A few questions about two X5s

[sv1cec]

God darn, I love the X5, but this car is complicated!!!

OK, here we go. We have two X5s in the family now, mine, which is a 3.0 diesel, 2005 car and our son's which is also a 3.0 diesel 2004 one.

Problem No1: On the transfer case, the actuator resistor has somehow lost its "connector" part, in other words, the part in which the cable clicks in to secure it on the resistor. I have to assume that a mechanic, somewhere, somehow, broke that connector part and just put the cable on the two protruding copper pins. That connection however was intermittent and produced some errors. Problem temporarily fixed, by securing the cable to the resistor with some electric tape, but that's hardly a permanent fix.

My question is about the procedure of replacing the resistor with a new one. I know BMW sells a "resistor set" (part No 27107557345), which from reading the net, is supposed to be a set of resistors. Now, how do you select which one to use on the car?

What a local independent shop did, was to take of the resistor from an new actuator motor they had in the parts stock and give it to me. We plan to change the damaged one with the new one, but how can I tell if the new one is OK for my car? And yes, I know that the new resistor should be coded in the car, after it is changed, but would any resistor do or should I select one from the set? If yes, what's the criterion?

Problem No2: That occured on our son's X5 but it relates to mine too. He got the 4X4 light on. I checked with INPA and there was a 55C4 error shown. We took it to an independent shop, where they diagnosed a steering angle sensor problem. They erased the error and they did reset the steering angle (turn the wheel all the way to the left, then all the way to the right) and they told us that the light may come on again (it did) and that he should first have the car aligned properly and then see if the sensor needs to be changed. So he plans to take his car in for an alignment job today.

On my X5, the steering wheel is not totally centered, when driving straight, it is a little turned to the left. The car drives fine, but the wheel is slightly turned from the dead-center position. They told my son, that this is also something that can affect the steering angle sensor. So my question is this:

Should I have my X5 aligned too, just because the steering wheel is slightly off center? Does that affect the steering angle sensor too? Mind you, I haven't seen any warning lights in my car.

Problem No3: On my X5, it is impossible to fill the tank up at full speed. Whenever I visit a gas station, I have to babysit the nozzle, using only the slower setting, sometimes even slower than slower setting, to fill it up. It's not the pump, it's not the way I insert the nozzle into the filling opening, it happens in every station. So what could that be? Is this something that requires the tank to be removed to fix it?

Problem No4: On my X5, while I had it in the local independent shop for some new suspension parts, we run a check and the electrician said that the electric fan is not working. The car is not overheating (never has), its antifreeze tank is full and everything seems to be fine. How can I test the fan? In other words, when is the electric fan supposed to kick in, in addition to the mechanical fan driven by the engine?

Well, I guess that's it. As always, any help will be deeply appreciated.

[sv1cec]

Two days, 140 views, no answers?

Come on guys, my time in Ukraine is running out (we are leaving in 10 days) and I need to do as much maintenance here as possible (cost is much cheaper than in Greece).

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[avonside]

Hi John,
with regard to the 4x4 light , I had the same issue and my steering wheel was not straight even though the car tracked straight with no issues when braking.
Had a full wheel geometry tested and reset, steering wheel sensor was reset and now perfect no issues since and its nice to have the steering wheel nice and straight again.
Was about £100 well spent.
Ive had my X from new and now 80,000 miles 8 years old and still love the car

[sv1cec]

Avonside, thanks, that's one thing I wanted to hear. I had the geometry measured and it looks that I have excessive camber at the right rear wheel, the engineer said that I have to change the upper control arms and then he'll adjust everything.

So I am in for about 250 US$ on my next visit.

[TwinTurboGTR]

Not quite sure about problem 1. Gonna have to wait on that.

As for the SAS sensor, yes, if the steering is slightly off it can cause the sensor to go out of whack. So do the alignment and then reset the system and it should be good again. If not, you will need to hook it back up to INPA or GT1 and read the error code that it is throwing.

As for the gas pump being slow... That I am not sure about either. My understanding is that when you start to fuel, pressure is being created in the system. Once the pressure gets to a certain point, the pump kicks out and stops fueling. How many miles are on your X currently. I know you mentioned it is was a diesel but as far as the tank and assembly, that should be the same. Maybe something is wrong with allowing the pressure to escape properly and is creating so much, the nozzle thinks the tank is already full.

As for the fan, you can check it using a power probe. The fan runs off of 12v, so you use the probe to supply your power. Remove the connector to your fan, attach your ground to the connector and touch the other pin of the connector with the probe, if the fan runs, then it is something with the switch or wiring. If it doesn't, then the motor is fried.

Hope that helps.

[sv1cec]

Thanks, I plan to replace the two upper arms and then do the alignment again. They'll then bring the steering wheel to deD center again.

Re fuel filling issue, the car is 2005, about 160 km (100,000 miles) on it. And this is what I am trying to figure out, why pressure doesn't vent properly. But Ido not know what to check.

Re fan, I was planning to do so, but over here, I have no tools, nothing. I guess I slould wait 'till I return home to check this. I'll make sure I do not switch on the aircon until I fix this.

[TerminatorX5]

TT, i am not sure about the fan testing method - the fan is controlled by a modulated wave, and voltage at 5% or less and 95% or more is reserved for the internal testing (12 VDC = 100%), so the fan may or may not kick in... it is supposed to kick in with the car at normal operating temperature and the AC going on full blast... it also depends on the many other temperature related factors, the ambient temp, the oil temp, the coolant temp...


Since John has INPA, he should be able to connect to IHKA and see if there is an option for the AUX fan testing... I think GT1 has that option... if tested fine, then nothing needs to be done...

When you get the alignment, check to see if the shop does it to BMW specs, like with extra weights in the trunk, driver's seat, blah blah blah... I think it is so stupid (like coming to a complete stop at a STOP sign!!!!), but BMW has many other stupid things in its sleeve (key programming is one of them... lol)

don't diesels have some kind of charcoal canister? could it be that the canister is too full, or too empty, or something? i don't know much about the diesels, and this is just a wild shot in a dark...

[Whitecat]

For problem number 3:

Same thing on mine until i found out that when i entre the nozzle only 3/4 way versus full way i can use full speed...and god know that with an X5 full speed filling is a must ;-)

[sv1cec]

Terminator, no they do not load the car with ant dead weight. I know that for sure.

I'll check INPA tomorrow. Unfortunatelly I can't use GT1 'cause I am running these programs on a Macbook and have some virtual machine issues with Parallels.

As for the fan, this didn't appear as an error in the car until some work was done at the front of the car, BMW Bulgaria had run full diagnostics on it a couple of weeks ago and it didn't show up. I'll check it again tomorrow.

As for filling up I've tried full nozzle in, half, one third, straight in, sideways, what have you. No difference. Charcoal canister?? Never heard of that before, will need to investigate.

Tnx guys!!

[Ricky Bobby]

don't forget the rear upper control arms might not be the only cause of the camber issue. the swing arm ball joint may be shot on that one side, and might need to be replaced as well.