Hello from Devon

[DevonX5]

Hi everybody

Just brought my first X5 (2004/5 3.0 diesel sport) and thought a quick hello would be in order. Managed to buy it for £5.5K with 130K miles on. Only 1 owner and full service history. I put some money aside that I saved on the purchase price for any items that might need doing considering its high milage which was a good idea because I have a feeling my g/box may need some attention soon!

Going downhill yesterday, applying brakes, the g/box jerked slightly and the trans failsafe came on!! Turned off at the top of the hill and the trans fail reset allowing full gear usage. Put my snap on scanalizer on and pulled off 3 codes;

5f42
5f1e
4f8e

Not sure what these mean yet as diffrent from my old land rover codes?

Does anybody recommend a decent indy in Devon? Well good to find this site and hope to talk to a few of you in the future

Cheers

Mark

[X5Sport]

A scan on the interwebs appears to show that the first one is the gearbox limp home mode activated - which makes sense.

... and the second is the 'trailer oscillation logic on the EEPROM is deactivated' - that would be connected to issues with the towbar electronics and stability programme, assuming you have a towbar of course? The OEM Towbar system changes the stability program when a trailer is plugged in.

No trace of the third one, sorry.

From my own experiences with the E53 going downhill and using brakes to control the speed was that at about 30mph the gearbox would downshift into probably 3rd as this gave improved engine braking and that then held the speed.

If it's reset and cleared then that's a good sign. If no one knows an indy to help out, then a visit to a BMW Dealer to get the codes read would not do any harm. When my tranny issues occurred in 2009, the diagnostic check was £60. At least they'll tell you what it all means.

[DevonX5]

Hi x5sport. Thanks for your help. I did a search too and the trailer logic came up which confused me as it does not have one? Shame as i need one!

Will keep my fingers crossed with the gear box. Your 30mph downhill change to third sounds spot on. Think it was the change to third that jerked the box and flagged the warning.

Thanks very much

[brewer]

£5.5k for a 2004 (facelift) 3.0D is an INCREDIBLE price, irrespective of mileage! Well done that man and welcome!

Any other spec info and pics perhaps?

Brewer

[dirtymonkey29]

Bargain price... Well done and welcome

[DevonX5]

Hi guys and thanks for the welcome.

The price was the part ex price offered for a new car deal and my brother works in the dealers hence the low price. I think it was a good price but the gear box fault has me concerned at present. Looks as if i saved on purchase but may loose out on repair?

Thanks again for the welcome - now who knows about those gear boxes

[X5Sport]

£5.5k is pretty good for an '04

My December '04 built, low mileage, E53 went on the forecourt at £16.5k.

A search on the site will give you all sorts of info on the transmission, whether good or bad. It is known weakspot and repairs are never cheap. Unless you actually have a fault code stored against the transmission itself it's difficult to advise what needs doing next. If a code read does show an issue then you can ask the dealer to fix it for free. BMW Dealers will not repair, only replace the box - at a scary price! To give you an idea, mine failed in 2009 and BMW offered a replacement at £7k (plus another £3k if the mechatronics gearbox computer was also faulty). Mine was a no warning catastrophic failure of the torque converter and the box was rebuilt by Warranty Direct for just over £2k incl a 12 month warranty. But that is a worst case scenario, and you are not in that state Any garage or transmission specialist that can read the BMW and ZF computer codes should be able to tell you if anything is wrong, or if it was just 'one if those momentary errors' with no underlying issues.

If transmission faults exist then they will be recorded by the on board system error logs. The failsafe programme can be kicked in by a simple low battery state, and there is nothing at all wrong with the gearbox itself. These cars have complex electronics and are sensitive to battery issues throwing all sorts of wierd errors. A lot if us have been there (self included) and a change of battery fixed the problem.

It's one area to look at, and especially as the winter months always seem to cause that particular weakness to appear. My OEM battery lasted 6 years and then progressively faded out. I kept recarging it but I used to get suspension, transmission, ABS, DSC, Nav and other errors which all ceased once a shiny new Bosch Silver Plus S5 was swapped into the car. If your battery is good then you can start widening the search.

[DevonX5]

Thanks for taking the time to help out on my transmission woes. A battery change would indeed be great news if thats whats causing the issue. Other than the obvious indications how would I know if my battery is on its last legs? Do you just go on age or carry out a drop test?

Cheers

Mark

[X5Sport]

Any battery more than 5-6 years old is approaching end of life. A drop test will definitely prove the charge capability of the cells.

The simplest way to check it is if you have a multimeter (or know someone who has one nearby). This needs to be done not less than 4 hours after the car was last driven so that any residual charge from the alternator has dissipated. If safe to do so, open the bonnet (because of the alarm switch), lock the car and wait at least 16 mins (or for the tell-tale indicator LED on the gearshift to go out). You need the car to be 'asleep', hence the 16 min pause in proceedings. Opening the doors, bonnet, tailgate etc 'wakes' the car again, hence leaving the bonnet open.

Now using the two charging points in the engine bay, see what the voltage readout is. A fully charged battery in good condition will give about 12.2 to 12.6V DC. If it's dropped to below 11.5 then a more in depth test - such as a drop test - would be the next step. If there has been any indication of slow starting that is a good indicator of possible trouble ahead too.

Low battery volts can also cause the car's systems to have a hissy fit when first starting and you'll get odd errors thrown up. I'm sure it's the German sense of humour, but some of them look serious and tend to induce panic in the uninitiated!!

[DevonX5]

OK its been in garage for about 3 hours since last used. I will go out and try when 4 hours are up. Will report my findings once operations are complete. Thanks alot for your help.

[DevonX5]

OK did the test and got 12.4V

Oh well at least that eliminates the battery - thanks for suggestion

[X5Sport]

Looks good - code read next.......not sure if there's anyone here that's down your way and with a scanner.

[DevonX5]

I drove her down the dreaded hill today (same hill and speed everytime) and got the transfail up so at least its logged now for a re scan. Talking to Jason from bluechip as ive seen a few talk highly of his services on here. Just waiting now to hear back from him.

Amazing that its the same hill and speed everytime!? Guess its just right to cause the issue. Problem is its right on my regular run!