My 2005 X5 4.4 is possessed, please help!

[pghguy517]

2005 X5 with 209,000 miles, I get random dash lights and codes that come and go, sometimes the wipers and radio won't work, seat belt alert chimes with seat belts buckled, brake lights stay on. Sometimes no issues and all works fine. I recently had an old battery fail, replaced it twice in a month with a Costco 900 CCA Interstate battery that were both good, replaced the alternator both were tested as good and charge at 14.2V. Replaced the brake light switch, still same issues. Replaced the Steering angle sensor and calibrated it several months ago before all this started. With new battery, car always starts and runs like it should. Codes I get are P0461, 2DB4, 2F62, and 2A1D. I clear them and they come back, may be other codes that come and go. Dash lights that come and go, and are not consistent are yellow brake light, air bag (sometimes it's dim), seat belt (even though its buckled), trans failsafe prog, and 4x4. Any ideas? Thanks!

[andrewwynn]

It's the symptoms of a failing ignition switch.

One test you can try though it's not fail proof is to turn on the ignition (not start car) then open the visor and turn the mirror to turn on the light.

If anything odd happens (or doesn't eg light doesn't come on), it's basically a sure thing it's the ignition switch.

Example of odd things:

Rear wiper crazy
Wipers wipe when you turn on vanity mirror
Abs light on. May dim when turn on mirror light
Transmission light on but shifts ok

Every one of those and many more area ignition switch symptom.


–awr–

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[andrewwynn]

Oh, "my x5 is possessed" is a redundant phrase.

[pghguy517]

Thanks Andrewynn! Did the visor mirror test, but all was working normal this time. I’ll try it again next time it goes into possessed mode.
I did change out the ignition switch 5 years and 34,000 miles ago, but that doesn’t mean this one isn’t bad. Good thing is it’s from FCP Euro, so it’s under warranty.

[andrewwynn]

Ignition key failure also is notoriously intermittent at first.


–awr–

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