Welcome to ownership! - Warning light trifecta, sat-nav screen blankness

[stevieeg]

I'm wondering if I may have the most disheartening first 48 hours of X5 ownership here, and perhaps if anybody might be able to piece together a series of issues and tell me something that means my wallet doesn't get rapidly lightened. If the latter isn't possible then at least it's cathartic to write it down.

Hi everyone, I'm a new E53 owner... I picked up my 55 plate 97k mile 4.8is exclusive yesterday!

Body and interior are impeccable and it test drove faultlessly. It's a brave move as far as many of my friends are concerned, but I wasn't to be dissuaded... I'd run an e39 530d for 6 years and 150,000 miles and while it wasn't a cheap experience it was undeniably well worth it, and generally very reliable indeed.

With that positive attitude to the marque in mind I put the online stories of agony to one side and laid down my money confidently... I agreed a price and asked for a new set of front tyres to be fitted before picking up and prepared myself for some X5 wafting.

Sadly the drive home from the dealer and a subsequent evening trying to figure out what diagnostic software and hardware I might need have given me cause to doubt the wisdom of this move, despite the extremely satisfying rumble from the V8.

On pulling out of the dealer's there was a noticeable offset to the steering wheel, enough to make holding it at 9 and 3 feel a bit unnatural. Perhaps I should have turned back there and then, but being confrontation averse and many hours and changes from home on a train I continued on my way. The car was tracking fine and nothing felt untoward. Hey... I could get an alignment done once home couldn't I?

Within 5 minutes further minutes the sat-nav screen flashed blank and despite the display being powered up it could not be revived despite significant prodding. Still intent on getting home I pulled into a service station, stopped the car and filled up with fuel. On returning to the car it jumped back into full function. Off I set.

After reaching the motorway and reaching motorway speeds for the first time the DSC 4x4 light illuminated... strangely my heart didn't sink at this point, as the car still felt perfectly stable and driveable. I would clearly need to sort this out, but only after a cup of tea and a think.

I pulled in to a service station for a cup of tea, and on returning to the car the fault had cleared. My homing instinct kicked in and once again I struck out further for home. The dealer was closed now anyway I told myself. Nothing for it but to get home.

30 wafty miles later the light was back... only 10 miles from home now... will sort this in the morning.

On arrival home I took my wife out in the car to give her a shot. Relieved to see the fault had cleared again, and I did a further 20 mile drive and it didn't re-present. Maybe this will all be OK with that alignment...

...or maybe not. Next day the wife picture messages me with the Self Leveling Suspension light on. Another intermittent light I hope... maybe a symptom of a sensor fault I hope, related to the alignment or something else with a common fault mode to the 4x4 DSC light... I hope...

...this light persisted though... and after a night of attempted fault finding with no success the satnav screen packed in again to add further insult.

I'm not totally disillusioned yet, but I am considering my options here. I've read a lot of stories on these various faults and I'm clutching at straws that maybe a poorly charged battery could be the silver bullet to fix this, but I have my doubts.

I wonder if there might be some concensus here... should this go straight back to the dealer or should I persevere? I didn't pay a colossal sum of money for this car but I did pay independent dealer's book price. I'd rather not add a couple of thousand quid to that chasing faults within hours of signing the V5.

I'm frankly amazed that none of these faults showed up on a test drive and wonder if they might be down to the tyre replacement... or perhaps I'm clutching at straws here.

[lezmtaylor]

Welcome!!
Get back to the dealer as fast as you can, obviously something wrong.
Let him sort it, or get a refund.

Lez

[sleepyfolk]

If you don't get any joy with the dealer or can't face it, I'd start with a new battery for sure, they do cause havoc if they're old and tired. Before you stick one in its worth checking you've got a good charging voltage coming out of the alternator - you can use the charging points under the bonnet.

I'm a fairly recent 4.6is buyer and read reams of info re tyres and mismatched sets, and star/non star rated arguments. I decided that there seems to be 2 schools of thought:

1. Only use star rated tyres or you will kill your transmission / transfer box etc, change as a set
2. Use something like toyo proxes but change them as a set

A lot of advice rested on changing them as a set and not sticking 2 new tyres on either front or back axle and having the other axle with a fair difference in rolling circumference, someone measured the difference in radius of 4 brand new non star rated Continentals and reckoned they were alarmingly different.

Apparently the X5 is super sensitive to different tyre sizes it seems, lots of tales on here and other forums of knocking noises from transfer boxes on X5s and X3s after fitting mismatched / non star rated tyres.

In the end I decided to bite the bullet and whacked on a new set of star rated Michelin Latitude Diamaris.

So first I'd check my battery, decide what to do about tyres, (replace them, or don't) then get a four wheel alignment / tracking check. It'll probably all be lovely and trouble free then for a couple of weeks  )

[graemeX5]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Congrats on. Your 4.8is and yes they are complicated cars that's why they cost circa 70k when new back in the day.

As Lez said contact the dealer and let them sort it out put it in writing as all cars sol have a minimum statutory of 3 months warranty, and it gives them a chance to fix it.

I had similar on a BMW 135i all okay on test drive then drove 220 miles home then a fault appeared and it was into BMW and it was the high pressure fuel pump but the warranty covered that, and also found out the airbag had been installed incorrectly by the dealer I bought it from and was dangerous.

However, if like me the drive to the was 100 or more miles as the Dsc4x4 light is on you could try the simple things first with the car start and with it stationary then turning the steering wheel from lock to lock 3 times then turn car off and then restart I think was the process and it could have gone - there is a tyres on this as well. The light usually it indicates the 4x4 system is out of sync and if a wheel /tyre has been changed or poss a low signal from the sensor and this can reset it.

If the the dsc goes off give it a drive for a good distance and see if okay for a day, but if the light is still on check the tyres sizes, tyre make and depth of tread on all tyres across the tyres especially as the X5 as hard on tyres and wear the in and outer edges on the front, and the inner edges on the rear.

The different tyre makes can mean different profile and large variations in the depth of the tyres can cause probs with 4x4 system as the rolling circumference will be out. Has a new tyre or a pair of new tyres been fitted to the car before purchase as this can cause the prob where the new tyres would have 7-8mm but a worn one can be as low as 1.6mm (legal limit)

A member called Horizon had the same on his X3 as tyres varied and 4x4 system was making noises when manoeuvring his car he checked and he posted the variations in tyre circumference. Once he changed the tyres for a new set there was no further probs.

On a 4.8 the wheels should have 20 inch wheels with 275/40 on the front and 315/35 on the back. The tyre make can also mean the the circumference can be different, hence why BMW recommends star rated tyre and certain makes because it works to certain tolerances

Hope that helps
Graeme

[graemeX5]

Hi

Here is the link re the dsc 4x4 reset.
http://xdrivers.co.uk/forum/index.php/t ... #msg142581

Graeme

[stevieeg]

Thanks for the advice overnight and this morning, reading it now has put me in a much, much better disposition (as have a few hours of sleep). Also it kind of enforces my gut feel on matching tyres and best course of action.

I'm expecting to see four figure bills with some frequency on a £70k car for sure... I was just hoping for the first one would be a good few months down the line!!!

Will check out the battery today, although the car definitely went into sleep model last night so I'm pretty sure I'm not getting a parasitic drain, the dealer did give me an invoice for an alternator he'd changed, I never thought to ask why at the time... I doubt the battery is also brand spanking new!

Definitely going to ponder on about splashing further cash on tyres until my DIS/SSS/INPA software and leads show up and I can get a handle on what the codes are relating to the suspension. Unless this self-leveling issue proves to be from a mechanical fault with compressor/air strut/valves I'm not going to return to the dealer - they have only done what I asked them to do by changing the front axle tyres.

It's booked in to have an alignment done with my very competent local garage early next week so based on the fault codes I'm seeing being encouraging I'll add a set of good quality tyres to the work done then. I've never been a fan of mismatching tyres and like to have a set of good premium tyres so the idea of getting rid of Kuhmo Ecstas at back and cheaper on front is very appealing... although the star rating thing would seem to mean the difference between a £900 fitment of Michelin Latitude Sport 3s and a £1100 set of Continentals!

Will update as I progress, but thanks for the responses - I feel genuinely better about the situation today.

Days of ownership: 3 - Days without a warning light: 0

[sleepyfolk]

If/when you do replace your battery you'll get the warning lights up on the dash again, just do the lock to lock reset again as above and they'll go, this is normal!

[strummer]

these cars love throwing up warning lights if they think the car is running rich,the usual suspects are the throttle bodies either need cleaning or replacing,buy a good quality bmw dedicated code reader and start from there,it will be the best investment you make owning one of these cars

[Reusch]

Sod messing about with it straight back to the dealer.Straight to the point how did you pay for it deposit wise and final payment.

[stevieeg]

Update: Successful home fix, aided greatly by some online encouragement.

Yesterday afternoon while working from home I inspected ride height sensors at back... the connecting rods were a bit out of shape and the pivot cups very difficult to move. The balls on the top of these were not smooth at all very pitted indeed. Cleaned, lubed and swapped sides in the hope it might fix things. No joy.

Had a look at the compressor and compressor fuse, both working and both OK. All bags seem to be holding some air. A mystery...

Cable and INPA/DIS/SSS arrived late in the post and I installed and got it working last night.

Stepped out this morning to diagnose, and managed to clear the fault and recalibrate within minutes. 100% Success! This INPA software is incredible. I used the engineer's mode to check the compressor relay, each of the valves and then switched the engine on and used it to raise the car to close to ride height... then I recalibrated the sensors. Both the rears were showing count offsets in the 26000-28000 range. I suspect that was what was causing the problem.

Last time I hooked up a computer to a car it was my old TVR Tuscan and in comparison it's like prepping a space shuttle for launch...

Will still be getting alignment and despite not seeing the 4x4/DSC warnign thrown again I will also be getting new tyres on Monday.This thread has definitely prompted me to sort to new tyres out ASAP. I hope to run this car through 200K miles and you start by giving it what it deserves I guess...

Thanks for the support everyone, my feelings of impending dread over the last 4 days have lifted!

Now on to re-activating the de-activated panoramic roof

[X5Sport]

Why has it been de-activated?  They are a known weak spot and it may have failed hence being deactivated.  The failure is often a mechanical fracture in the mechanism and with spares not being available can mean the cassette needs replacing.  It is usually the rear section that breaks.

[stevieeg]

[quote="X5Sport"]
Why has it been de-activated?  They are a known weak spot and it may have failed hence being deactivated.  The failure is often a mechanical fracture in the mechanism and with spares not being available can mean the cassette needs replacing.  It is usually the rear section that breaks.
[/quote]

When I went to view it the panoramic roof was already stuck in the vent position and it was a condition of sale that they fixed it. When they discovered they couldn't without a new cassette, they offered me a significant chunk off the price, closed it, and deactivated the switch.

However I'd watched the linked video before even viewing the car... I'm going to open the roof manually and see if this is feasible on the E53... looks like it might restore all of the crucial slide and vent function and disable the rear section very effectively.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqmmFf9gARM

[stevieeg]

^^^ I have just performed the above "bodge" and I am very pleased to say my Panoramic Roof now functions fully with the rear part of the roof disabled.

I bought a dremel in preparation for trying and it was useless. Ended up using a drill bit to remove the plastic.

I guess this is news to some... will post this up in General as a mod.

[X5Sport]

Glad it worked.  New cassettes were north of £2k even a few years back.

[graemeX5]

Congrats on the pan roof fix and you did well getting it a reduction. and yes YouTube is a great resource.

It's amazing how many X5 have had this problem which why when I went for mine I opted not to have the roof as only 1car out of 6 I viewed had the rood working and that on was a bit sticky.

Graeme