STEERING WHEEL

[henrym3]

Before taking the steering bits to pieces some more faults came up. Gearbox says it’s gone to limp mode on instrument cluster although the box is working fine also abs and traction in fact most things are lit up. Diagnostics tells me the brake light switch is not communicating. I have sent for a switch £13 and the clock spring £29. Took me way longer to get the brake switch out than the clock spring which was pretty easy. Hopefully these bits will solve this run of problems I’m getting with the old girl. At least the bits aren’t breaking the bank.

[henrym3]

On doing some more reading on these faults while waiting on bits to arrive I came across a vid on utube where the faults are all blamed on the ignition switch. The test was to put the ignition switch on and lower the passenger sun visor and open the mirror slide to illuminate the mirror which then caused the steering wheel motor to raise the steering wheel? Demonstrated on the video. Well opening the mirror slide on mine brought the light on but so dim as to be barely visible, no wheel movement but the light was barely visible and on touching the ignition switch the light immediately became bright. Anyone like to comment.

[sapphireblack]

The weirdness that modern vehicles can produce is truly baffling, to me anyway. Hope you get this resolved.

I think I sold my E53 at probably the right time. With less subtle issues, oil leaks, suspension bushes, seized alternator, exploding radiator, at least the failures and fixes were straightforward, albeit painfully expensive.

[henrym3]

I know what you mean as far as sale goes. I know it’s not a true reflection but that well known site rated my 4.6 at £480 the 20" wheels would get double that. So not worth selling, the faults are a temporary hitch and will be sorted and for less than £100. My problem is that I like it so much I’ll keep it as an ongoing challenge. Hopefully all you knowledgeable people won’t desert me for some electrified forum as you modernise.

[sapphireblack]

I really can't see me going electric. I've mentioned before that I have a 2005 Touareg thats kept abroad. I've managed to tinker and improve it in a number of quite subtle ways, I've really enjoyed what I've done tbh, mainly electrical, fitted BMW wheels, hard wired a dash camera, additional power sockets, retro fitted a compass/clock in the overhead binnacle, vinyl wrapped the wood trim, LED interior bulbs, a full LHD headlamps conversion upon my return this year, with Philips Ultinon LED bulbs. I like it every bit as much as the X6 but in a totally different way.

Whereas I look at my X6 with absolute foreboding, never really tinkered with it at all.

[X5Sport]

I don’t think the forum will stop being a place for ICE cars for a long while yet, hopefully until after I’ve retired or better still stopped driving - and that’s planned to be a decade away at least!. The biggest challenge with EVs is you really need to know what you’re playing with as an error could electrocute you, or start a fire. 400/800V DC systems are enough to make most think really carefully, especially around the power train.

The internals may still be 12V but…

[Leslie]

So many faults now maybe an earth is bad do these have the intelligent battery senor fitted ( i dunno) It could be possessed maybe we need an exorcism Is the battery at 12v ? do these shut down random stuff when the voltage drops ?

[X5Sport]

E53 was spared that pain, it arrived with the E70 and later, hence just being able to swap batteries without a recode. Fancy that, plug and play without a dealer…..

I wouldn’t be surprised if it was an earth gone iffy somewhere.

[sapphireblack]

Although it was far from trouble free I really enjoyed my E53 ownership. The lovely V8 was a major part of that though.

[henrym3]

It’s a pretty good battery and I have got into the habit of always plugging into a charger if I’m using the diagnostics. I’m confident that the bits I’ve got coming will resolve the same. I’ve fitted the brake light switch and the rest is due Wednesday/Thursday I’ll be running around at the weekend like a pig in s*#t.

[scotthnz]

For all that to fail, Im thinking the clock spring. Its the connection of everything electrical in the middle of the steering wheel to the column. Aliexpress 20 quid

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3304479 ... iMQEGjJbQk