My 06' 4.8is, which ran great for the last two years that I've owned it, is suddenly giving me tons of problems. In the last 2 months I had to have fixed a major oil leak, replaced ignition switch (causing tons of weird electrical issues), and a problem with the driver side low beam not working. I was going to be bringing it in to my independent mechanic tomorrow to replace the control arms and an oxygen sensor as well.

So last night I gassed up, and the X5 was filthy from salt from all the melting snow here in WI, so I decided to run it through the car wash. Since it was going in for the controls arms tomorrow, I got the 'supreme' wash, which includes the undercarriage wash. Big mistake! Having looked up some stuff on here I now know that a lot of you don't like these touchless washes, but I honestly had no idea...how could a wash hurt your ride?

Well, as soon as I pulled out, I got the warning to check my low beam, and I instantly had an idea of what had happened. Sure enough, the same one that I had previously just gotten fixed was not functioning. I also noticed moisture inside the plastic housing. I will also mention that upon exiting the car wash I noticed what appeared to be steam coming from the front end. I drove the two blocks home (no problem), still seeing this (to a lessening degree), and I THINK it is unrelated, just a function of hot water and cold air. I took a short drive later in the evening, and no problem. Today when I tried to start it...nothing...won't even crank at all, but the lights are going all kinds of crazy.

I think best case scenario is that I fried something in the headlight (which apparently did not get properly sealed), and that caused the battery to discharge. Worst case...???

I'm going to try jumping it in the AM (after letting my portable jump set charge up overnight). If it doesn't work, I guess it'll be taking a ride to my mechanic courtesy of AAA instead of me driving it in.

I feel like a moron for taking it through the car wash, but then again, who would think that washing the darn thing would mess it up??? Anyone else ever experience this?