Changed Battery and Now Emergency Activation Code Question

[cwalshisme]

EDIT: FIXED Thanks to wpoll for the info.
the counter does in fact countdown allowing you to restart the car after 10 minutes and then choose to disable it forever or reset. It is not necessary to do the 10 minute waiti everythime after starting the car.


2006 X5 3.0, First post here because I can normally find everything I need with the search.

It's been a rough month with the E53. The friday before christmas I had the radiator and expansion tank fail in NYC traffic. I have since replaced almost the entire coolant system in my driveway in between cold days and parts delivery.

While finalizing the job the other day I was running the accessories to get the system warmed up before doing a complete flush of the system before adding all new coolant, and the battery died completely. It wouldn't take a jump or charge from the contacts point under the hood and I ran out of light and called it a day. When i returned the next day it had nothing at all. Had to unlock the door with the key, climb through the trunk and manual release everything.

Once I had access to the battery I attached the charger to the main terminals and was able to get some life back in her. That's when I got the message on the Nav screen for the emergency activation code. And things came to a stop.

I have the new battery sitting but will I need to have the system re-coded in order for it to work? Or will the 10 minute wait time allow me to reprogram myself once it comes back on line; or will I have to wait 10 minutes every time I want to restart the car?

Thanks in advance as we are expecting anywhere from 1-24 inches of snow in the next few days and my F30 with full Msport Package wont be much help when it comes.

[wpoll]

Found this: -

Key position 0
Pull Fuse #43
Then start

You can throw the fuse back in to get your instruments back if you want the alarm will sound for like a minute though.

From this thread...

https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...own-fixed.html

Looks like a coding job to sort properly.... unless you can guess the code (0000?).

*edit* see better info below...

[wpoll]

And Qsilver7 has some more good info on this...



I'm not sure if this process clears the code or you still have to deal with that aspect....

*edit* further reading indicates this is a complete fix.

[oldskewel]

Originally Posted by cwalshisme

... It wouldn't take a jump or charge from the contacts point under the hood ...

... Once I had access to the battery I attached the charger to the main terminals and was able to get some life back in her...

I think if both those statements are accurate, then you've got a problem somewhere beyond your battery or self-destruct-sequence code.

Seriously, I wonder if the intent is to scare away any potential thieves who see that countdown ... is there an ominous voice countdown that goes with it? Do all the doors automatically double-lock? If not, how can I code that into my system?

It could be as simple as the clamps on the battery posts not being tight, etc. And maybe you fixed that without realizing it when you attached the charger back at the battery. But I'd keep that in mind, and get it tuned up as needed.

[cwalshisme]

thanks for the quick feedback. I had seen those responses as well. Really trying to figure out next steps. Hopefully the weather cooperates this evening and I can get it sorted tomorrow before the second wave of snow is supposed to get here on Saturday.

As far as the doors locking and everything going dark it was a symptom of the battery being dead. Based on that and the 'strength' of my portable charger I felt that direct contact to the battery would be my best chance. I think the idea behind the countdown would be to discourage thieves from being able to get the car going anywhere for ten minutes in the situation they were trying to steal it by disarming the alarm via the battery. Which is absurd because the fuse for the alarm is accessible right inside the panel and the battery requires moving a few things around to get to and then taking out 4 bolts to access.

Guess I'll play with the countdown tomorrow and post my outcome. I have seen a solution that involves puling the alarm fuse and entering the sequence manually but at that rate I'd just assume paying the shop the 2 hours to re-code rather than sit there punching in numbers for 3-4 hours.

[cwalshisme]

Originally Posted by wpoll

And Qsilver7 has some more good info on this...



I'm not sure if this process clears the code or you still have to deal with that aspect....

*edit* further reading indicates this is a complete fix.

Thank you very much for the edit . That's the part that I couldn't find anywhere.

[cwalshisme]

Thank you all that worked as suggested.
Connected new battery, everything came up. let the timer run down and the car started up no problem and then I went into the menus and disabled the code.