My First Post from NH

[nhbmw]

Greetings all! I recently purchased an Alpine white 2001 E46 (325Ci convertible) with 20k miles. It's in Beautiful condition. I couldn't be happier...well, I could be a little happier. I had a local shop install an aftermarket stereo/GPS and remote starter/alarm. Unfortunately, after the installation was complete, the shop went to start the car and it no longer starts. Nothing. Doesn't turn over. Battery is fine. We all suspect it has something to do with the keys and transponders but have no idea what. They have been scratching their heads for 3 days now trying to figure it out.

Help?!?!?

I want my my new car back.

Any suggestions?

[Batsran]

When you use the keys in the ignition, does the dashboard lights come on? i.e. is the only fault that the starter does not turn?

If this is the case then try another key, you should have at least three keys for your car. Two of them have buttons for remote lock/unlock and the other key is the valet key. All of these keys have chips in them that the ignition barrel reads and is required to start the car. One of my keys is tiny and made of flimsy plastic and it starts the car also due to a chip being embedded somewhere. The point is, sometimes these chips in the keys fail and everything works - bar the ability to start the car.

If none of these work then it means the installers have either got too handy with the wire cutters (concerns me that the have to bypass the factory ECU embedded imobiliser) or somehow they have reset the ECU and your keys need to be recoded to the car. Good luck.

[nhbmw]

Yes, dash lights come on - the "only" fault is that the car doesn't turn over. They have tried all 3 keys with the same results. When they bypass the immobilaer (remove it from the car) the car turns over but doesn't actually start.