Nine days into ownership... Does anything work ??

[Ant]

Oh woe is me, it seems the more I read the manual and check things on my new purchase, the more things dont work, I should focus on the stuff that does work but being a pessimist I cant get past all the little things that are mounting at an alarming rate. Its a Sept 2003 build, E53 4.6iS

Lets start at the back:

The rear wiper missed a section of the 'sweep'  at the top of the rear windscreen, so I duly walked round to Eurocarparts (who I did not know had opened in Bromsgrove) and bought a new 18" Valeo Silencio (something like that) wiper blade, fitted it and it was worse  :-[ looked on the forum and it seems that a new arm is required or the spring does not have the strength to hold the blade consistently against the glass anymore, so thats not fixed

In the boot, thanks to a photo from another member, I am missing the jack, I am also missing a thing to hold the boot floor up (like a thin pole), and a bracket to hold the lower tailgate 'locked' down, so I have to check these things with the boot floor balanced on my head as I am also missing the little plastic clip that goes on the elastic which should attach the floor to the bodywork of the upper roof trim. Checked BMW OEM site for parts and cant be sure I have found the little plastic clip thing...So they are all missing

While in the boot the CD changer has 6 CD's in it, but the display and the CD player say the 6th CD is empty ?? Whats going on here ?

Moving to the rear seats, there are two bulbs on the facia of the rear footwell which dont come on, and the bulb 'under' the rear passenger door does not work either. I have not yet found a Haynes manual for the E53 X5 (Is there one ?) or is there another manual that could help an idiot like me 'try' some of the basic work on the car. Sanj has mentioned some black bolts but I cant see them. I also (again) checked the BMW OEM site for part numbers and I cannot work out the number for the bulbs I am querying, so not only do I not know how to change them I dont know what they are..

On the rear centre console there is an input for a/v headphones, what would this listen to ? It has no rear screens, so surely it could only listen to what is going on from the header unit, so why wear headphones to listen to what the rest of the car is listening to anyway  ::)

The passenger side wing mirror attempts to drop down when I select reverse (I know I can switch this off by moving the mirror switch on the drivers electric windows module to the passenger side, but I like what it is trying to do) BUT it then struggles to go back to its normal position when I am going forward again, its not far off, but I do feel the need to re-adjust the mirror when I am driving. Is there a fix for this ??

I have not even gone through the OBC manual yet, but I have already realised that:
The TV does not work as the previous owner never got it updated to accept a digital signal, I 'think' I want this option to work as I want a TV in my car, but of the people who have had it done, is it worth the expense ?

The Sat Nav is painfully non-intuitive (though I should read the manual) and I did spend a massive £6.50 on eBay for an 'update' and 2013 'maps' disc, The update did seem to work as I now have postcode entry BUT it thinks my postcode is one street away, and it still does not accept street numbers for most, so dont buy it for the postcode option. The speed cameras are ropey as well, it thinks traffic cameras are speed cameras, and announces camera ahead but does not display any, and as its on a disc it cant be amended or updated, so dont buy it for speed cameras, it was also supposed to have a perspective view accessed via a hidden menu, but as I cant get the hidden menu to appear that dont work either. But it has updated the maps for me, my office is on a new build and before I used the 2013 disc I was sat in a field, and now I am sat in a car park off an addressed road, so overall £6.50 for up to date maps is OK

Telephone !! I have managed to bluetooth 'pair' it with my Android phone, BUT I cannot find any of my stored numbers, it does not find it when I get in the car since, and even manually entering a number I click on the button to dial and it does nothing...The manual states "You can only operate the telephone via the on-board computer if the telephone is inserted in the holder" well that isnt going to work as the holder is a totally different shape to modern phones. So how do you lot get the phone to work via bluetooth ? If I wedged down the springy holder thing in the arm rest, would it make a 'contact' that thinks a phone is in the holder ??

Settings on the OBC, I have had a little play as I like the time to be in the 12 hour format, but when I change it to that, the date changes to the yank version of MM/DD/YY, so I change that back to English DD/MM/YY and the time switches back to the 24 hour clock  >:( Can I not have am/pm AND DD/MM/YY at the same time ??

I have not even tried the AUX Heating yet as its been quite mild since I got the car, but knowing my luck that wont work either.

So with a TV that dont work, a Sat Nav that is poor to say the least, no phone connectivity I took a walk on my lunch to an audio place in Bromsgrove and spoke to a 12 year old (I jest) who has a very large and clean unit, so fair play to him, about my issues, he did say I should have brought the car  ::) but he was sure he could fit a double DIN (I think thats what he said) for around a grand  :-[ (after buying the car, taxing it, swapping my plate, and pro-rata increase on my insurance, I dont have a grand to play with). Is it feasible to get these things fixed individually, or is it best to have a whole new 'modern' unit put in? With the modern unit how do you control the OBC, and AUX heating etc ?

Under the bonnet I think there is too much oil in it but with my very very limited knowledge I am happy with what I see here....

Oh, nearly forgot, I went and filled up for the first time, I had put £50 in after driving it back after buying it, but I did not fill it incase it was a right dog and I had to take it back and I did not want them having my petrol  so I put £101.90 in it at Sainsbury in Redditch on Saturday, and as they are the last place I know that has free air I thought I would check the tyre pressures. Front two were 2.50 and 2.40 (I am used to 32 etc but this is what the door says (I think its around 32)) so I reduced them to 2.20 then I went to the rears and to my annoyance I think they had superglued the dust caps on as I could not budge them  >:( ( on returning home I got the pliers on the them and got them both off, crushing one on the way) but as I had altered the front two I thought I would inform the RDC of the change, manual says put the key to '2' dont start the engine, press and hold the RDC button for a few seconds until the SET TYRE PRESSURE display shows, well I held it for about 15 seconds and it did nothing. I have seen receipts back in 2009 for the valves, but I thought if the RDC was not working then it would show as not working in the system check mode. So why did the RDC not reset, has some bar steward removed the RDC from the brain ?? because if its fitted it should either work or tell me its not working, but mine seems to NOT work nor tell me its not working.

I am scared now to check the OBC fully as I am sure it will p1ss me off by telling me something else dont work...

Oh the joys of new ownership to X5's, Maybe I will pop up to Cosford and you can all fix things for me 

[Ant]

Ooh ooh (was that like Yogi bear) how much does it cost to have the memory car/key adjustments made ?

I would like the alarm to make a sound when I arm/disarm it
I would like the doors to lock automatically when I drive off
I would also like only the drivers door to unlock (on one press of the remote)

And do you have to go to BMW to get these done ?
Ta

[malc1950]

No need to go to BMW , its a DIY job with a 1.4.0 scanner



Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

[X5Sport]

[quote="anthonybeaman"]
Lets start at the back:

The rear wiper missed a section of the 'sweep'  at the top of the rear windscreen, so I duly walked round to Eurocarparts (who I did not know had opened in Bromsgrove) and bought a new 18" Valeo Silencio (something like that) wiper blade, fitted it and it was worse  :-[ looked on the forum and it seems that a new arm is required or the spring does not have the strength to hold the blade consistently against the glass anymore, so thats not fixed.  could also be the angle of the blade isn't quite right and the arm needs a gentle twist with a pair of pliers

While in the boot the CD changer has 6 CD's in it, but the display and the CD player say the 6th CD is empty ?? Whats going on here ? if you change the order of the discs does anything happen?  If not then possibly a bad changer

Moving to the rear seats, there are two bulbs on the facia of the rear footwell which dont come on, and the bulb 'under' the rear passenger door does not work either. I have not yet found a Haynes manual for the E53 X5 (Is there one ?) or is there another manual that could help.  No Haynes manual exists.  The only manual I know of is the 'Bentley Manual' nothing to do with the marque.

The passenger side wing mirror attempts to drop down when I select reverse....BUT it then struggles to go back to its normal position when I am going forward again, its not far off, but I do feel the need to re-adjust the mirror when I am driving. Is there a fix for this ??  could just be lubrication.  There are how to's on here for getting the cover off and looking inside.

I have not even gone through the OBC manual yet, but I have already realised that:
The TV does not work as the previous owner never got it updated to accept a digital signal, I 'think' I want this option to work as I want a TV in my car, but of the people who have had it done, is it worth the expense ?  BMW replacement TV Receivers are very expensive (hundreds of ££) as you need a completely new unit, not an update, but you can source them via ebay if you are careful about getting a DVB-T unit.  There are a lot of dodgy units on offer though.

The Sat Nav is painfully non-intuitive (though I should read the manual) and I did spend a massive £6.50 on eBay for an 'update' and 2013 'maps' disc.  Discussions about non-OEM maps are prohibited on this forum.

Telephone !! I have managed to bluetooth 'pair' it with my Android phone, BUT I cannot find any of my stored numbers, it does not find it when I get in the car since, and even manually entering a number I click on the button to dial and it does nothing...The manual states "You can only operate the telephone via the on-board computer if the telephone is inserted in the holder" well that isnt going to work as the holder is a totally different shape to modern phones. So how do you lot get the phone to work via bluetooth ? If I wedged down the springy holder thing in the arm rest, would it make a 'contact' that thinks a phone is in the holder ?? it may be that the telephone control unit (TCU) is not compatible with your phone.  If the phone does not support Bluetooth version 1.1 and address book standard V1, then you may need a much later TCU I think.  Some phones work, and a lot don't with earlier cars.  BMW were very bad at compatible phones for many years early on, and as a result there are many versions of the TCU in service to try to get the BMW systems up to date.

Settings on the OBC, I have had a little play as I like the time to be in the 12 hour format, but when I change it to that, the date changes to the yank version of MM/DD/YY, so I change that back to English DD/MM/YY and the time switches back to the 24 hour clock  >:( Can I not have am/pm AND DD/MM/YY at the same time ??  should be able to, but that may come on the Facelifted versions.

I have not even tried the AUX Heating yet as its been quite mild since I got the car, but knowing my luck that wont work either. Do you have an Aux heater (Webasto) unit installed?

Under the bonnet I think there is too much oil in it but with my very very limited knowledge I am happy with what I see here....these cars do not like being overfilled.  How much is it over?
[/quote]

[lezmtaylor]

doubt if Aux htg is fitted as it is a petrol x5.

Come to Cosford there will be lots of help available

Lez

[JimmySpeed]

Welcome to BMW ownership 

I have had so many BMW's and so many of the issues that you have, that I do not see them as faults anymore but little challenges, upon the solving of which I am rewarded with 'new features' (read: something that was meant to work, but never worked, now works and its like an easter egg for me).

Take it slowly, and focus on the biggest issue first. They can all be solved I believe, mostly for little money if you are willing to get your hands dirty. The only one that isn't is the TV issue - to get digital you need to buy a new tuner and they can be pricey. Easy to fit but pricey to buy the unit unless you just monitor ebay and get lucky.

[JimmySpeed]

Some good advice by X5Sport, i'll just add my 2p in red.

[quote="X5Sport"]
[quote="anthonybeaman"]
Lets start at the back:

The rear wiper missed a section of the 'sweep'  at the top of the rear windscreen, so I duly walked round to Eurocarparts (who I did not know had opened in Bromsgrove) and bought a new 18" Valeo Silencio (something like that) wiper blade, fitted it and it was worse  :-[ looked on the forum and it seems that a new arm is required or the spring does not have the strength to hold the blade consistently against the glass anymore, so thats not fixed.  could also be the angle of the blade isn't quite right and the arm needs a gentle twist with a pair of pliers Also, could be that the pivot point on the arm needs lubricating. Undo the nut holding it on, take off the arm, work it up and down on the pivot and get some penetrating oil in it.

While in the boot the CD changer has 6 CD's in it, but the display and the CD player say the 6th CD is empty ?? Whats going on here ? if you change the order of the discs does anything happen?  If not then possibly a bad changer If it is a bad changer, replacement can be had for circa £50 but if getting a new system in there, then I wouldn't worry

Moving to the rear seats, there are two bulbs on the facia of the rear footwell which dont come on, and the bulb 'under' the rear passenger door does not work either. I have not yet found a Haynes manual for the E53 X5 (Is there one ?) or is there another manual that could help.  No Haynes manual exists.  The only manual I know of is the 'Bentley Manual' nothing to do with the marque.

The passenger side wing mirror attempts to drop down when I select reverse....BUT it then struggles to go back to its normal position when I am going forward again, its not far off, but I do feel the need to re-adjust the mirror when I am driving. Is there a fix for this ??  could just be lubrication.  There are how to's on here for getting the cover off and looking inside.

I have not even gone through the OBC manual yet, but I have already realised that:
The TV does not work as the previous owner never got it updated to accept a digital signal, I 'think' I want this option to work as I want a TV in my car, but of the people who have had it done, is it worth the expense ?  BMW replacement TV Receivers are very expensive (hundreds of ££) as you need a completely new unit, not an update, but you can source them via ebay if you are careful about getting a DVB-T unit.  There are a lot of dodgy units on offer though.

The Sat Nav is painfully non-intuitive (though I should read the manual) and I did spend a massive £6.50 on eBay for an 'update' and 2013 'maps' disc.  Discussions about non-OEM maps are prohibited on this forum.

Telephone !! I have managed to bluetooth 'pair' it with my Android phone, BUT I cannot find any of my stored numbers, it does not find it when I get in the car since, and even manually entering a number I click on the button to dial and it does nothing...The manual states "You can only operate the telephone via the on-board computer if the telephone is inserted in the holder" well that isnt going to work as the holder is a totally different shape to modern phones. So how do you lot get the phone to work via bluetooth ? If I wedged down the springy holder thing in the arm rest, would it make a 'contact' that thinks a phone is in the holder ?? it may be that the telephone control unit (TCU) is not compatible with your phone.  If the phone does not support Bluetooth version 1.1 and address book standard V1, then you may need a much later TCU I think.  Some phones work, and a lot don't with earlier cars.  BMW were very bad at compatible phones for many years early on, and as a result there are many versions of the TCU in service to try to get the BMW systems up to date.

Settings on the OBC, I have had a little play as I like the time to be in the 12 hour format, but when I change it to that, the date changes to the yank version of MM/DD/YY, so I change that back to English DD/MM/YY and the time switches back to the 24 hour clock  >:( Can I not have am/pm AND DD/MM/YY at the same time ??  should be able to, but that may come on the Facelifted versions.

I have not even tried the AUX Heating yet as its been quite mild since I got the car, but knowing my luck that wont work either. Do you have an Aux heater (Webasto) unit installed?

Under the bonnet I think there is too much oil in it but with my very very limited knowledge I am happy with what I see here....these cars do not like being overfilled.  How much is it over?
[/quote]
[/quote]

In general, most of your audio issues would be resolved by installing an aftermarket head unit - navigation, bluetooth, ipod/memory stick playback etc.

The double din option for £1k is one way to go but as you are in Bromsgrove, try http://www.car-vision.co.uk/ they do units that are the same size as the OEM system which is not quite double din. You will need to decide if any of those suit you but I would just say do a lot of internet reading on the various options. You can get one of them fitted for £550.

[JimmySpeed]

[quote="mobilejo"]
Some good advice by X5Sport, i'll just add my 2p in red.

[quote="X5Sport"]
[quote="anthonybeaman"]
Lets start at the back:

The rear wiper missed a section of the 'sweep'  at the top of the rear windscreen, so I duly walked round to Eurocarparts (who I did not know had opened in Bromsgrove) and bought a new 18" Valeo Silencio (something like that) wiper blade, fitted it and it was worse  :-[ looked on the forum and it seems that a new arm is required or the spring does not have the strength to hold the blade consistently against the glass anymore, so thats not fixed.  could also be the angle of the blade isn't quite right and the arm needs a gentle twist with a pair of pliers Also, could be that the pivot point on the arm needs lubricating. Undo the nut holding it on, take off the arm, work it up and down on the pivot and get some penetrating oil in it.

While in the boot the CD changer has 6 CD's in it, but the display and the CD player say the 6th CD is empty ?? Whats going on here ? if you change the order of the discs does anything happen?  If not then possibly a bad changer If it is a bad changer, replacement can be had for circa £50 but if getting a new system in there, then I wouldn't worry

Moving to the rear seats, there are two bulbs on the facia of the rear footwell which dont come on, and the bulb 'under' the rear passenger door does not work either. I have not yet found a Haynes manual for the E53 X5 (Is there one ?) or is there another manual that could help.  No Haynes manual exists.  The only manual I know of is the 'Bentley Manual' nothing to do with the marque. The bulbs should not be that hard to access - I thought you just popped off the cover and the bulb was there?

The passenger side wing mirror attempts to drop down when I select reverse....BUT it then struggles to go back to its normal position when I am going forward again, its not far off, but I do feel the need to re-adjust the mirror when I am driving. Is there a fix for this ??  could just be lubrication.  There are how to's on here for getting the cover off and looking inside. I agree, i've had this myself

I have not even gone through the OBC manual yet, but I have already realised that:
The TV does not work as the previous owner never got it updated to accept a digital signal, I 'think' I want this option to work as I want a TV in my car, but of the people who have had it done, is it worth the expense ?  BMW replacement TV Receivers are very expensive (hundreds of ££) as you need a completely new unit, not an update, but you can source them via ebay if you are careful about getting a DVB-T unit.  There are a lot of dodgy units on offer though.

The Sat Nav is painfully non-intuitive (though I should read the manual) and I did spend a massive £6.50 on eBay for an 'update' and 2013 'maps' disc.  Discussions about non-OEM maps are prohibited on this forum.

Telephone !! I have managed to bluetooth 'pair' it with my Android phone, BUT I cannot find any of my stored numbers, it does not find it when I get in the car since, and even manually entering a number I click on the button to dial and it does nothing...The manual states "You can only operate the telephone via the on-board computer if the telephone is inserted in the holder" well that isnt going to work as the holder is a totally different shape to modern phones. So how do you lot get the phone to work via bluetooth ? If I wedged down the springy holder thing in the arm rest, would it make a 'contact' that thinks a phone is in the holder ?? it may be that the telephone control unit (TCU) is not compatible with your phone.  If the phone does not support Bluetooth version 1.1 and address book standard V1, then you may need a much later TCU I think.  Some phones work, and a lot don't with earlier cars.  BMW were very bad at compatible phones for many years early on, and as a result there are many versions of the TCU in service to try to get the BMW systems up to date.

Settings on the OBC, I have had a little play as I like the time to be in the 12 hour format, but when I change it to that, the date changes to the yank version of MM/DD/YY, so I change that back to English DD/MM/YY and the time switches back to the 24 hour clock  >:( Can I not have am/pm AND DD/MM/YY at the same time ??  should be able to, but that may come on the Facelifted versions.

I have not even tried the AUX Heating yet as its been quite mild since I got the car, but knowing my luck that wont work either. Do you have an Aux heater (Webasto) unit installed?

Under the bonnet I think there is too much oil in it but with my very very limited knowledge I am happy with what I see here....these cars do not like being overfilled.  How much is it over?
[/quote]
[/quote]

In general, most of your audio issues would be resolved by installing an aftermarket head unit - navigation, bluetooth, ipod/memory stick playback etc.

The double din option for £1k is one way to go but as you are in Bromsgrove, try http://www.car-vision.co.uk/ they do units that are the same size as the OEM system which is not quite double din. You will need to decide if any of those suit you but I would just say do a lot of internet reading on the various options. You can get one of them fitted for £550.
[/quote]

[lezmtaylor]

I would not go down the Hualagin route from John.
The way to go is Andrive, see write up on here, It can do loads more.

As an aside my Andrive is on order, and then my Hualagin is coming out.

Lez

[JimmySpeed]

That's a shame to hear. I thought the hooligan looked better aesthetically. Not keen on the andrive looks.

What's prompted your decision?

I need to pick one myself so very interested in your experiences.

[Raj]

As others have said, a lot of the issues your had are minor really and you can sort for not huge effort or cost. Definitely head over to Cosford on Saturday and I'll certainly sort your bulb issues out and we'll help point you in the right direction for other issues.

As for the headunit, I went with a Pioneer double din. Second hand cost me £600 but there are plenty of other units out there. The Pioneer is superb and has built in satnav, 10Gb hard drive, DVD, cd interchanger, etc etc all in one nice unit. I have lost the OBC functionality but I'm not as bothered about that.

[Ant]

Thank you all, hope for a dry day and I 'may' see you Saturday (no promises I am quite lazy and like my rest) 

[Raj]

[quote="anthonybeaman"]
Thank you all, hope for a dry day and I 'may' see you Saturday (no promises I am quite lazy and like my rest) 
[/quote]

See if you can make it as its not too far and hopefully get some of the issues looked into.

[X5 ALN]

I have your mirror problem and your rear wiper problem - if you get them fixed, I'd like to know the remedy 

As for the sat nav update - word of warning....

I done it to mine, worked fine for 3 months.  Then my monitor started playing up, changing colours as if a cable was not connected properly, and producing an old BBC computer like display occasionally.

I stripped the monitor, made sure the cable was ok, which it was.

My friend at BMW refused to look at it until I returned the software to the original (Non copy) software.

Done that (but had to get a downgrade disc from the guy who sold the upgrade one) - then magically everything worked.  8 months later and I've never had a problem, or re-inserted the copy nav disc.  I don't tend to use the nav as much as I thought I would anyway.