New Owner Of E53 X5!!

[daz3883]

Right then guys,after looking for a while for an e53 X5, i finally picked one up yesterday, its a 4.6is in estoril blue, bmw service history with 74k, was happy with it untill this morning. I drove the 3hr trip yesterday to go pick it up, the guy selling came to pick me up from the station in his work van so the car could be started from cold, when i got to his house the car hadnt been started for a few days and was covered in frost so obviously hadnt been driven or anything in the last 24hrs, but i pressed unlock, car opened, started and drove fine, everything working as it should, finally settled on price so came home with it. However my lil one was having a play last night and pressing buttons etc (i wasnt in the car, the wife was letting her), ive come to it this morning and was completely dead, central locking not working and very faint dash lights, my dad popped over and jumpstarted it using the points recommended by the manual in the engine bay, fired up straight away and drives fine, however ive lost my central locking on the key and the button inside, have no interior lights, not even when doors are open, i have the orange glow from the downlights but nothing else, could it have blown a fuse or does it need plugging in?? The central locking works when locking/unlocking manually but not on the button,

Any help would be much appreciated

Thanks

Daz

[Greydog]

Welcome good choice of car and in the fastest colour too. X5's are very sensitive to battery voltages if your car has a tired or old battery they are known to cause all sorts of strange and spurious warning lights and behavior from the electrics. The X5 will use very little power when asleep (all systems take up to 15 mins to shut down after locking) about 0.5 ma wake it up how ever and you will see up to 60 amps depending on spec so it won't take long to drain even a fit battery with ignition on and engine off.

Get the battery checked (Age as well as output) it is buried under the suspension air compressor at the bottom of the boot if changing it make sure you use a good quality replacement (saves diving in there again) If the battery was really dead it may be the ECM is not recognizing the key there is a registering sequence you can DIY search Google it will help you or you could get a copy of BMW 1.4.0 software (Ebay or else where) and re-register the key functions through a laptop.

[boris]

id get the battery checked to see if its still serviceable, if I is give it a charge and check all lights work when its charged or you may have another prob. I went to check my battery and found it had burst its negative terminal and leaked everywhere and I also had loads of different errors and lights coming up on my dash when my battery died. lota of vehicles do weird and wonderful things when the battery is low so don't worry too much just yet

[Estoril X5 D Sport]

All BMWs are very sensitive to low voltage and do some really weird stuff when the battery is low, get the battery checked and if in doubt change it but only with a really good replacement and am sure all your problems will be sorted.

Regards

Steve

[daz3883]

Strange thing is that since it going flat it still starts fine, not struggling, and evsrything else works as it should, if i was to put it on charge, would it make a difference?? and i take it im disconnecting the battery to charge it, and if so how would the boot operate then

[Estoril X5 D Sport]

Its best to put a proper charge into the battery as it was dead flat, no need to disconnect the battery just charge it in place and Greydog has told you how to reprogram your key.

Regards

Steve

[daz3883]

Nice one mate, thanks for replies guys, and for that info greydog, this is my 1st bmw so just a tad confusing lol, was an impreza man before coming to the darkside lol.

[Greydog]

We have the same car same colour mine also had 74k on the clock when purchased just coming up to 80k now.

I would buy a 1.4.0 scanner they seem to be selling for about £20 at the moment you will need a laptop to load it onto (I used an old one I had here) You will be able to check all functions on the car read faults and reset them. Plus you can program the Key functions example Car locks after driving off, Drivers door only on first push of unlock all doors on second. You can register up to 4 keys.

Great cars but not unbreakable, so treat with respect. I am lucky enough to have a very experienced BMW/Porsche specialist near by who is great for advice one tip he gave was when starting let all the dash lights cycle out before starting apparently it lets all the control systems wake up before putting a heavy draw on the battery.

My wife has a 3.0 ltr Outback Estate with a Perrin turbo conversion so we know our way around Scooby's to enjoy the X

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

Welcome aboard Daz :)

[daz3883]

Nice one grey dog, have you got a link you could put up so i know what im looking for, done a trickle charge on the battery over 24hrs, its still the same, next step will be getting an auto electrician to have a look, its not being a good experience upto now lol

[daz3883]

Ive put a new battery on it but its still the same, where is the body control module located and do they have the same part numbers??

[Estoril X5 D Sport]

The body control module is located behind the glove box on an E53, and no they are not all the same! You need to get it on a diagnostic before you start changing modules and preferably a proper BMW system, all E53 operate a k-bus system and your about to entre something you may wish you never started, a basic diagnostic system may throw up a body control fault but a BCM does a llooooot of stuff and that is where the fault may lie (ie a bad earth) somewhere further down the line.

My advice is to find the BCM and check for water ingress, if that looks ok empty the boot and root around in the wheel well for water ingress if that's ok unless you are very talented leave the fooooook alone and get a pro in.

Regards

Steve

[Greydog]

When you say its still the same do you mean loosing charge and not starting? Or all OK but no remote central locking function from the key?

If the battery was really dead, dead it may be that the key and the car no longer recognise each other, there is a procedure for "mating" a new key that you can go through that may restore the basic "lock unlock" operation. Google or You Tube may help.

Or as I said earlier buy a copy of BMW 1.4.0 from ebay then you can program all the locking functions your self. With mine I have it set as 1 push unlocks just the drivers door, 2nd push unlocks all doors. Car locks (anti hijack) when speed is 12 mph you can program up to 4 keys but first they have to be registered to the car.

1.4.0 will also let you read and reset codes and do many other little diagnostic jobs without dealer costs. As an example a faulty FSR is known to cause all sorts of weird symptoms.

Read and digest Steve's advice above he is spot on. If you mess with the BCM you may end up with Dealer costs to sort your issue and re-code it to the car.

[daz3883]

Thanks for replies guys, the batterys holding charge, i mean still the same as in remote locking/unlocking but boot works, lock button on centre console doesnt work and no interior lights, ive tried the reprogramming the key to the car but nothing happens, its just strange as it was perfectly fine before the battery went flat, the local autoelectrician is a very hard man to get hold of so was just thinking of maybe trying to get one to take with me wen i eventually get hold of him, 2 birds with one stone etc lol

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

Q?... Is the battery a standard 680CCA? Or what actually is the recommended battery for yours? It will usually have a 3 digit code like "069", what is yours? (in the handbook)

The reason I ask is that BMW's do not like ampage drops !

By this I mean the battery has to be perfect 100% of the time or the ECU/modules have a school-yard fall-out LOL

Find the recommend CCA and "Up it" a touch, by this I mean if recommended is 680CCA then bob a 700 in lol

[Estoril X5 D Sport]

Daz mate I have had a brainwave (no smart ##### comments please!!!!) Your car has went into transport/ shipping mode IE the way they arrive at the dealership!!! Why I don't know but I am fairly sure if you get the software download that Greydog told you about you will be able to unlock the function and all will be back to normal, its a hunch but a good one!

Regards

Steve

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

That'll do it Steve ;)

[Paul72]

Hi this happened to a pal of mine pretty much same scénario , his car went into (according to guy in the bmw garage ) transport mode , it shouldnt do this but sometimes it does it cost £30 at the dealers for them to reset .

[Greydog]

Good call Steve now you can lay down in a darkened room for a bit

[daz3883]

All sorted now, it had switched itself into transport mode, reset on a computer and its all back working again, thanks for the advice guys