. We are still on the island.
I will get the full story when I meet the mechanic and get the car back in December, but yes he did fix it.

 

The Engine Failsafe fault sadly came back.
We have changed:
1. Crankshaft Position Sensor
2. New battery
3. Throttle control

So it might be the ECU after all. This is turning out the be a bit of a mission impossible.

 

seeing the P0601 error that showed when reading with your scanner, that tends to make one think that there is a DME internal error, but the connector to the throttle body can cause this as well. the body has a redundant pair of position sensors, their output is compared by the DME for position readings of both, if not the same within a certain spec it will trigger an engine fail safe. also the 6E and 70 errors are indicating a positioning error, there are no pedal assembly sensors on your car, only the one on the throttle body. i have seen on some e39 I6's (my 528i included) where a poor connection to the throttle body connector can cause be the cause. in my case, cleaning all the pins an installing with dielectric grease to protect then connections has cured my engine failsafe for over 3 years now. on two i had to replace the connector due to loosening of the pin ID, again no problems since.

 

The DME is the same unit as the ECU, right?
The mechanic is currently taking the ECU out and sending it to another shop for testing.
The car is back on the mainland, but still in a relative small town. We took a taxi 500 km home, but I am still hopeful it can be fixed so I can pick it up later, rather than having it towed all the way back.
Thanks for your advise, you definitely sound like you know your Bimmer. I will mention the throttle body connector pins to the mechanic, maybe he can check and give it a blast of contact cleaner again.

 

I was getting Engine Failsafe Program for years, only every 4 or 5 months. Restarting the engine fixed it for another 4-5 months, then it started happening weekly, then a few time a day. Changing the throttle body and pedal pot didn’t fix it.
I then replaced the connector and wiring for the throttle body, that was 3-4 years ago, it’s been fine since then.

 

Jim, any chance you have a picture of the connector and wiring for the throttle body?
A picture is worth 1000 words as I am dealing with a local mechanic.
Below is the parts he has changed so far.
The blue open circuit relay apparently only had 1.5 V and was supposed to have 12 V.

 

I do, however mine is a 540 V8 and you have a i6 so they use different throttle bodies and connectors.
Where did the mechanic take the voltage readings from?
Save me some time so I don’t have to look up a lot of wiring data, did he say what that relay was for?

 

Jim, as far as I understand it is the DME/ECU relay.

Below is the message I got from him. Ignore the "he" and replace with "it" in the last message.

 

Does this guy know what he’s doing? The DME (ECU) relay doesn’t open the throttle body, the DME controls the position (how much it opens) of the throttle body.

Here’s a few pics and a schematic of the DME relay and circuit.
When the key is turned on the following relay pins should read 12 volts, 30 (6), 87 (5), and 87 (2).
Pin 85 (4) gets pulled to a low voltage (we call it ground) it will be somewhere around 1 volt.
When the relay is energized (turned on) 12 volts passes from pin 87 to 87.

Hope this helps.

 

The car is working again. Apparently it was the ECU.
The ECU was tested, fixed and installed again. No more failsafe alarms and the car is fully drivable. Total cost about $800, including crankshaft sensor, new battery, coolant temperature sensor, throttle control, open circuit relay and labor.
The car is still 450 km south of me, but I will collect it in January. Time to celebrate Christmas.
Thanks for all the help, advice and support.
If any of you ever visit Thailand, please drop me a message.
Did I mention the wife got pregnant on the island? Soon another "headache" starts, but for happier reasons.
Happy New Year and may 2022 be a bit more normal.

 

Great news, hope the wife is not on the forums though, otherwise only cold meals for you from now on[emoji1787][emoji1787][emoji1787] Merry Christmas and Happy new year to you also!

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