530i (M60) No Start?

[nirvana19]

Well, my neighbor was driving his 95 530iM on Independence Avenue in Washington in traffic when he released the clutch too quickly and it stalled. When he tried to restart, car still had power and all seemed to be working but starter didn't turn over, as if the starter safety cut-off with all lights and accessories working (I think it won't start with clutch in or in gear, I know with auto it won't start if not in P or D). He did have the clutch in and was in neutral. He called AAA and waited about 40 minutes while angry drivers yelled and honked their horn, and on a whim decided to try again and the car magically started. What gives?

I've been doing searches and I'm going to look through the Bentley wiring diagrams to see what else could interrupt the starter. I thought the security system (it has the factory one) might be a possibility, but that's a wild guess? Can anyone think of any other safety system my neighbor might have accidentally engaged which would disable the starter (and possibly the ignition system) or any problem which could cause a random no-start condition?

I doubt it's the alternator as the car seems to be operating fine right now and the starter went from completely dead to normal function.

[632 Regal]

check the fuseable link right by the battery they can get hairline cracks and cause all sorts of problems. Another issue for this kind of problem is a oxidized ground strap.

[Tiger]

Possible bad starter selenoid... possible bad ignition switch.... do the diagnostic. See if you can remotely start the starter only... if all fine then check ignition switch...

[pingu]

I had an intermittent problem like this on two cars (a 525 and my current 540) where it sometimes wouldn't crank when hot.

Try all the usual things first (relays etc). In my case, replacing the starter was an expensive waste of time. In the end I bypassed the problem with some extra wiring. I've got a feeling (but this might well be incorrect) that there are actually TWO fusible links on some cars - if so then one is an in-line link which is hard to find. I had the main fusible link replaced (which had no effect on the occasional problem of no cranking when hot) but not the in-line one - if the in-line one isn't simply mythical).

If you want more info, I expect you can find my older posts if you do a search on my posts using terms such as "starter" and/or "hot crank" and/or "motor". Good luck.