X5smw

Hi Dave, yet again, your resources are second to none. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 I have already synced both the dme and ews, also the ews and ilk units, still the same. on the ews live data, the top 3 (security coding) keep changing from green to red and back. And then go blank on the data boxes. the car seems to immobilise itself once I have locked the doors. If I don’t lock it, it starts no issues. the key has been coded to the central locking, all ok. could it be the reader around the barrel? I think I’ll order a spare key and see what happens, at least it will tell me if the battery is going on the key here.

Dme code D1 (209), 80 (128) ews Code 11(17), 13(19) anyone know if I can delete the ews using pa soft? Ews3 unit

Hi Dave, I only have 1 key which is key 1. I have synced ews to some and reprogrammed the key. I start the car, no issues, remove the key and lock the door, unlock and key doesn’t work, try and try again, then the car starts. check pasoft and it shows the errors. Clear codes and all good until I lock the car. It’s as if the rolling code isn’t being recognised.

…. Quick mind !Removed!…. stopped and started numerous times… all ok, removed the key and locked/ unlocked the car…. No start… checked the codes and dtc 11(17) wrong password, key 1 is up… 3 cranks later and starts… I think I’m getting somewhere slowly

Morning Dave, the starter seems fine. just replaced the battery and scanned everything, stopped and started… nothing, turned key back to position 2, tried again, nothing… tried again… fired straight up. No cranking beforehand.

Could the cause be this error, relating to the key? Does the immobiliser work off the key sensor on the barrel?

Hi all. the old girl is giving me issues… the car is too! when I put the key in and turn on the ignition, there is now a delay before the starter does anything. It’s like it’s doing a check before starting, usually about 3 seconds. now my wife has informed me it won’t start and she is at the supermarket. after a lot of shouting and swearing, I got her to put the jump pack on it… still the same, more swearing and it started! then she went home, her day ruined by the car (and not me for a change) she said it runs fine once it starts. But it’s been like this for the past week 🙄 I’m going to have to plug the computer in when I get home. this is the same car that the alternator failed on, so could it be the battery is now ducked (it’s less than a year old) the car seems fine once it’s running. cheers all stu

I would personally get the welding and body sorted first. I wouldn’t want to drive a car knowing it was rotten and needed structural work. You would probably need to remove engine bay stuff to weld anyway, so why do it twice? Build your house on strong foundation and it will not fall.

I had this on an older 5 series, it told me all the rear lights were off randomly. After testing every light, it turned out to be the check control unit on the light module which was located in the boot lhs if I vaguely remember. It was an older e34 mind, so it will be something completely different now! I needed to replace it for the mot and struggled to find one in a Yorkshire budget, so ended up buying a scrap car for £102 on eBay, changing the part and selling the car to the scrap dealer for £150!

Drumkit = x5. 👍🏻 I used to have to gig with an e36… I feel your pain.

First thing….. get EVERYTHING in writing… from all parties! I will tell you a horror story … a bmw 3 series was purchased through a finance company and it turned out to be a write off and repair which haven’t been picked up on a 127 point check…. Car went back, finance company was never told and after a few years, ex owner found they had been made bankrupt and nearly lost everything including family. secondly, take it back to the dealer you bought it from and tell them to sort it properly, contact the finance company and get them to make them sort it. It’s their car until you finish paying for it anyways. It’s clearly a fault that needs specialist equipment and in my opinion is not fit for purpose. please keep us informed of any action and please do not hesitate to use the finance company to help you with the dealership. good luck.

As Greydog recommends, buy the bmw software and plug from the well known selling site. It has proved invaluable for me and saved me a fortune! some things to look at. Check the ht leads and the coils to the spark plugs. A failing one will cause a misfire and sporadic Rev drop and a rough idle. You say it has a small oil leak. I would check where this is coming from. Do you have any white smoke or signs of head gasket failure? Any air gaps in the engine will cause all sorts of issues. fault idle control valve and air inlet sensor will cause lean running and uneven idle. where the air comes in through behind the air filter box is usually a round plug into a square black box with a pipe running through it. Try unplugging that and see what happens. thottle position sensor can cause some of the issues above and just needs resetting. the software will show all the problems and will point you at the problem. I really suggest you get a copy if you are a competent mechanic. good luck and keep us posted.

Makes me sing out loud every time.

I don’t trust water cooling in electrics.... I remember the water cooled pc’s coming out and thinking that running mains, processors and water in a box is asking for trouble! 😂

.... if it had lasted 11 I would have been at home! 😂😂 .... what a pain to get to the bottom alternator bolt. Top tip.: buy a 1/2 drive socket set with a knuckle jointed stubby adaptor. 16 and 17mm sockets and swear for about 3 hours and it will be sorted 👍🏻

..... about ten miles, as I found out on Thursday night.! the battery lights came on and I was driving home around midnight. After about 8 miles things started shutting down, the stereo, interior displays and dash lights... then the headlights... then the engine. I couldn’t pull over as the road had a ditch next to it so I just pulled as far over to the left as I could and rang the police. I was stranded on a country road which I’d a busy lorry route so luckily I flagged a passing car who took my wife and son home the last 2 miles. I put my triangle out and waited for the police to come and was amazed one arrived an seconds!.... only to find they were out looking for someone 🙄. I rang my insurance and they would arrange recovery, ... then my phone died. I used the last of the battery as a torch to warn oncoming speeding lorries and cars.... police arrived and they were organising transportation etc but no tow trucks arrived, I couldn’t get an answer from the insurance company as to why and the police ended up staying with me for 5 hours whilst it got light enough to push the car off the road to avoid the ditch... I got in at 6am, just in time for my alarm to go off so I could go to work! 🙄👍🏻 a big thank you to humber side police and the passing motorist for keeping us safe. no thanks to the insurance company or recovery firms for not bothering about the safety of their clients. I’m currently awaiting a call from their director and the police have raised a complaint to them for wasting resources. anyway.... ordered a replacement alternator on Friday, delivered at 1pm sat and fitted by 4.... all good now. 👍🏻

Are the alarm ultrasonics disabled?

A hire van I had refused to start after the addblue ran out. I would buy some and top it up to make sure it’s full it sounds like it is giving you a warning it may be getting low. The sensor may be active intermittently as the liquid is sloshing around. ... stupid invention! Lol

Morning Kev, welcome to the forum. im not to far away, just the other side of the bridge 👍🏻

Hi Sam and welcome. I have owned a couple of e46 3 series and they are usually reliable. the issues I have had is that the rear arches rust like they are made of paper. Don’t know why, but they all seem to be like that. I had a fuel pump fail for no reason and a ht lead fail. I replaced the brake discs and all pads easily and I changed the rear shocks by myself. So nothing is really a big issue. mim not sure if the 318 was fitted with vanos or nickasil issues? My 316 was fine, just needed a clean every now and then. Insurance is weird, my e36 was more than my e46 and the x5 is less than them both. I bought my wife a silly little street ka and it was nearly 2k to insure it! .... it got sold and we bought another 316 e46 saloon. 02 plate and the insurance was £600 fully comp.

Hi battybird. Welcome. im sure you can register one to the car if you have the correct software. what model do you have? Year? @Greydogwill be able to tell you more 👍🏻

Hi jim the loom might already be fitted and you can just plug it in. If I am right, which is not often... you can just run a 12v feed to the seat if needed, although when you switch the engine off it won’t revert back or remember settings. what model is your car? my seats in thex5 have memory from the ecu so when I get in, the seat and heaters and radio and mirrors , steering wheel etc move to my preferred position. Likewise if my wife uses her key it does the same for her. this is an option if the loom is in place and the seats can be programmed for comfort entry I think it’s called.

Basic principle of over unity with regards to charging. You can’t use a battery to power the car, use all the ancillaries and use a Dynamo to charge the other battery... the magnet in the charger would have to be so large, it would stop the drive battery from running and you would end up with 2 flat batteries! to trickle charge the second battery to even get a mile of power, would take 500 miles of driving. If you could create more power from the device you use, thus overunitiy... you would solve the worlds oil crisis, stop wars and become the richest person ever.... vive la fossil fuels!

Convert the car to run on lpg. converting a non electric car would not be viable at all. the costs to build it from the chassis up would be ridiculous. Batteries weigh in at around 300kg and you would have to introduce things like regen braking and basically just build a bmw shell over a new vehicle. our company is switching the fleet to all electric... all good for the office staff, but us as engineers can cover 500 plus miles a day.... once you think about loading it up with gear, and ladders, we got figures of around 90 miles on a purpose built car. one of my mates is doing a course at Tesla and it still amazes him what goes into the car design. Thats my two pence worth

Welcome Alan. We are a useful bunch... mostly . where in Glasgow are you from? I had a girlfriend from knightswood and one from bellshill. I used to live in Newton mearns too!