Question 04 X5 battery light coming on and off

[EODguy]

Originally Posted by Johnny_5

She'll give me that stare and I’ll slide out the door quietly! Lol. As long as I don’t spend the whole day doing it she SHOULDN'T mind. Wishful thinking. I’ll most like just do the steps posted previously to help me narrow it down so I can start ordering the parts for it. I’m hoping it doesn’t take all day

And that officer is when he "fell" down the stairs into the swimming pool with his bowling ball collection....

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[Purplefade]

MUCH cheaper to go with the rebuild kit and the majority of the time that solves the issue. That said, if it doesn't, you don't have an arm and a leg invested in it and at least you know it has been refreshed - just tossing that out there

[Fifty150hs]

Originally Posted by Johnny_5

So got into my X today and noticed that the battery light came on after warming it up and went off and came back on and off again. I did a battery test with my scanner cycling it with lights on and turning off and on as well as alternator check holding at 2000 etc and everything checked out fine. Does this mean that the alternator may be going out? I’ve also been having 4x4 light coming on occasions if that matters.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

That's what happens right before your alternator dies.

[Johnny_5]

Originally Posted by puddinboo

More than likely low voltage causing those lights to come on.

2003 BMW X5 E53 M54 engine,253512KM

Yea Im thinking thats the case as well. I wasn't able to get to it due to work and holidays but I need to get to it asap.

Today coming back home my air bag stabilizer light came on. Turned off the car and turned it back on and it went away.

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

Search in advanced for awr-fix in title and andrewwynn user.

I rebuilt just the slipring and brushes but have very detailed photos of the steps.

I had valeo alternators and the kit to repair is about $20 on eBay. With the Bosch I've not seen the equivalent kit. That said most of the wear is just the brushes so If you remove the VR you can disassemble and find the brush size and find a replacement set.

Look for my latest one where I swapped the brush polarity because if the slip rings are not terribly worn you dont even need to replace if you swap the polarity of the bushes it's not difficult just a couple inch long jumper wires.

Will do thank you. Might need to get to it this coming weekend!

Originally Posted by c-bass

Your ODB scanner? Or you have an actual battery tester device?

Most auto parts stores should be able to test the battery for you. Don't rule out the battery unless you get a proper test done on it.

My OBD2 scanner just a regular hand held unit is what i used. I tested both battery and alternator holding at 2000, turning off and on, turning on headlights, etc....it made me do the cycles to confirm. Im sure its not 100% but its better then what other units do. I know its nothing compared to the actual testers.

Originally Posted by Fifty150hs

That's what happens right before your alternator dies.

Yea Im probably going to get to it this weekend hopefully. Need to read up on andrewwynn post on how he rebuilt it and what he used. Im sure it would be better then just getting a generic auto parts store alternator

[Johnny_5]

So was looking around for a rebuild kit and found this: https://www.amazon.com/Alternator-20.../dp/B07B8TSVCH

Is that what Im needing to just rebuild it? If so figure I order it just in case or as stated by Purplefade its a cheap part to just do anyways.

[Purplefade]

Don’t hold me to this, but I think they had a 140 amp and a 180 amp version, you may have to contort yourself to get the number off your alternator, but I would check first. And yes, the kit I used was just like that but also had the brass “contact” rings as well.

If I were home I’d pull it doe you, but I think it was andrewwynn that did a thread on his rebuild.


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[crystalworks]

My 4.8is took a 180A alternator. I went with a new aftermarket one (REN) off Ebay in March '19. Still have the old oily OE one here in the garage so maybe I'll clean it and rebuild it as a spare for when the aftermarket one gives up the ghost.

Time to find andrewynn's thread on the rebuild...

[andrewwynn]

As mine (both) were just electrical failure I didn't bother replacing the bearings. If the bearings are good you risk damage to other things if you replace bearings not needed.

Crystal, open up the oily one, I'll be willing to bet oil was related to the bushes losing conductivity; I'm willing to bet changing the brushes and the polarity to the slip rings will fix that alternator.

[Johnny_5]

So I tried to get into the bay but had issues reading the amp so I did a search online and called the dealer and it is a 180 amp. So now that I got that figured out Im trying to figure out where to get the rebuild kit. I found one on eBay and one on Amazon but they don't appear to be for my year and model? Does that matter? Any point of direction on which one I should get would be great.

Thanks

[andrewwynn]

If valeo brand, the slip rings and brushes were all the same. I was able to find matching size brushes for wife's just at a local hardware store. You can use sandpaper to modify the size if close. I didn't want to wait for eBay shipping so I didn't change the slip rings just the polarity of the brushes so the other slip ring would get the wear.

I forget the measurements but one side had 4-5x the wear as the other, so swapping polarity will nearly double the slip ring lifespan.