weird mirror, seat, telescopic/tilt wheel, & window movements

[workingonit]

As I've stated on previous threads, I rarely drive my X5, and my wife isn't allowed to, either; so, it never fails to frustrate me when I'll get in the truck, and have to adjust some or all of the components in the title. I've searched, but haven't found similar combinations of automatic weirdness.

Sometimes all are where I left them set, even a month later, but at other times one or more is different.

The items of interest, in no particular order:

• 1) The mirrors are swung way out of my normal plane of sight...no, the "dipping" function is turned off, so that isn't it. And the neighbor's idiot kid never comes near it anymore, after the "Come To Jesus Meeting" I had with him and his father, months ago, either.
  
  
• 2) The front windows are two inches down from closed position, with the "clown nose" rapidly flashing, but no sounds or flashing headlights, so is the alarm triggered? When I've accidentally double-pressed the "lock" button on the key, the lights will flash and all the windows drop all the way down, so it's not the same.
  
  
• 3) I'll use the secondary remote (a spare, uncut diamond key from ebay) to open the doors, and the seat & steering column will hunt for positioning, sometimes correctly, but sometimes way off normal (I'm the only one that uses it). I haven't observed the original OEM key trigger that behavior, and otherwise the ebay key works fine (I use it at home to keep the OEM key from wear & tear or damage, usually when I'm using tools I keep in the X5, and carry it along whenever I'm driving the X5, just-in-case the OEM remote fails).

I think that perhaps the spare ebay uncut key may have something to do with all the problems, but not positive. The ebay keys (I gave one to the wife at a family event, to hold for me, but she lost it, so now I have only the one "spare") came with pre-installed batteries (which may have become drained from usage), almost two years ago, so maybe it's malfunctioning while sitting on my desk, 40 feet from the X5 in the driveway, and sends out (bad) signals to the truck? I can insert it into a Faraday pouch I have, to prevent that, until I replace it with a new set ($20 for two, vs $200+ for an OEM key). Meanwhile, the OEM key rests in a Philips Sonicare charger on my desk, so its' 18 month old battery stays fully charged.

Right now, I'm wanting to just disable the seat and steering column memory, only the memory if possible (after I set the parameters to my preferred spot), also the power windows (which I never use, and never use on any of my cars/trucks...I've had to replace too many switches, window motors, and tracks over 50+ years), and just need to find the relevant fuses to do so (as I disabled the sunroof, awhile back...hate sun roofs); the mirrors I can deal with, because I adjust them prior to every drive, according to lighting (or towing) conditions, as a matter of course.

[X5chemist]

Does yours have seat memory?

[workingonit]

Originally Posted by X5chemist

Does yours have seat memory?

Yes, "S459 Seat Adjustment, Electric, With Memory".

I've set the "button 1" as my choice, but left the other old settings in memory. I tried to get in while the seat and steering wheel were resetting themselves, and follow the procedure on page 55 of the owners' manual:

To select a stored setting
Convenience function:
1 Open the driver's door after
unlocking the vehicle or place the
ignition key in position 1.
2 Briefly press memory button 1, 2 or 3,
as desired.
Movement stops immediately when
one of the seat-adjustment or
memory buttons is activated during
the adjustment process.
Security function:
1 With the driver's door closed and the
ignition key either removed or in position
0 or 2.
2 Maintain pressure on the desired
memory button (1, 2 or 3) until the
adjustment process is completed.

but the seat still moves until it wants to quit (90% of the time at my preferred position, but not always). I just want to disable the seat & steering column tilt/telescope memory function, and not lose the adjustment capability (sometimes my bad back dictates a change is needed).

I have the same desire for the outside mirrors, that they remain where last set. I've no idea how they would move on their own, without input from the switch panel. And the driver's side mirror shouldn't dip at all, ever.

When I had the Chevelle for 27 years, I often felt that it had a sorta presence about it, also felt by others when it was in my friend's shop for major work. Not bad, but just weird. But some people wouldn't go into my garage when it was in it.

Now, the Chevelle is gone, traded for the X5, and though the X5 is outside, never in the garage, it seems to be plagued with odd problems, over and over again (like different tires going flat for no reason, even after new valve stems/cores installed...full pressure one day, fully flat the next...no seepage detected even in a water tank; rinse & repeat over the last year), and now these new problems. Poltergeist?, Maschinenteufel?, Boser Geist? or just aged BMW modules? Interesting, but annoying.

[X5chemist]

Interesting. My wife is a lot shorter than me. Before I even get in or insert the key, I hit the #1 button. All my settings get set. I save them when it's on though. She gets in and presses #2. I asked to push the button before getting in. Less wear and tear on motors with weight on them.

[workingonit]

My wife never gets in the driver's seat, nor ever touches either key (after all, she lost the second spare key the first and only time she touched it). Both of my keys were programmed in sequence, and the X5's battery has never gotten low, so there shouldn't be any problem, due to buttons being pushed, nor loss of system power.

I only set the #1 power seat button in memory, once, never the others, but I also never touch any of them, just the manual switches if the positions are incorrect. I guess I'll have to follow the seat & steering memory setting procedure again, and this time set all the buttons thae same.

But what's going on with the mirrors? do they get set in memory too (I've read where they are programmable, but on other BMW models, not the early E53)? Since the remaining 18+ month-old spare key seems to trigger the problem(s), should I

• 1) reprogram it (and the OEM key) to the EWS, then set the seat/steering/mirrors again
• 2) only use the spare key (with a possibly dying battery) in emergencies, or
• 3) buy new spare, uncut keys from my source on ebay, again?

[CapeX5]

Do some research on the seat memory module. It controls lot's of things besides the seat. I had an issue a while ago(can't remember!) and searched for info. Bought one off of eBay and all problems solved.

[workingonit]

Originally Posted by CapeX5

Do some research on the seat memory module. It controls lot's of things besides the seat. I had an issue a while ago(can't remember!) and searched for info. Bought one off of eBay and all problems solved.

I've been researching all day; I found confirmation in newTIS that the A21 seat memory module does control the S119 steering column, but the mirror memory isn't contained there. The A1 General module retains memory for the mirrors (the mirrors do indeed need memory, after all), and feeds data to all the affected items on my list.

As I stated before, the spare key must be used or inadvertently pressed to lower the windows and/or move the mirrors to the wrong spots, but I suspect that the A21 seat/steering control module may only need a complete reset, though the spare key also triggers it.

If I reset the A21 so my seat/steering are correct, then DO NOT use the questionable spare remote key anymore, and windows, mirrors, seats, and steering column stay where I last used them, then the A21 must be considered OK (A1, S119, A23 & A24 "door modules", too).

If the seat & steering column problems recur, using only the OEM key, then I'll start by replacing the A21 control module; if the mirrors and windows act up, then I'll look into the A1 General module. In any case, I'm buying and reprogramming two new uncut keys as remotes (only), just in case.

[workingonit]

I tested one key versus the other, and found that the OEM key didn't cause anything to move away from where I had last set them, while the ebay spare key always did.

I tried programming both the OEM and spare key using the Memory button, first the OEM, then the spare, but after using the spare, the OEM key made the "position hunt" occur, when it hadn't done so before.

So, I used the OEM key, reset all 3 memory buttons to my preferred position, and tested it several times...OK. Then, I used the spare key and the "position hunt" happened again. Not finding the correct position....

Finally, I put the spare away, used the OEM key to open the door, and the seat, steering, and mirrors all corrected themselves; then, I tried the 3 presets (after manually moving the seat forward a bit), and each put the seat back in place.

Conclusion: the OEM key is good, the Memory module works fine, and the spare key somehow doesn't conform to the program. I'm only going to use the spare in an emergency, to open the door remotely, if my previously-damaged OEM key does not (when I replaced the battery inside it, a wire/trace popped loose, and the remote didn't work, until I re-soldered it), I choose not to use the door key mechanism if at all possible, and then use the chipped & cut OEM key to start the truck. I'll wait 'til I get a new pair of cheap spares to clone to my OEM key, and perhaps not have the "position hunting" problem again.

I still have to decide whether or not to disable the window switches, to avoid the mystery opening problem with them. I never use them, anyway.