I don't even know where this one belongs so hopefully here is a good start.

I replaced my right front hub/bearing today, and an outer tie-rod that had failed. I when through the normal routine - had a bit of a tough time with the tie rod, but nothing a bit of PB Blaster couldn't handle.

Was careful not to damage the wheel speed sensor when doing the hub - all looked good when I put everything back together. After getting everything tightened back up, I went to start the car and nothing but a lot of strange electrical behavior.

I few clicks here and there, the speedo seems to want to run backwards and clicks a lot, but the car just doesn't even act like it wants to start. The only thing I can think might have set this off was that while it was up on the jack stand, I turned the ignition on to unlock the steering so I could turn the wheel to gain better access to the tie rod and some of the hub bolts.

Any thoughts? Really don't want to send it to the dealer after doing all this work to save money!

 

Dead battery? Put a jump box on it. If not check the ground strap on passenger side engine mount, assuming its an r56.

 

Did you have the radio on when working on the car?
If so...you might have run the battery down....

 

Not a battery issue - thinking it has to do with the wheel speed sensor being worked on while the ignition was on, or the steering wheel angle sensor (not sure the r53 had this though).

 

Make sure you didn't pinch a ground wire under the car. I don't have my manual handy, but look around under where your jack stand was, also in the wheel well. Look around the control arm and subframe to make sure there isn't a wire hanging that looks like it was connected somewhere. If you knocked off a grounding wire you could also have some issues.

 

I'm going to remove everything tomorrow and make sure I didn't damage the wheel speed sensor - check for wiring, etc. I know while doing the tie rod I was having some issues due to space so hopefully its a simple thing that's causing this - otherwise, I'm going to have to ship it off to the stealer.

 

A bad wherlspeed sensor will turn on a DSC/asc light, abs, and a flat tire warning....even if missing or unplugged....
Nothing to to with the engine management system start wise....
Do check the ground wire...the passenger side engine mount ground can be a problem for some...
Hear a "ding" when you insert your key? If so the ews is reading the anti-theft successfully.
Do you have any items plugged into the car? Failed iPod adaptors can mess with the cars canbuss....spewing data onto it, corrupting the network till unplugged.

 

Have you tried to jump start the car? Wheel speed sensor would not cause described issues, nor any thing suspension related. There is a connector on the passenger side just in front of the battery box, if it came loose it will cause the car not to start.

 

Yeah, same behavior. Very odd - when I try to start the car, I just get a lot of clicks, the speedo seems to want to go in reverse, and then the ignition lights go out. ABS, ASC both stay on though which seems to make me think it has to do with the speed sensor.

Does this model R53 have a steering angle sensor - that is another option. Also wondering if I somehow set off the EWS in a way that's causing the car to throw some shut off mode.

 

Didn't realize it was an R53, try a hard battery reset, touch the positive and negative cables together for 5 min or so. Possibly ignition switch, the SZL wouldn't cause the issues you have.

 

Won't that kill the ecu?

Is that Gregg?

 

Another odd behavior is that when I turn the key to start and the clicking begins, then windows both go down slightly like when you exit the car.

 

Battery....

 

It won't hurt the ecu, some weird issues have been fixed with hard battery resets. Do you have a fluke meter to test battery voltage?

 

I'll try that after I charge the batter a bit. I tried jumping it yesterday and no luck. This morning though, the power steering was working while yesterday it wasn't - not sure if that means much. I connected up my battery tender/charger and it indicated its charging and the battery was under 80%. When I turn the ignition on though it seems to have sufficient power to start - I can't imagine having the ignition on for a couple hours without any ancillaries running would kill the battery. I'm hoping that's what's wrong - I don't know what else I could have done changing a wheel bearing that would have caused this - nor swapping in a new tie rod. There is nothing electrical I came close to other than the speed sensor and I removed everything today and it has no indication of any damage - would be good to know what its measurements need to be and I may test it to see if its bad.

 

So it was the battery - after charging it, things are now back to turning when I try to start the car, but now its not firing. Doesn't sound as though its getting fuel or spark. I'm going to do a battery restart, then I'll arm/disarm the car to make sure its not the alarm. Then I'm on to a new issue I suppose.

 

Finally started - can't believe it was a battery issue. The lights and interior panels seemed strong. Well, guess I'll check that first next time.