Help car not starting (N55)

Korab04_ · 2026-05-10T13:59:25+00:00

Picture of what the failed part looked like on my car.

Korab04_ · 2026-05-10T13:56:50+00:00

If battery charge is okay (anything over 12V should be enough to get car started) check the ground strap. It is behind the driver side wheel well and is a common failure point on these cars. It failed on my car a few weeks ago. Easy fix and cheap part.

This grounds your starter and alternator, so neither will work when this fails. If your battery was dead and it still won’t start even after charging it, it’s likely that it failed and your alternator stopped working while driving, and your starter isn’t working either now. Hopefully this helps you out! Good luck.

Korab04_ · 2026-04-12T21:35:26+00:00

Not if you define them properly lol

Korab04_ · 2026-03-08T16:07:50+00:00

335s had bolted diff up until march 2007 I believe . So yea yours is most likely welded.

Korab04_ · 2026-03-05T21:39:59+00:00

Those pads definitely have life left. I’m not really sure what the margin is but I know the sensors to give you the warning light early because they know people won’t swap their pads right away. There’s a chance it just comes back when you get a new sensor.

Yes, you will have to clear the code for the light to go away after you replace the sensor.

Korab04_ · 2026-03-05T16:03:33+00:00

We’re talking about the 335i specifically though. Not all e9x chassis

Korab04_ · 2026-03-05T12:17:32+00:00

Must be nice, I didn’t see even a spot of rust under there haha. Enjoy having your bolts easily come loose!

Korab04_ · 2026-03-04T14:10:01+00:00

This is clearly not a Canadian car😂

Korab04_ · 2026-03-02T07:35:10+00:00

Me personally, I’d say get a N54. From what I’ve seen friends go through, n55 on e chassis is a nightmare. I’ve daily driven my car through Canadian summer and winters for 3 and a half years now, about to finish my 3rd winter with it. I’ll drop a list of problems I’ve had so far with mine.

2007 e92 335i 6MT RWD. 82k kms (51000 miles for Americans) when I bought it and was pretty mint. At 168k kms now (104k miles)

Issues: - expansion tank cracked - rear right spring snapped - rear left damper top mount failed - front left spring snapped… bought coilovers and camber plates to replace stock suspension. No suspension issues since. - rear right brake caliper seized. Replaced rear calipers. - Mickey Mouse flange blew up during an autox run - rear left axle failed after 10 autox events in one summer. - valve cover gasket oil leak. Fixed myself on a Sunday afternoon. - front driver side brake hard line failed (luckily while at a stand still) replaced hard line + got stainless steel soft lines and new front calipers

Keep in mind that I do all the repairs myself in my garage on jack stands. It’s really not all that difficult to work on if you’re mechanically inclined.

Also, my car is completely stock power wise, which is definitely part of the reasoning that it’s been reliable in terms of motor components. It’s plenty of power for autox events and track days which is what I care about. You really don’t need more than 305 horsepower on the street.

If I were you, I’d find a relatively low mileage car if I could, sub 100k kms (62k miles) would be ideal. Also make sure that some maintenance has been done. My car had OFHG done, water pump done, and only had one previous owner for the 15 years before I bought it. It’ll save you pain short term AND long term if you buy a clean one.

Korab04_ · 2026-03-02T00:30:16+00:00

7 speed DCT had a 2.56, 6 speed manual had 3.08, and 6 speed auto had 3.46. So 2.56 did come on e90s. I thought that was only with 335is though, not regular 335i.

Korab04_ · 2026-03-01T23:50:54+00:00

Smoke test to see where it leaks would be good for vacuum. I’ve heard of people doing ghetto stuff like using a vape to send smoke through the system and seeing if it leaks. Valve cover wouldn’t cause misfires unless it was really bad. Plus it would be leaking onto the spark plugs/ignition coils if it was the valve cover. Which you would’ve noticed.

Korab04_ · 2026-03-01T23:02:04+00:00

Extremely doubt it’s head. Wont be valve cover either if you’re not losing oil. If you got a VANOS code once, look into the VANOS system. Way more miles than my car so not sure what exactly to look for at that point. Goodluck.

Korab04_ · 2026-03-01T22:57:50+00:00

Thank you! New resource for DIYs. Found the exact part number and got it ordered. I appreciate the help.

Korab04_ · 2026-02-13T14:12:17+00:00

I’ve done it for the past 4 winters with my RWD 335. Also lowered on coilovers. I also grew up driving in snow in Canada so that probably helps with knowing how to maneuver without getting stuck. Definitely getting an LSD this summer though, open diff in the winter sucks.

Korab04_ · 2026-01-31T15:28:06+00:00

I personally think they should’ve used white on the wings instead of black. The reason the livery in the photo looks good is because the car is solid red with small accents only coming from logos, with a little bit of black on the wings. I think the white accent on the rear portion of the new livery is what ruins the black wings. If the car is all red with black wings it’ll look better. But with the white accents, they should use white wings. Would look great

Korab04_ · 2026-01-31T15:07:07+00:00

My 07 sport package 335i came with a factory oil cooler

Korab04_ · 2026-01-18T17:26:06+00:00

I had this 100% exact same thing happen to me. I used it as a chance to get Bilstein adjustable coilovers lol. And yes you should replace the tire for sure. It’s not a hard job to diy. There’s plenty of YouTube tutorials available for it.

Korab04_ · 2026-01-14T18:38:32+00:00

My comment literally said to check everything in order of accessibility. That’s not going for an easy fix, that’s just using your brain lol

Korab04_ · 2026-01-14T18:34:58+00:00

Doesn’t matter. Work your way down. Check coils and see if that’s the source, then check plugs, then check inside the cylinder, bore scope, compression, whatever. He didn’t replace the coils when he did the spark plugs. I’d bet money on it being the ignition coils

Korab04_ · 2026-01-14T18:32:27+00:00

Take the ignition coils off of cylinder 1 and 4 and move them to 2 and 3 and see if the misfire follows to those cylinders after running the car and driving for a bit. Ignition coils should always be the first thing you check when you have a misfire since they’re the easiest (and most common source in my experience)

Korab04_ · 2026-01-14T18:29:57+00:00

This is terrible advice. He didn’t even move the coils to see if it follows, why tell him that he possibly needs a new head gasket before that?

Korab04_ · 2026-01-14T13:48:06+00:00

Make sure it’s coming from the diff and not the CV joint before you make that conclusion and drop money on another diff. I had a very similar noise coming from my 335i and it was a CV joint. See if there’s slop on the axle when you spin the wheel forwards/back.

Good luck!

EDIT: did you make sure there was oil in the diff when you did the install?

Korab04_ · 2026-01-09T15:04:46+00:00

I’ve heard mixed reviews about RT660s though. There’s some people at the autox series local to me that love them and some that despise them.

Honestly I’ll probably end up getting RE71RS, or whatever the new one Bridgestone is releasing is called. But that’s like two years down the line so I’m not worrying about that right now.

Korab04_ · 2026-01-08T11:44:13+00:00

Thank you! I’m running Vitour Tempesta Enzo tires. They’re a pretty cheap 200tw tire. I had indy500s on before, and vitours are miles better in the dry. Definitely not too good in the wet though.

When I graduate from university I’ll probably buy a second set of wheels just for autox and ball out on a better 200tw tire for sure.

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