New car, Lots of electrical gremlins :(

[Franknstein]

Hi all

I picked up my 2006 e53 3.0d X5 about 7 days ago, really like the car overall, but am having a host of issues which is making the experience a little unpleasant, I list them below:

1. FASTEN SEAT BELTS warning comes on about a minute or so into each journey, even though they are fastened, and it keeps beeping for about 2 mins constantly!!!! So annoying.
2. Seat heaters leds light up for about 2 seconds then go off... this is a new issue today.
3. Flat tyre warning light came on a couple days back, I reset it and now its gone, tyres all looked ok.
4. Warning about rear tail-lights needing to be checked.
5. Rear wiper not working anymore, was working fine a couple days back
6. When hitting reverse, the passenger mirror does not just move down in one swift motion, but seems to get confused, and move up and down and then down, then a little up, then only down... most bizarre.
7. The pairing button for the bluetooth did not work at all, till i opened up the cradle and push all connections tight and put together again - now it works.
8. The R/T button on the steering wheel does not work at all, and the little face BT button.
9. Aircon not working at all, C/C seems ok though

I bought this from a private independant dealer.
ANy thoughts? Perhaps all these electrical gremlins are caused by a single issue?

Help please, so peeved right now.

[graemeX5]

Hi and welcome not too sure if I can help but from what I have read on forum when batteries get old they do throw up some electrical gremlins could be coincidence.

Did you get warranty from seller, maybe worth going back to them, also how old is battery and are you able the check the readings on it, also if you have used car a lot for short journeys recently it will take it out of battery.

If you do a search on battery's you should get up info on what volt it should have, I know X5sport would be able to give you more info

[Sanj]

Welcome to the forum - drop an introduction into the Newbies section...

Answers and thoughts below:

1. FASTEN SEAT BELTS warning comes on about a minute or so into each journey, even though they are fastened, and it keeps beeping for about 2 mins constantly!!!! So annoying.

If you take the buckle out and then reseat it, does the bong go away. Happens sometimes on mine.

2. Seat heaters leds light up for about 2 seconds then go off... this is a new issue today.

Look at the fuses.

3. Flat tyre warning light came on a couple days back, I reset it and now its gone, tyres all looked ok.

Normal - very sensitive system. Do a search you'll see lots posted on it.

4. Warning about rear tail-lights needing to be checked.

Common issue with the bulb socket - again a search will yield results.

5. Rear wiper not working anymore, was working fine a couple days back

Check fuses (in back and front glovebox area).

6. When hitting reverse, the passenger mirror does not just move down in one swift motion, but seems to get confused, and move up and down and then down, then a little up, then only down... most bizarre.

Search for my thread on this - covered. The motors are sticking.

7. The pairing button for the bluetooth did not work at all, till i opened up the cradle and push all connections tight and put together again - now it works.

Good.

8. The R/T button on the steering wheel does not work at all, and the little face BT button.

If you have bluetooth, press the R/T button once and then the up/down arrows and see if you get your Phonebook come up on the OBD.

9. Aircon not working at all, C/C seems ok though

Gas low? Or the middle vent button needs scrolling to the blue position.

ANy thoughts? Perhaps all these electrical gremlins are caused by a single issue?

As previous post - how old is the battery? Could be the source of many of the above problems.

Lastly we have a meet this Sunday in Hounslow, West London should you be free and near enough...

[Franknstein]

THanks for the replies guys.
Well, have not checked the battery - I mean, she starts nice and easy, battery sounds strong in that respect. But I will get my multimeter out and test the voltages and report back.

Funny thing is pretty much everything, except the aircon was working perfectly when I first got the car, and over the last 5 days all the issues started to happen. The seat heaters would work great, used the wiper many times etc etc...

Its almost as if one issue is causing lots of failures. I've read around here some problems people have with ignition switch too - could it be that?

I'll test the battery though first and go from there, and check all the fuses as you have suggested Sanj. I cant see how the seat heaters would be fuse though if I am getting temporary LEDs on the seat heater buttons, but perhaps its a dual circuit or something.

I hope this isn't a lemon!!!  :-[

I'll introduce myself with some pics shortly.

Thanks for the heads-up about the meet, I'll see how my sunday goes.

[X5Sport]

If you got it via a Dealer then I would take it back to them and tell them to sort it out.

Richard

[jaynana]

Welcome aboard!

[quote="X5Sport"]
If you got it via a Dealer then I would take it back to them and tell them to sort it out.

Richard
[/quote]

absolutely - the first place to start. who wants be bothered with all this just 5 days after buying from a dealer.. then might as well buy from an individual with no guarantee whatsoever..

apart from the mirror, A/C, others seem to be mostly eqpt controlled by the communication bus network; notoriously faulty when the battery is too low.. so the battery is a prime suspect.

said that, i wouldnt go replacing that even if its low, i'd go back to the dealer...

all the best!

j

[n1k85]

It sounds a lot like water ingress issues. I could be totally wrong of course, but my brother bought a 2005 Audi A3 Quattro a few years back. He had nothing but trouble with the electrics from the day he had it. Long story short it stemmed from the dealer he bought it from using a jet-wash to clean the engine bay. There must have been a damaged seal somewhere but IIRC the water had got into the fuse boxes and caused all sorts of issues. For example the windows would randomly jump down a few mm then back up, the dash and all dash lights would intermittently just cut out, then spring back into life a few seconds later, and that was just the start of it.

It was a very long and costly process to put most of it right, he wasted a ton of money replacing parts that didn't need to be replaced and in the end had to replace the whole wiring loom in the car, end even then it wasn't right. The ABS would constantly play up and throw up faults etc.

It could be a similar issue for you, we have also had pretty heavy rain over the last 5 days, you might have some old leaves or something stuck somewhere causing water to get somewhere you don't want it to. I'd have a good old check round the whole car and in particular around the fuse box and gutters on the scuttle panel.


As others have mentioned the X5 is prone to 'gremlins' when the battery is on it's way out, I bought a 2004 3.0D last year with a shot battery, and yes it did cause a few gremlins, but not like you describe, it was mainly throwing up random dash lights. It was also obvious that the battery was the problem because I had the jumper cables out on an almost daily basis when I first got it. I replaced with a 'BOSCH Silver S5' battery and it immediately sorted everything. But from what you describe, i'm not convinced this is the issue you have. Saying that, it can't hurt to buy a new battery anyway just for peace of mind, and for £100 it's just something you won't have to worry about in the future.

Good luck with it!

[Franknstein]

Thanks for all the feedback guys -
NOW THE FRONT WIPERS HAVE STOPPED WORKING!!!!!!!!!!

whats going on!

[weirdfish]

It's the reason people buy from dealers and not privately, WARRANTY!! They have to, by law, supply a warranty, take it back and ask them nicely to fix all the issues, once fixed you will pick it up from them, end of.
Otherwise you could be chasing your arse 'till Xmas.

[Franknstein]

I'm taking it in the dealer tomorrow, I'm super curious to know what it is though, hope its the battery, and not water damage or something like that!

[Rusty]

Good luck for tomorrow.  Hope they agree to sort it without a fight.

Please keep us updated on it's progress

[Raj]

Battery and fuses could be causing the majority of issues. Seat heating is almost definitely the fuse as I'm sure I had this issue many years ago. The LEDs do light up for a split second..

Tbh though you are well within your rights to take the car back and get a full refund if they are not willing to sort the issues out ASAP. So definitely good luck.

[Franknstein]

Well, took it in on saturday morning to the garage that does a lot of work for this dealership.
They tested the battery. Its a 1 year old Bosch S5 720. Tested it with a little machine, and its in 98% state of health.
So its not the battery. That garage said they dont have diagnostic equipment, and said its definitely an electrical issue.
I have checked all fuses personally, even the seat heaters, and they are all fine by the way.

anyways, the dealer, Chris, nice guy, said not to worry, on monday I must take it to this specialist that does this sort of work, he will meet me there and then drive me home. He spoke to the specialist on the phone, and he reckons its the ignition switch. I should know for definite on wednesday/thursday, as they are very busy.

Will keep you updated. Did not make the meet on sunday as I was unwilling to drive the X as it has no wipers among many other things!

[Rusty]

Probably was best not too have driven without wipers, just in case.  There will be other meets.

Glad you are getting it sorted by the dealer, and at least he is giving you a lift home.  I trust he will be taking you back to collect it too????

[Franknstein]

Right, dealer called me this afternoon (car went in this morning).
He said the specialist has just replaced the ignition switch, and they are 99% sure it was that.
They said either that or it is water damage, but they are trying that first.
So will be fetching the car in the morning, hopefully they will give us a lift there.

Look forward to having my car back - not had it for long at all!

By the way, I have an e46 touring, and I've replaced about 3 window regulators. Does the X5 have similar issues with the windows?

Is there any preventative maintenance I can do to stop any window regulator hassles? Spray silicon lube on the runners?