New X5 owner...a few questions

$chlitz · #1 02-26-2013, 01:50 PM

so about a month ago i traded in my A6 and got into a 2001 X5 3.0 with under 89k miles for a great deal. this is my first BWM, but i've pretty much driven german vehicles exclusively for the past 15 years. love the truck so far, but it's certainly not without its quirks. and yes, i've searched for all of these and found lots of information, but figured i'd introduce myself and throw all my concerns into one post. after one month of ownership, here are my main concerns:

• parasitic draw on battery. i guess it should have been a red flag when i went to test drive the vehicle and they had it on a charger. it started and drove fine. have had no problems with it not starting since i bought it, until this past weekend when i went to install a GROM bluetooth interface. GROM install didn't work as planned, but that's another issue. suddenly the car didn't want to start, and there was no audio coming from the stereo, even though it was on and i could change the radio stations. i did have the doors open for a while, and i was turning the ignition on and off quite a few times trying to get the bluetooth to initialize. checked the terminals under the hood and was getting 11-ish volts. car would click, lights would come on, but would not turn over. came back an hour later and with a small struggle it fired right up. i should note that the gear indicator light is NOT going out, ever...so i'm guessing something is preventing sleep mode. i went ahead and pulled all the unnecessary fuses form the rear fusebox (i have a very base model--no compressor, no phone, no heated rear seats, etc). shifter light STILL remains on all the time. going to hit up the front fuse panel and replace the FSU to see if that changes anything. will also test for draw at the battery with mutimeter.

•passenger side rear door lock is "lazy." sometimes it opens with fob, sometimes it doesn't. more often, it doesn't and i have to open it with two pulls of the handle from inside. can i just pull the door card off and clean/lube the actuator/latch assembly? any specific points i should pay special attention to?

•finally, after driving the truck for a while i've noticed it shifts a little weird. seems to hesitate just a little in between 1-2, 2-3. almost as if it were a manual trans or even a motorcycle. i've read some other posts that said that people were told by BMW that their perceived "harsh shifting" is normal. not sure if what i'm experiencing would be described as "harsh shifting", but it's certainly not smooth. since this is my first BMW, i'm not sure if what i'm experiencing is normal or not.

any input on the above issues would be greatly appreciated! thanks!

Bulk · #2 02-26-2013, 05:52 PM

The shift light never goes out - never ever. Old batteries can be mistaken for a parasitic drain, I would start by getting yourself a new battery.

There are plenty of posts on here about the door handle carrier so check out the search function and you should find what you're looking for.

As for the harsh shifting it could be that previous test drives they've flogged it and the X remembers your driving style and has an adaptation logarithm that it follows. If you drive it like your stole it for a week and then decide that you just want to just coast away from the lights it will have harsh shifts as its computer tries to hold gears for longer before downshifting expecting you to floor it at any moment. Drive it like Miss Daisy for a week and then see how your gear shifts go. In any case it will adapt to your driving style.

bagpype · #3 02-26-2013, 06:00 PM

Take it to a parts store and have the battery tested. When the batteries get low in our cars very strange things happen. Also make sure you have the right battery. If the battery is good its time to grab a voltmeter, disconnect your negative battery terminal, and put the meter between the terminal and start pulling fuses till the volts drop. The door not opening is probably due to a carrier going out. This too is very common and pretty easy to fix. Transmission problems are something I don't have much info for, hopefully someone with more knowledge in that will chime in. Good luck with it. They are great cars when taken care of.

TerminatorX5 · #4 02-26-2013, 06:14 PM

Guten Tag, Schlitz... welcome aboard...

I would have disagree with Bulk on couple points about the shifter light - it is supposed to extinguish after 16 minutes of inactivity, the car goes to sleep. since yours does go to sleep, as you have verified (you have, right?), there is something in the system that remains on... it needs to be traced, otherwise, you will kill even the best of the batteries...

Transmission adaptions happen EVERY time you start the engine, the tranny adapts to your style for that trip, then everything is lost - there are BMW docs floating on this forum confirming this info... as well, as the urban legend about the reset procedure and the memory in the EGS - none is true...

theoretically, a firmware/software update from a dealer may improve (or make worse!!!) the transmission shifts...

as far as lazy lock - i've had lazy lock on my rear left door for couple of years, until the truck got to Moscow... once in Moscow, it started to work!! but again, many mysterious things have happened to me and the truck in russia, one of my collegues had his car there, and his rear speakers were disconnected, as he was doing some upgrading on the car prior to shipment... when he got the car from the russian authorities, the speakers were working as if nothing was disconnected!!! go figure!!!

my point is, that it seems that the lock can be cleaned up and reinstalled - worse case scenario, if it still does not work, you can put the door panel together with chewing gum and order a replacement lock...

we want pics of your truck!!!

Bulk · #5 02-27-2013, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TerminatorX5

Guten Tag, Schlitz... welcome aboard...

I would have disagree with Bulk on couple points about the shifter light - it is supposed to extinguish after 16 minutes of inactivity, the car goes to sleep. since yours does go to sleep, as you have verified (you have, right?), there is something in the system that remains on... it needs to be traced, otherwise, you will kill even the best of the batteries...

Transmission adaptions happen EVERY time you start the engine, the tranny adapts to your style for that trip, then everything is lost - there are BMW docs floating on this forum confirming this info... as well, as the urban legend about the reset procedure and the memory in the EGS - none is true...

theoretically, a firmware/software update from a dealer may improve (or make worse!!!) the transmission shifts...

as far as lazy lock - i've had lazy lock on my rear left door for couple of years, until the truck got to Moscow... once in Moscow, it started to work!! but again, many mysterious things have happened to me and the truck in russia, one of my collegues had his car there, and his rear speakers were disconnected, as he was doing some upgrading on the car prior to shipment... when he got the car from the russian authorities, the speakers were working as if nothing was disconnected!!! go figure!!!

my point is, that it seems that the lock can be cleaned up and reinstalled - worse case scenario, if it still does not work, you can put the door panel together with chewing gum and order a replacement lock...

we want pics of your truck!!!

Well there ya go........

I wasn't quoting any material just personal experience. My X gets driven by me for a week generally and then I go away for work for a week and my wife drives it (we only have 1 car) and pretty much when she starts driving it she says it's hard gear shifts and always wants to hold gears and when I first drive it after she's been driving it it's the opposite - slow to get going and nice soft gear changes. It seems it takes a good hour or so of city driving for it to adapt...... - I personally like it like that. And my shift light never goes out (and I've had the X parked for an entire month and no issue with starting).

But you have the literature from BMW so maybe mine is special

Qsilver7 · #6 02-26-2013, 11:49 PM

Ditto about the gear shift light & driver influenced tranny adaptations.

Come back 16 minutes after shutting down the engine and take a look. The light should be off if you haven't operated a door handle or pressed any of the buttons on your remote key.

If you initiate a door, or window module, or buttons on the remote key...the car AWAKES, thus the little light comes back on. That light is connected to the P-bus...which stays active for 16 minutes then shuts down (car goes to SLEEP) if there are no calls on that will initiate the car to AWAKE.

Driver influenced tranny adaptations start new with every start up...the TCM (tranny control module) doesn't save these adaptations. So a granny-toe driver that just got out of your car, has no affect on its response when you get behind the wheel if you're an aggressive driver. The car will begin to adapt to your driving style immediately based on the way your foot is mashing the accelerator pedal.

$chlitz · #7 02-27-2013, 11:30 AM

yeah, the shifter light is DEFINITELY NOT going out after 16 minutes...it NEVER goes out. i'm really thinking parasitic draw, so i'm going to run a draw test this weekend before plunking down the cash on a new battery. and just to confirm, there is no special procedure to replace a battery on a 2001, correct? it does NOT need to be "registered," right?

so do y'all think my "lazy" lock is due to a bad carrier rather than a bad actuator? correct me if i'm wrong, but the carrier is the mechanism attached to the backside of the outer door handle, and the actuator is part of the latch assembly...right? it does work as it should about 40% of the time, which leads me to believe something is just stuck or needs cleaning/lubing.

Zulu95 · #8 02-27-2013, 11:46 AM

The shifter light may or may not be an issue. It has been flogged to death here so to cut it short; on some vehicles the light never goes out but they have NO draw problems. For most other vehicles the 16 minutes rule applies.
I remember corresponding with another board member some years ago who had a 2001 X5 3.0L similar to the one we own. His light never went out and he had tested extensively for a draw problem. He also never had a battery failure even after a number of days without using the X.

Qsilver7 · #9 02-28-2013, 11:22 AM

Regarding the orange light...after 16 minutes of no calls on the P-bus...you've gotta make sure that you don't open or lift a door handle or press any of the buttons on the remote fob to unlock the doors or tail gate, or insert the key into the lock cylinder to roll the windows down...if you do, the P-bus is activated & you will WAKE the car up & the little orange light will turn on (the key doesn't have to be in the ignition to activate the P-bus).

This is why some people think the light never goes off...because every time they get in the vehicle, it's on...as well as when they're leaving the vehicle. To catch the light off...you have to come back to the car after 16 minutes and peek thru the window (or roll it down if you have dark tint).

And I did say "some people" ...because nothing is 100% when it comes to BMWs...the P-bus could be not shutting down, thus the car could be staying in a permanent AWAKE state. But without verification from an owner that they understand this and that the P-bus isn't being initiated...the forum has no way to know.

$chlitz · #10 02-28-2013, 11:28 AM

i fully understand this. i have checked the car at various times after parking it...peered through a closed window without touching ANYTHING, and the light constantly remains on. like i said, i'll run a draw test this weekend and see if it's actually pulling more than it should...

i know plenty of folks have said that their light never goes out and that they've never had a problem...well, i think they are just lucky. i mean, why would the 16 minute rule only apply to SOME vehicles and not all? BMW put that system in place for a reason. i'm fairly convinced there is something going on that shouldn't be...and i'll get to the bottom of it one way or another.

thanks again for the input, everyone. this site/community seems pretty awesome so far!