XSeries-forum

Hi everyone. Just looking for a bit of guidance with a strange electrical issue that started today. These are the symptoms/issues that have come up now.

1. The clock display is not showing up on the radio when its off. The LED is blacked out but works fine when I switch the radio on
2. Steering wheel controls are not working at all.
3. Interior lights are coming on an off at random.
4. If I turn the headlights on, the interior lights come on and goes bright and dim and bright again
5. Windscreen wipers are acting weird. If I turn wipers on they start, move a bit then stop and repeat this cycle continuously. Sometimes they will wipe the screen fine and then go back to stop-start behaviour. This happens on all of the wiper cycle options. rear wiper works perfectly fine.
6. Central locking works intermittently. Thought it was possibly the key battery dying as car is 17 years old and then it works perfectly for a few minutes then not at all.

Any assistance and guidance would be appreciated so I can try sort this out asap. Have a wonderful Xmas and a happy new year.

First check - is the battery OK and are all connections to it tight?

Are all the cables at the battery tight too? Some BMWs have more than one +ve and -ve lead as different systems get their own feeds. Are all these OK?

Check where the -ve cables attach to the body are all tight and clean. My first thought is battery or a bad earth somewhere, possibly due to water ingress.

Thanks for the reply. Battery is reading 12.26v sitting and between 13.9 and 14.2v when running. Car starts no problem. I tried the reset option of disconnecting battery and touching cables etc and problems still exists. I'll try trace the positive cables in the morning and see what's going on there. We had thunderstorms here in Cape Town this morning and had to pull over and wait it out due to the wipers not working. I see now that the washers are not working now at the front. Will also go get battery checked and swopped out to see if that's the problem.

Cheers and have a good weekend.

12.26 with the car asleep is too low. That shows a 50% state of charge. It should be above 12.6V 4-hours after last use when checked under the bonnet - leave it open if safe to do so. Charging voltage is right. Given everything is in and around the dashboard, there could be an issue with the wiring behind it. Either a loose earth comb (a piece of metal looking like a comb with multiple brown (all earth lines are brown) wires connected to it. The odd things happening sounds like power trying to ground via another circuit because it’s own earth is faulty.

Disconnect the battery for 20 or more minutes is the best way to reset.
I had similar problems years ago on a e46 and it turned out to be the GM5 module.
Not sure on your car never had one.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I had the battery disconnected for about 45 minutes last night and this morning when I tried it out without the engine the wipers will sweep and then stick if engine is running and also discovered that the horn also doesn't work, so nothings changed. Tried to get a local battery place to swop out with a new battery to see if that was the problem and they wouldn't help - just wanted to sell me a new one. They did test it and said it was holding a charge.

I'm also not sure how old this battery is as it has no stamps etched anywhere. Its original BMW but don't think it could be the original one that came with the car in 2005. Will maybe try putting it on charge tomorrow for a while and see if it raises the voltage and sorts the issues otherwise it's off to the sparky on Monday.

@X5Sport, when you say 12.6v do you mean tested at the jumper plug under the bonnet.? My 12.2v was direct at battery.

Have a great Sunday.

The correct place is under the bonnet, but if it’s showing 12.2V on the battery if asleep or disconnected that’s too low. If it’s holding a charge then it needs charging. The jump +ve points are directly connected to the battery so there shouldn’t be any real volt drop.

If the simple checks made no difference then your next step is to get the error codes read. There are so many modules to check that may be involved, you’ll be chasing ghosts - and that gets expensive!

I’ve had a quick look at the electrics on a diagram, and most of what you’re seeing connects to plug X1108, drivers footwell, alongside others. The only image I can find is a LHD version, but it’s likely mirrored by a RHD. It’s an earth comb and grounds out horn, wipers, lights etc. could be worth a look to see if it’s loose or corroded.

Many thanks for that suggestion. I'll have a look tomorrow or at least be able to give the sparky a hint where to start. Just googling around shows symptoms of lights, wipers, horn etc all being linked to a bad body control module and used ones seem to be very hard to come by in SA. Hopefully not that but time will tell.

Date code on a BMW battery is a set of 2 numbers above 2 more and they are on the top of the lead post.
A code of 20 over 19 would be dated as week 20 of 2019.

Module A1 - Basic Control Module is behind the glovebox in a rack…and everything seems to go to it as you’ve found. Hoping it’s an earth fault though - that’s easier and cheaper . If it is that module then beware as there are different versions depending upon the options fitted to your car. If you haven’t already, then take a look at RealOEM and put the last 7 characters of your VIN into ‘Serial Number’ to pull up your version, then check according to options fitted. It will also very likely need coding to your VIN.

Thanks for that. Already checked on realoem and i have the basic control module. Car is bog standard with no tilting mirrors, electric seats etc. Dealers this side will no doubt confirm the part number. Going to see if i can get a diagnostic done in the morning which should identify the culprit hopefully and take it from there. Lots of service centers keen to give you the runaround and no straight answers. I can live with the faults for now except the wipers for safety. Will let you know more as I do and maybe it'll help others in the future.

When i changed the gm5 control module on my e46 i got a second hand one from an identical car and had no problems at all.

Hope you all had a great Xmas and boxing day.
I took the car to a couple of auto electricians and they said it was the BCM so no point diagnosing or trying to find a short on a 17 year old car. I pulled the BCM out this afternoon and it has part number 61356963026.



According to our BMW dealers the part number needed is 61353454607. Real OEM shows this -

61353454607
Basic module 5 uncoded
From:08/18/2008To:-Weight:300.800 kgPrice:$460.84
Supersedes:
61359161931(09/01/2007 — 02/14/2009), Exchangeable retrospectively
61356963338(11/28/2005 — 06/03/2008), Exchangeable retrospectively
61356963026(10/01/2004 — 12/21/2005), Exchangeable retrospectively
61356944840(01/19/2004 — 11/25/2004), Exchangeable retrospectively
61356932371(03/24/2003 — 09/14/2004), Exchangeable retrospectively
61356932369(03/03/2003 — 10/30/2003), Exchangeable retrospectively
61356923960(08/22/2002 — 03/29/2004), Exchangeable retrospectively
61354114282(05/14/2002 — 09/13/2002)

Am I right in saying that any of these superseded parts will work as long as I match the part number or should I limit my search to the first 3 part numbers as they are from 2005 onwards. From what i can find on Ebay the main numbers are the same but there are differences in the SW HW numbers. I assume these are different versions of hardware and software - will this make any difference? I'm going to have to find a used part as the new one at over GBP500 plus coding is a bit of my reach right now.

All the best.

The late parts will work with the car and yes you should aim for the later part numbers. Going for an earlier version may work but those obviously had an issue or other parts were updated on the production line so needed a later version of the module. The date range is just for when that version was in use before being updated. The coding is very likely still going to be needed regardless. The module may contain things like VIN and mileage, both of which will need updating or you’ll see tamper dots (a lit LED dot) appear on the instrument binnacle.

When looking at used, ensure you pick the correct side - either LHD or RHD - as they appear to be different, and it will matter!