Low battery in the fob can cause issues with the car intermittently unable to detect its presence.

 

Thanks very much for your reply. In my case the car was correctly detecting the key fob as it was true the key was not in the car.

The odd bit is the car wouldn't start but didn't say it couldn't detect the key fob as it did when the key was outside the car.

 

Thanks very much for your reply. In my case the car was correctly detecting the key fob as it was true the key was not in the car.

The odd bit is the car wouldn't start but didn't say it couldn't detect the key fob as it did when the key was outside the car.

I was replying to this:

A couple of times now in traffic, the engine correctly turns off but then won't start again. It turns over fine but won't fire up - says something about stop start can't start the car on the screen. Turning the ignition off and trying to start it by pressing the button does the same.

Was the fob/key not in the car?

 

Sorry I think I have confused things. There were 2 separate issues which I was wondering if related
1. The car wouldn't start etc after start stop. This time the key was in the car and the car didn't complain that it wasn't. Also engine turned over fine but wouldn't start
2. On another occasion daughter took key fob out of car and it correctly said it was outside car but still started the car from start stop.

Hope that clarifies. Were you suggesting that in problem 1, maybe the fob battery is low and whilst the car didn't complain it couldn't find the fob it couldn't detect it and therefore refused to start?

Sorry again for the confusion.

 

Both issues could possibly be caused by the car intermittently detecting the fob, from one second to the next. I've seen similar strange behaviour which was rectified by a new battery.

If it isn't that, you've ruled it out, which is how you troubleshoot.

 

Hi all

On the off chance I did an OBD scan to see if any trouble codes were triggered. The only code it has is 216002. Doing a search for "DTC 216002 Mini", Google returns some pages related to start / stop but nothing that explains what the error code means. Wonder if this is another clue? Can't say whether this code was generated when the issue happened or not as it is not time / date stamped.

Thanks

Lee.

 

Hi all

Got the new battery so let's see if it happens again. I found this tool online which gives some clarity on the error code I got.

BMW Fault Code Lookup - BMWFaultCodes

Essentially it says that the engine tool too long to start - which of course is exactly what happened 🙂

It suggests replacing the starter motor although when it happened the starter motor seemed to be turning the engine over fine. Any thoughts?

Thanks again

Lee.

 

Hi all

I thought I would give a quick update in case it helps someone else. Having changed the battery in the key fob it now seems to be working fine again. I have been testing it over the period by doing start/ stop as much as possible and every time it was fine. So I think that was indeed the issue.

Big thanks to @Dragonfly for suggesting it. You were spot on.

Thanks again all

Lee.