EXPENSIVE MORNING

[scratchpole]

Came out of the house this morning intending to take the Mrs to work and then on down to dealer to have whatever needs coding/resetting to get the remote locking of the keys and interior lights working again. Guessing that it would probably cost around £40.

Put key in lock and only driver's door unlocked. Key in ignition and.....nothing...........dead as a Monty Python Parrot!

Normally wouldn't be of much concern (I then used the Volvo and would have taken the battery out to charge for a few days and put back at a convenient time). Problem is that the Council are about to rebuild the pavements in our road as from Monday and any car in the way it is then taken away and you have a tow-away fee, storage fee and a parking penalty! This happened a few months ago when they re-surfaced the road and despite two week's notice there were several who had them towed.

Anyway, had a spare battery in the garage and thought I would jump the X5 and move it around the corner. Connected spare battery and found that was flat also. Oh! Bother, or some similar words ensued. Starting to panic so decided to buy a new battery "just in case". Halfords then relieved me of £120 for one of their 3 year warranty own brand which was supposed to be correct but in fact the case is slightly too large and the clamp was a problem to fit and does not sit correctly. On top of that ECP are still having a sale so I could have bought  a 4 Year warranty Bosch for £98 from them.

After fitting new battery the X5 sprung to life but various brake/ABS/4x4 warning lights would not go out.
Again panic ensued but then thought of XDrivers and  that there must be a simple answer so searched on here but with no single definitive answer. Went to the car with a list of possibilities including "battery reset" and "go to dealer" but first tried driving backwards and forwards and turning steering lock to lock. Success!

Problem is that I still have no remote locking or interior lights and am £120 poorer. That will now have to wait for another month.