Cool "Hidden" features of the E53 X5

[realchef]

Originally Posted by JCL

Disagree. Pressing the button once turns off DSC. It still leaves traction control on, but it increases the threshold before it intervenes. Pressing the button and holding it does nothing. It did on other versions of x-drive, including the one we had on our 325xi, and that is where the long-standing rumour comes from that it actually does anything on the E53. It doesn't.

ok

[bmmr11]

What year did adaptive headlights get introduced for the X? I read that this function will work only if your light switch is set to Auto.

[TerminatorX5]

it was in the facelifeted 2004 model year - to see if you have the AHL module, look at your headlight switch, if it has a little green LED light next to the AUTO settings, you probably have the adaptive headlights... and of course, you can check to see if your lights follow the steering wheel...

[CrazyOneToo]

Hi all...I was trying this out and somehow got mine locked.
When I push the button on the turn signal stalk now the display goes
from a blank readout to "Cons1 22.3 L/100" and back to blank.
Anyone know how to unlock this so I can again view my clock,
average speed, average mpg, etc. ???

Thanks
Alan

[KyleNatolix5]

Originally Posted by CrazyOneToo

Hi all...I was trying this out and somehow got mine locked.
When I push the button on the turn signal stalk now the display goes
from a blank readout to "Cons1 22.3 L/100" and back to blank.
Anyone know how to unlock this so I can again view my clock,
average speed, average mpg, etc. ???

Thanks
Alan

Maybe try this?

Bimmerfest - BMW Forums - View Single Post - Unlocking Info cluster

[CrazyOneToo]

Sorry for the misunderstanding. What I mean is,
when I am out side of the test viewer and in normal mode
(car started) I can only see the "Cons1 22.3 L/100" displayed
and then back to a blank screen when I push the turn signal button again.
I assume that I locked one of the options to allow me to only view that one readout.

Alan

[Qsilver7]

Originally Posted by CrazyOneToo

Sorry for the misunderstanding. What I mean is,
when I am out side of the test viewer and in normal mode
(car started) I can only see the "Cons1 22.3 L/100" displayed
and then back to a blank screen when I push the turn signal button again.
I assume that I locked one of the options to allow me to only view that one readout.

Alan

Alan, you've gotta help us to help you better. First, there are 2 instrument cluster set-ups (high or low) and either a MID (multi-informational display), or the navigation monitor.

Which set-up do you have? You've gotta remember that we can not "SEE" what you have...we rely on you telling/explaining what you have or your situation. Your first post was really vague...we had no clue as to "what you tried" and "what you locked". The words you used as your subject "this" & "mine" gave no indication of what you were referring to. And the post above yours were discussing issues with their adaptive headlights.

If you have the high instrument cluster that has the 20 digit alpha/numeric display...you can program any or all of the OBC features to appear in that display. Also not sure if you actually want liters instead of gallons...but you can also change the unit of measure.'

But please give us more details as to which instrument cluster you have or if you have the MID or Nav monitor...the instructions for programming the high instrument cluster is similar but slightly different. If you have the low instrument cluster...then you may have a totally different issue. But again, we can't give you specific info until you reveal what you have.

This is a MID:



High Instrument Cluster



Instructions for programming the OBC features into the display on the High Cluster

[CrazyOneToo]

OK sorry about that. I have the high cluster. Where it says "20 digit readout" in that picture, all mine will show when I push the button on the end of the turn signal stalk is a blank screen or "Cons1 22.3 L/100" . I was just checking out the test info but somehow pushed the wrong button at the wrong time. I don't know how I locked it. No I don't want a liter readout showing. I probably changed that, also by accident. While reading and trying to fix this blunder I read somewhere that you can "hide" the things that show up on the screen during normal driving. That would be great to do also. Most of the ones it was showing before I locked the screen I was seeing things I would never use but I had to keep pushing the button repeatedly to get back to the clock showing. I'll settle for just getting the thing unlocked tho.

[Qsilver7]

Again, we need to know if you have the MID or the Navigation screen??? You can change the scale from liters to gallons...easily...but I can't tell you how if I don't know which set-up you have...MID or NAV?

When you say "checking out the TEST"...are you talking about UNLOCKING your OBC to access the 21 TESTs? If so, if you didn't go to TEST 19...then the OBC is still LOCKED...thus that's what you will see if you try to access any of the OBC TESTs other than TEST 1 or 2.

Where are you getting your information from to UNLOCK your OBC? If you don't have complete information...then wait until you do so that you don't reset something you don't want to reset. This feature wasn't intended for the consumer...but is a way to access the input/output/functions of the IKE (instrument cluster electronics).

Here's the instructions on how to UNLOCK your OBC and a brief description of each TEST:

Below is the procedure for unlocking the OBC (just like the link above) and there's also a brief description of the OBC TESTs. Disregard that it mentions "e38" in the heading...the "unlock" info applies to the e38/e39/e53 with the high instrument cluster...the low instrument cluster used in the e46 & e53 is similar except there's only 1 button on the cluster, so initiating the TESTs is slightly different as well as how they appear in the display since the low cluster doesn't have the larger 20-digit alpha/numeric display:

[CrazyOneToo]

Thank you very much. Now I understand that the picture you posted showed me how to go back to the default showing of items shown on my gauge cluster. Yes I have the MID unit not navigation. No I didn't go to test 19 or try to unlock it. I was just trying to view some of the tests that it shows on these pages. Clearly I did something wrong somewhere and made it so that it only showed one item when I had the car in normal driving mode. Thanks for helping me get it back to default.
Alan