Tow bar locking fault

[allforus]

Had a fault on the tow bar while towing this weekend electric tow bar came up with tow bar not locked do not tow contact dealers

Also it said slow carefully happened to be in second lane with the caravan on the back but of an eye opener stopped and checked all was well contacted the dealer

Then contacted BMW who sent a muppet who couldn't even read the fault codes not impressed

Checked the bar physically and said ok to go restarting the car cleared the fault

Just wondered if anybody else had a similar fault it's already had a complete new to bar assemble

[catflap]

Had a similar problem on previous car - X3 with electric folding tow-bar. I often left it extended and rarely folded it away, this caused the mechanism to partially sieze up on a few occasions and it would come up with a fault like you mentioned when trying to get it to move. The dealer just lubricated it and reset the fault - never had a real problem whilst towing. The one on our new X5 has been OK so far though it's a modified design (much better) compared with the one on the X3.

We took our caravan to north wales (300 miles round trip) and was well impressed with performance and stability even towing 1900kg Bit fed up that our towing mirrors wouldn't fit so bought the dedicated X5 ones from BMW, they fit & work great but what a price! 

[allforus]

I know what u mean about mirrors tried every set in the shop last weekend at caravan dealers and none fit properly

Guess I will have to splash out again

[catflap]

[quote="allforus"]
I know what u mean about mirrors tried every set in the shop last weekend at caravan dealers and none fit properly

Guess I will have to splash out again
[/quote]

About £125 for a pair!

[allforus]

Did you get them over the counter or did they have to order them in

[catflap]

[quote="allforus"]
Did you get them over the counter or did they have to order them in
[/quote]

Part number is (comes as a pair):

51.16.2.354.903

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... fg=95&hl=3

£105 + VAT for the pair.

I had to order mine though they arrived the same day to the dealer.

[allforus]

Checked with dealer today and guess what not in stock only in Germany and May take awek to get here

Got one of my old rubber strapped ones that fit ok so that will do for this trip

To Wales

[catflap]

[quote="allforus"]
Checked with dealer today and guess what not in stock only in Germany and May take awek to get here

Got one of my old rubber strapped ones that fit ok so that will do for this trip

To Wales
[/quote]

That's typical!

[kjb1]

i use these and find then to be superb!! friend runs a caravan parts / storage business and recommended these! and they are excellent:

milenco:

[allforus]

Hi kjb I have one of those but it fouls the mirror glass as it's very tight at the top

[kjb1]

my grips are chamfered so don't have that problem, they are superb fit. 

[catflap]

I've got a set of those mirrors but they won't fit my F15's mirror housings.

There's not enough clearance between the mirror glass and the housing even though the fittings are tapered towards the ends.

[kjb1]

that sucks !!

[allforus]

Yip that's what thought as well lol

[kjb1]