# Low oil pressure, crank but no start



## SamTheBimmerMan (12 mo ago)

After high acceleration, low oil pressure warning came on, I shut off car immediately. No start, engine cranks but no start, smell of burnt oil inside cabin
I popped up the hood added a quart of oil just in case, and didn’t see anything wrong ( the ac belt flew off for some reason (I had put it on about 30 miles earlier), but that’s irevelant, the serpentine belt was still on and spinning when I cranked the engine) the engine turns over, crankshaft spins, but no start, about 30 miles ago I spun the engine backwards about 4 rotations (yes, I know I’m not supposed to do that) and I tried to start it without the air filter on and it started ran roughly for a few seconds and shut off, after that the car idled roughly and stalled out at stoplights or when idling, today I accelerated and the engine stopped giving power, I pulled to the shoulder and got it towed home under roadside assistance. The crankshaft still spins, oh and don’t confuse low oil with low oil pressure, someone told me it could b a bad spark plug because 6 cylinders can run without one or two cylinders, by the way I have a 2009 X5 30I e70 What are the possible causes ? Blown engine? Bad oil pump? Bad sensor? I’m ready to give this car to copart


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## dukedkt442 (Feb 12, 2013)

There’s a dozen possible causes, none of which can be diagnosed virtually. 

The crank sprocket is pressed fit onto the shaft, so if you rotated the engine backwards using the crank bolt, you may have let the engine jump time which is no quick fix. 

Before anyone can offer anything more than a hypothetical, you need to pull the likely numerous DTCs being stored in the DME. 

Many DMEs prevent ignition until oil pressure has been reached. Remove the oil cap and post a picture of what the top side of the head looks like. My SWAG is oil sludge from a beaten engine. 


Via the interwebs


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## SamTheBimmerMan (12 mo ago)

K


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## SamTheBimmerMan (12 mo ago)

dukedkt442 said:


> There’s a dozen possible causes, none of which can be diagnosed virtually.
> 
> The crank sprocket is pressed fit onto the shaft, so if you rotated the engine backwards using the crank bolt, you may have let the engine jump time which is no quick fix.
> 
> ...


Thank u for answering, the first thing I did when I broke down is take a look at the oil, it was fine, there was absolutely no signs of any sludge ( I changed the oil and filter 3000 miles previously) , I’ll scan the obd today (I have a very basic scanner, I hope it will still work)


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## SamTheBimmerMan (12 mo ago)

SamTheBimmerMan said:


> After high acceleration, low oil pressure warning came on, I shut off car immediately. No start, engine cranks but no start, smell of burnt oil inside cabin
> I popped up the hood added a quart of oil just in case, and didn’t see anything wrong ( the ac belt flew off for some reason (I had put it on about 30 miles earlier), but that’s irevelant, the serpentine belt was still on and spinning when I cranked the engine) the engine turns over, crankshaft spins, but no start, about 30 miles ago I spun the engine backwards about 4 rotations (yes, I know I’m not supposed to do that) and I tried to start it without the air filter on and it started ran roughly for a few seconds and shut off, after that the car idled roughly and stalled out at stoplights or when idling, today I accelerated and the engine stopped giving power, I pulled to the shoulder and got it towed home under roadside assistance. The crankshaft still spins, oh and don’t confuse low oil with low oil pressure, someone told me it could b a bad spark plug because 6 cylinders can run without one or two cylinders, by the way I have a 2009 X5 30I e70 What are the possible causes ? Blown engine? Bad oil pump? Bad sensor? I’m ready to give this car to copart


I scanned the car and got twelve codes 4 of the codes were about running lean (because I ran it without the intake on) it should go away with time, the MAF was also showing up, but the major code was the crankshaft position sensor, after doing some research, I found out that with this code (P0016 position correlation bank 1 sensor A) cars fail to start or start roughly and struggle to idle, any ideas how to realign the crankshaft to spec at home?


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## dukedkt442 (Feb 12, 2013)

Judging by the data and question, the best advise I can give is to take it to a shop that has experience with BMW diagnostics. Retiming the engine can be done at home, but “easy” is relative based on one’s experience, and shouldn’t be undertaken if said experience is lacking. 

There’s a lot of “IFs” here. A bad CkPS would not CAUSE your myriad of oil pressure related issues. It also wouldn’t cause your engine to lose time, it you’ve even lost time. Yes, “losing the AC belt for some reason” is probably related.

I think you killed it. How you want to proceed is dependent upon your desire to right the wrongs and the depth of your wallet. 


Via the interwebs


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## SamTheBimmerMan (12 mo ago)

dukedkt442 said:


> Judging by the data and question, the best advise I can give is to take it to a shop that has experience with BMW diagnostics. Retiming the engine can be done at home, but “easy” is relative based on one’s experience, and shouldn’t be undertaken if said experience is lacking.
> 
> There’s a lot of “IFs” here. A bad CkPS would not CAUSE your myriad of oil pressure related issues. It also wouldn’t cause your engine to lose time, it you’ve even lost time. Yes, “losing the AC belt for some reason” is probably related.
> 
> ...


Thank u so much for answering, so I started the Bimmer after clearing the codes, it ran roughly most likely because of the timing as u mentioned, I shut off the engine after 5 minutes, and couldn’t start it again, 2 new codes appeared, 2a98 2a99 (crankshaft exhaust and intake camshaft reference) all 6 cylinders misfired according to the computer, now it won’t start, anyone have an idea what the cause could be?


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## spinner99 (Jan 27, 2019)

It sounds like you're engine is out of time. But I'm not sure that being out of time would be the cause of the loss of oil pressure, I suspect its more likely loosing time is a symptom of loosing oil pressure. I think you're going to need to roll your sleeves up and starting pulling the engine apart to figure it out some more. That's not for the faint hearted so you may want to consider if it's within your skillset, and if not take it to a shop.


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## SamTheBimmerMan (12 mo ago)

spinner99 said:


> It sounds like you're engine is out of time. But I'm not sure that being out of time would be the cause of the loss of oil pressure, I suspect its more likely loosing time is a symptom of loosing oil pressure. I think you're going to need to roll your sleeves up and starting pulling the engine apart to figure it out some more. That's not for the faint hearted so you may want to consider if it's within your skillset, and if not take it to a shop.


I’m currently taking apart the camshaft cover to see if the chain and gears are OK, the loss of oil pressure was because of an earlier code I had the p0016 code which had to do with the crankshaft, I resolved the code and cleared it, and it hasn’t came back since


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## spinner99 (Jan 27, 2019)

SamTheBimmerMan said:


> I’m currently taking apart the camshaft cover to see if the chain and gears are OK, the loss of oil pressure was because of an earlier code I had the p0016 code which had to do with the crankshaft, I resolved the code and cleared it, and it hasn’t came back since



ok. How did you resolve the P0016?


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## SamTheBimmerMan (12 mo ago)

I screwed on the crank bolt back in, Last I checked there was no code for crankshaft


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## spinner99 (Jan 27, 2019)

SamTheBimmerMan said:


> I screwed on the crank bolt back in, Last I checked there was no code for crankshaft


ah ok - so if I'm making a couple of leaps here, but I think you're saying the crank bolt came loose, which stopped turning the sprocket (and chain) for the oil pump. With the oil pump not turning you lost oil circulation and therefore oil pressure, causing the code for low oil pressure? By tightening the crank bolt again you re engaged the sprocket for the oil pump & chain which meant oil started circulating around the engine again, clearing the code.

Is that right?


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## SamTheBimmerMan (12 mo ago)

spinner99 said:


> ah ok - so if I'm making a couple of leaps here, but I think you're saying the crank bolt came loose, which stopped turning the sprocket (and chain) for the oil pump. With the oil pump not turning you lost oil circulation and therefore oil pressure, causing the code for low oil pressure? By tightening the crank bolt again you re engaged the sprocket for the oil pump & chain which meant oil started circulating around the engine again, clearing the code.
> 
> Is that right?


Thank u so much for finding the reason for that problem occurring, I was trying to figure out what could have caused the low oil pressure, if the crankshaft drives the oil pump as u said, than yes, that would be the reason for low oil pressure


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