X5 Wont Start!! Clicks, wont jump

[rdeyoung]

Hey guys,

My X5 is not starting up - Everything was ok earlier today but when I left to go home from work it would not start. Not even crank. The lights and everything would turn on and then you could hear clicking and the lights would flicker. It was a rapid clicking noise. I thought maybe the battery was dead because I could see everything getting weaker as far as the lights and clicking. So I had someone try to jump me and while the lights came back to full strength it would still click and not even attempt to turn over.



The battery however - if it were fine before - is now dead because I can barely get the doors to unlock with the remote and all the interior lights are very dim.

Is this just a case of a very much dead battery or is it something worse?? I can tell you - I hope it is just a battery problem because my car is 3 floors in the earth and a tow truck cannot get to it. Had to take a taxi to get home.

Thanks in advance!

[JCL]

Battery. May also be something else that killed the battery, but look to the battery first. How old is it?

[rdeyoung]

I think the battery is original but im not sure. It is a 2006 - I bought it used almost 3 years ago. Everything seemed good and strong earlier today and I didnt leave any lights on in the car for it to drain like that. So it all seems pretty puzzling to me.

Im hoping its just the battery because if its anything more extensive I could be in for a huge problem.

[JCL]

A battery is good for six years or so. If it is original then just replace it as a first step. Then check to see if it is charging correctly, because a charging problem could have killed it.

[TerminatorX5]

battery.

3 floors in the earth??? what is that??

[motordavid]

Underground, below grade parking situ...I bet it's the batt, too. 7 yrs+ is borrowed time.
Buy one, spend a half hour installing it, turn key and reset warning lights if necessary.
GL, mD

[Qsilver7]

+1 on probably the battery. And if the battery is DEEPLY discharged, it could take from 5-min or more with the jumper cables connected to another "running" vehicle before you can get your depleted battery charged up enough to start .

I also hope you know how to manually unlock your X in case the next time you get back to it...the doors don't open electronically because of severe discharge of the battery.

Also, if you've unlocked your OBD, you can do TEST 9 (if there's any juice left) to see what the battery's voltage is (with ignition in position 1). if it is below 11.89 volts...it is at 0% state of charge.

[rdeyoung]

Wow thanks a lot guys! The only door I was able to get open was the driver side and its going to be really hard to put a battery in by crawling around in the backseat since I cant open the trunk - but I haven't tried the 2nd turn thing that Qsilver suggested

[TerminatorX5]

once you gain access to the car, put a set of jumpers on to the charging posts, and open the doors electrically. then remove the jumpers and proceed to replace the battery. be careful when placing the jumpers on and off - you do not want to create a "multiple touches" of the "hot" cables and thus sending surges of electricity through the half dead system. it will kill your radio, and will hurt many other modules...

the process is, connect the ground on the receiver car first, then the ground on the donor car, then (+) on the receiver car and then "hot" onthe donor car - the last step in one single swoop...

if you were charging the car, then keep the RPMs at 2000-3000 for a couple of minutes and then try to start the engine, but since you are replacing the battery, you don't need that - just enough to open the trunk to gain access to the battery...

[bcredliner]

If the vehicle jumping your X was not running and it was not connected for 5 minutes or so before you attempted to start it up, it is likely there was not enough charge put into your battery get your X to start.