Weird electrical issues

[mightydave]

Hey All,

My wife has a 2001 X5 4.4. We bought it back in January. Other than it leaking every fluid we put in it, it's a great truck.

Anyway, we had a few worn parts that needed addressing recently so I handled them the same way I've handled things on my E46. I ordered the part, and set aside time to handle the job. In this case, the primary job was the two front door handles - which seems to be a common issue.

One item of note - the passenger front window has never rolled down. We were told by the PO that the switch was bad.

Anyway - I started with the passenger door. Took the door panel off, etc - did the job. I didn't disconnect the battery when I did the passenger door. When I got it all back together, we started seeing some weird electrical issues. We'd get a "Door Open" warning in the MID, the door open chime had a random pattern, etc. Then, the second day after the handle replacement, my wife rolled down her driver window (in 25 degree weather) and the passenger window also went down.

So, I read up on this forum and others and figured, because of the nature of the electrical system on these cars, that I had borked things by not disconnecting the battery. SO, I disconnected the battery, took the door panel off again and tried to get the window back up. Well, I had no clue how to do it, so I couldn't get it up. However, after having the battery disconnected for a few hours, all the gremlins went away - but window is still down.

Took it to a local german independent to get the window back up. Tried to explain the weirdness we were having (which had now included the nav screen randomly working), and he said he'd take a look. $200+ later the window was up, motor disconnected. He told me the switches had shorts in them, told me I needed new switches.

So, what I'm hoping to find out is this. I've ordered the new switches. If I follow these steps, do you guys think the electrical problems will fix themselves?

1) Disconnect the battery
2) Remove passenger door panel - replace switch and reconnect the window motor (as if I know where that is)
3) Replace the driver switch
4) Leave the battery disconnected overnight
5) Reconnect the battery

If not, anyone have any recommendations? Any help is GREATLY appreciated. My wife is starting to get annoyed and I don't want her looking around at other cars as we just bought this darned thing.

[JCL]

Your five steps are what I would do, but I wouldn't leave it overnight. An hour perhaps.

[mightydave]

Originally Posted by JCL

Your five steps are what I would do, but I wouldn't leave it overnight. An hour perhaps.

Thanks JCL.

If they say they disconnected the motor to the window, where would I reconnect it? I haven't pulled the door panel, but I didn't know if it was likely a door panel element, or a fuse removal.

[JCL]

I suspect he meant within the door panel