Greydog

Hi Derf Doesn't sound like good news I am afraid, I would say definitely a blown seal that has dumped the fluid so looks like a box out job to get at what you need to fix. At least your in the US where an Auto isn't viewed as a box of magic bits and if its opened they escape never to be seen again and priced accordingly. Take a look at www.realoem.com put in the last 7 digits of your vin and then look at the Auto Transmission file it will at least give you some idea of what your looking for with the exploded drawings. It's a really useful source for part numbers etc for any model. I am not sure but I think the Z denotes ZF transmission so any competent Transmission specialist should be able to help Good Luck finding a fix Dave

First does the TV option show on the main screen? A 2005 should have the digital tuner fitted already I believe, so it may be it just needs re-tuning. They do seem to need re-tuning a bit if the signal isn't strong. If all you get on selecting TV is snow then I would guess you have an analogue tuner and need to add a freeview box or upgrade to a BMW Digital tuner (over priced). My tuner works but I have to say that is more due to my obsession with "if it's fitted it must work" than actually using it. From what I have read Digital signal on the move is rubbish and if your stationary remember the engine will need to be running or you will flatten the battery in no time. There are several companies that will fix a broken tuner but it isnt cheap the TV tuner is buried in the boot under the spare wheel and suspension compressor with the radio tuner and the battery. Fingers crossed it's just a re-tune needed find a known strong signal area and try.

Well done Jerry, persistence pays in the end, if anything posted helped that's what the Forum is about and thanks for the update So it's on coils not air suspension that explains a lot. You may get advisories popping up on the instrument cluster which could be why there were missing fuses, you can code these out using BMW 1.4.0 software or Carly it is just a case of going into the program IKE if I recall and un-ticking a couple of boxes (if you use 1.4.0 you will need an old laptop running Win 7 or 8 or set up a Virtual Machine on newer) Check the centre bearing on the prop shaft also the rear suspension bushes odd tyre wear or excessive camber is a give away sub frame to body bushes as well they only seem to last about 80k. I brought a kit off the bay of e 2 years ago as rear adjustment was hard for the garage to get in tolerance, the difference is massive Now drive it and enjoy it

Morning Jerry You say you put a fuse in position 46 was it missing ? I believe it should be 7.5 amp rating. If the fuse is sound I would try clearing all stored codes you could also try disconnecting the battery for 30 mins. Have you tried driving forwards going lock to lock. If the fuse was there or blown there is a cause you must have a dead short somewhere. If the fuse was missing you have to wonder why, had a previous owner removed it to cover a fault? The Xdrive system controller gets inputs from (1) The wheel ABS sensors to measure slip and either apply the brake or more torque the signals come from the ABS system controller. (2) Throttle position sensor. (3) Steering Angle sensor (4) Wheels speed sensors. There are probably many other links through the bus system from DSC Hill Descent ASC. From a brief conversation with my friendly BMW specialist his view would be first make sure all connectors are clean and fully on (especially where you were working) check the fuses, if all is OK then make sure the Xdrive actuator on the Transfer box is working (these are known to give issues). The ABS controller is also a possibility as a culprit but he says there are several companies that rebuild them. Last thought he asked if you had had the transfer box fluid changed? apparently it requires its own fluid not the same as my simple cousin. I hope this helps Jerry

Morning Jerry My 4.6 is the simple cousin (no X drive) your 2 posts are related so I will try to help with both here if I can as any diagnostic by remote control is really a best guess. Your 4.8 has X drive the difference between our cars, mine has a simple chain driven transfer box giving a fixed front rear split yours has the X drive transfer case which has an electric motor controlled clutch to vary the front rear power split dependent on wheel slip. You say diagnostics doesn't see the transfer control unit? Did it before? Fuse 46 controls the X drive try checking that, check the motor connector at the Transfer box, check you haven't disturbed the ABS sensor at the rear when you were underneath (the system measures wheel slip by ABS) When doing the lock to lock thing the car has to be moving when you do it and sometimes it may take a mile of driving for things to reset. I don't know what diagnostics you have but it needs some dedicated BMW software INPA or similar to see some modules

Simple things first, the transfer box actuator is mounted on the side of it underneath (looks like a windscreen wiper motor) check you haven't disturbed the plug/connector. Then check the fuses. I believe there are 2 if any of the connections fuses are not good you will see the fault lights. As you were underneath its possible that something was disturbed. You can get servo motor repair kits the servo motor on the transfer box has been known to give issues. I am not sure but believe if you change the control module it needs re-coding to the car so lets hope you don't have to go that route.

Did you ever get this sorted? We just changed the complete front suspension on my Brother inlaws 5 sereis (2011) he brought a kit from ebay £400 and with some muscle from one of my sons we changed the whole lot in a day. So if you factor in 5/6 hours at Garage rates it would take you to £800 or so, if they were only changing one part they are taking the proverbial. Regarding the gearbox leak any competent Autobox specialist will change the seals for you and top up the trans fluid. If they were quoting to change the trans fluid and filters with new gaskets and seals its still dear. I had the ZF trans in my X5 serviced last year (84k) cost was £335. I think your BMW specialist still thinks he is a Main Dealer

Your X5 has 2 fans one is engine driven via a viscous clutch the second is at the front of the rad and is electric. The electric fan takes control inputs from the thermostat, air temp, aircon pressure switch and a couple of others from memory. Does it run all the time or just at start then stop, it is designed to test run at ingnition on. If its running constantly you need someone with diagnostics to read which input is causing the issue. Regarding tick over my 4.4 tick over was around 6 to 700 rpm my 4.6 is the same, for comparison my AMG's were around that mark too.

As you have an E53 already Mike just the obvious really, don't be seduced by a shiny body and slightly different interior. Make sure everything works as it should if it doesn't and the seller doesn't want to fix it ask your self why. Whether it's a private or Trade sale be hyper critical you own an X5 so have a feel for the cars and what you want. Good Luck

X5's are renowned for being sensitive souls when it comes to the battery condition. First step I would get the battery checked, if it isn't holding a charge it may be dying. If the battery is OK then make sure its fully charged remember it can take up to 12 hrs to fully charge, I have a Ctek battery conditioner/charger and use it at least twice a year. When you are sure of the battery and it's condition try rolling forward going lock to lock again, if that doesn't cure it I would back track over what you did changing the Fuel pump just in case you disturbed a connector. My money however would be on the battery, I had issues with my 4.4 which drove me nuts battery test said OK the car never failed to start but I would get random fault warnings even though the car ran as smooth as silk. Then I read the code label on the battery it was 10 years old !! must have been the original a new battery fixed my problems the crazy thing is that battery is still powering an electric fence system with the help of a solar charger.

Morning Bob looking at other sites many report around the high 30's to 40 mark so what about the usual mechanical suspects, wheel bearings on the way out or binding brakes any heat in the diffs or transfer box? Is the EGR valve thingy that diesels have OK ? Just thinking out loud here as you say even my computer is close to real life and that's on a 12 year old car, a pampered one but still 12 years old.

There is a procedure for clearing the memory of the bluetooth unit if there are 4 previous phones still registered it wont pair. Sorry can't remember the sequence to clear it I use BMW 1.4.0 software for diagnostics and access it through there if your in Sussex happy to help if I can. My faithful old HTC pairs and works fine with the BMW unit however my wife's Samsung and sons Nokia will only partially work (no phone book and sometimes flaky connection) After a lot of research online and digging I discovered that the more modern android phones (last 4 to 5 years) the Bluetooth signal power is reduced to preserve power. Add that to the fact that the bluetooth antenna in the BMW is hidden in the left cubby in the boot so I experimented and placed the wife's phone in the boot still no phone book but a better reliable connection. My solution is I fitted a Nokia voice activated bluetooth unit which is completley hidden and tapped into the BMW mike now my wife can make and recieve calls if she is using the X5 me well my old HTC just soldiers on and still connects with no issues to the original in car system and if I ever upgrade there is the Nokia system in place

Are you taking the MPG from the on board computer or calculated fill to fill? 20" wheels should make little difference as the rolling radius is the same for all BMW recommended sizes for the X5 unless the pressures are low? As an example my 4.6 averages 19.8 mpg according to the computer over the last 5k or so of mixed motoring and pulling 2 fat horses around. How ever if I zero the computer on the motorway at a steady speed it reads 27 mpg (makes me feel good but not real) The only way to be sure is take the mileage at fill up then again at the next and calculate fuel against miles. The danger is if you drive trying to get to the manufacturers claims (set in a lab on a dyno not in car on the road) you may not enjoy your car. Just my point of view after all we drive big fat heavy cars with the aerodynamics of a brick. You may also notice I always go for the "Full Fat" version of any car I have owned so not the best to talk about economy.

With the E53 it is a simple job to take out the headlamp unit 4 screws un-clip the trim under the lamp unit job done. The nearside unit has to come out as the power steering pump and oil filter are blocking access to the unit. Who needs skin on their knuckles anyway !!! As I said BMW are not alone in daft design we have a 2005 Toyota Avensis estate as a dog wagon/runaround for friends and family to use. The nearside headlamp bulb needed changing, simple enough ??? To change the bulb you just take out the headlamp, to take out the headlamp you just need to drop the front bumper ?? What a clever piece of design that is. Fortunately I then discovered that it is such an embarrassment to Toyota that if you buy the bulb from them they change it free of charge it took them 45 mins in their workshop to change a bulb and I could see 2 techs at it, how mad is that. But at least I kept my skin that time.

And this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JgeN4Qn3T8 Why do Car manufacturers (and its not just BMW) have to make something so simple into a Krypton Factor test needing the strength of a giant in a child's hand with double jointed 3 ft fingers?????

Found this hope it helps

Looking at realoem you should have Xenon Dipped beam lamps and H7 mains. Are you sure its not the lamp because you have swapped it to the good side? If the lamp is good (works on the other side) then that points towards the Ballast or a bad earth connection that is where I would look. Here are BMW's part numbers if it helps. The control unit is the ballast by the way. 01 CONTROL UNIT XENON LIGHT 2 03/2005 63126937223 02 Bulb Xenon light with ignition element D1S 2 03/2005 07/2008 63217162862 02 Bulb Xenon light with ignition element D1 12V 35W 2 03/2005 63217217509 03 Lamp holder for Xenon lamp 2 03/2005 63117162087

How weird that realoem doesn't mention them, it's normally my "go too" place and hasn't missed before. I run a 4.6is E53 so the lighting is very different, I modified my headlamps so I have LED Halo's as DRL's and the parking/sidelight is just that. Have you tried a YouTube search? just in case someone has had similar issues and posted a vid?

Have a look ay www.realoem.com if you enter the last 7 digits of your vin it will bring up your cars build . Then search the lighting section it should give you the information your looking for.

Welcome As Trevor says if you can't DIY then garage ASAP, Brakes, Steering and Suspension are what keep us alive. My guess (always difficult to diagnose things remotely) would be Pads are way beyond their service life and from your description metal to metal on at least one hopefully the disc isn't damaged. Due to the wear on the pads the brake fluid is in the pistons not the reservoir leading to warning lights on the dash. Don't wait it wont get better but it will get very much more expensive to fix

On the X5 all negative/Earth connections are Brown. I would run a single fused live to each running light and pick up a local earth connection to save running tow cables. When i did my angel eyes as running lights I used the headlamp earth wire to tap into. Hope that helps

The E53 X5's suffered from condensation/damp in the switch/actuator mechanism that caused them to fail. The only real cure was/is to replace the lock actuator I have had to do both X5's I have owned.

You could try Quarry Motors they are specialist BMW breakers I have used them for trim parts for the X5

I think there may be a clue at the bottom of your post, BMW's are sensitive to low voltages. It is common for them to throw spurious fault codes when the battery is on the way-out or alternator is not charging correctly just the cars way of testing the condition of your heart and wallet. If your car is not going into sleep mode then there is a parasitic drain over night or when its parked for a length of time causing a low voltage hissy fit. Once the engine has been running for a while and you reset the codes it runs without fault. Try disconnecting the battery and fully charging it overnight then in the morning re-connect and start the car if there are no issues it will be a strong indication of what the issue is. The difficult bit is finding the cause of the drain, pulling system fuses one at a time until it stops is one way? Is the car standard or have there been any accessories fitted? Always a good starting point. You can open the bonnet sorry hood lock the car and leave it for 15mins or so then measure any drain at the engine bay jump points then its isolate systems and repeat till you find it GOOD LUCK.

BMW quote the boxes as sealed for life, however ZF (who make the box in my X5) say it should be serviced at 80k to 100k Km around 50 to 60k miles. Many owners will change engine oil and filters at short time/distance to lengthen engine life but the poor old gearbox (manual or auto) and diffs often never see a spanner unless there is an issue. I would find a good Auto Box specialist who can read the codes in the gearbox and give an accurate diagnosis, plus you may be pleasantly surprised at the cost of a service.