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  #1  
Old 05-01-2007, 01:20 AM
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Exclamation X5 4.8i - A case of too much technology?

Let me say this first, I LOVE MY 2007 X5 4.8i - Black Sapphire with Black Nev Perf Leather, Burl Walnut and Tinted windows and aero pkg and all available trim. It is a beautiful beast and I just cant seem to wipe the sh**ty grin from my face every time I drive it. But....


If the X5 experiences a TOTAL POWER FAILURE, all the technology in the X5 complicates things BIG TIME!
  1. Towing the car becomes a nightmare because you will need a plastic tool stowed in the rear trunk bin to disengage the transmission and electric parking brake. However, your access to this tool is the electric powered hatch which becomes inoperable without power! There doesn't appear to be a manual override for the rear hatch locks.
  2. How do you tow this vehicle without disengaging the transmission or the electric park brakes? By the way tried this several times and the transmission kept slipping back into "P" from "N" every time I removed the plastic tool. Maybe because it was my first time. To disengage the electric park brake, required removal of a panel in the trunk and pulling on a lil screw with the plastic tool. Wasnt sure I did it right. :eek:
  3. Well in my case, the tow truck drivers left after an hour IN MY DRIVEWAY after we both failed to get it ready to be towed. The dealer service foreman finally came and eventually picked it up .
  4. Lo and behold, the glove compartment becomes locked. The little dash button becomes useless and the clam shell doors are sealed SHUT! So reaching the manual in such an emergency for troubleshooting is out of the question.
  5. With total power failure, forget about BMW Assist SOS button. Better have a cell phone, the toll free number and your vehicle identification number handy or you are SOL. By the way, how does the vehicle recovery service work if the vehicle is moved (towed) and the battery disabled? Hmmm I wonder!
  6. I cant help being thankful that this all happened in the comfort and safety of my driveway. If this had happened on a cold winter nite, in unsafe environment, or If my wife was driving alone and had to deal with this scenario, Darn, I dont even want to think about it, makes me very worried.
I know one thing, when it comes back from the dealer I will make preparations for the next time the power dies. I will retrieve that pastic tool from the rear bin and store either in the drivers door bin or center armrest bin. And boy, like a fire drill, I will practice and teach my spouse how to use it in case of emergency.

If your or your spouse drives this vehicle or any other technologically advanced vehicle with the electric gizmos, be proactive and plan for such a scenario when the vehicle is totally disabled and nothing works.

This was an eye opener.

But, I still love my X5 and miss it even though its been in service less than a day!
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  #2  
Old 05-01-2007, 03:04 AM
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Hmm... interesting. Thanks for sharing. What caused the power failure?
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  #3  
Old 05-01-2007, 10:52 AM
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Regarding manual opening of the rear hatch, the owner's manual pp 33 explains how to do it.
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  #4  
Old 05-01-2007, 12:05 PM
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Did the dealer say anything on why the power failure happened? There is way you can reach the battery in E53 when its has battery failure and I am sure you should be able to do that for E70.
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  #5  
Old 05-01-2007, 01:02 PM
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The X5 is still at the dealer being checked out. I have no idea what caused the power failure. I had the car washed at the dealer on Saturday, drove it home (about a 5 minutes drive) and parked it in my driveway. I did not touch it or move it the rest of the day until I went to retrieve something about 12 hours later and found it in that state.

The dealer made me aware of an issue with something called a "PEDAL MODULE" that controls all power and accessories and just about everything else. If this module fails, it causes a power failure such as the one I experienced. I understand that there is a replacement part for it and my X5 was tested and everything looks ok in that area. Apparently, they have replaced this module on a few X5's already.

Initial review of the error codes by service however indicate that the ignition was suppossedly left on for over 95 minutes and effectively drained the battery. But I am at a loss how this could be, because I powered everything down and locked the vehicle. It has comfort access. I made sure the ignition was off before exiting the car! I was not playing the CD as I was listening to Satelite Radio on my way home.

The dealer wanted to trickle charge the battery over night to full power and let it sit over nite and then see what happens. When I get it back hopefully by the end of the day or early tomorrow I will find out more about the cause.

Because this Pedal Module can cause this kind of failure, it makes sense to have a game plan.

But frankly I

Thanks for the info on the rear hatch, I will have to read it in the manual just to be aware of it. I may just have to relocate the manual out of the glove box to where I can reach it in an emergency for just such nuggets of information!
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  #6  
Old 05-01-2007, 01:39 PM
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Print a copy of manual from PDF on this site and keep one at home. You can also find the manual at any time in PDF in owners circle on BMWusa.com
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  #7  
Old 05-01-2007, 01:43 PM
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What's scarier still is that it's probably being "fixed" by technicians that don't understand the technology or how to repair it.

I had a vaguely similar problem with an older BMW (528) last week- the hood wouldn't open. My dealer told me they would have to break the grill to "fix it" and charge me $523. This is a broken hood cable mind you.

The correct procedure, as pointed out by a local (and not inexpensive) body shop, is remove the front bumper, use screwdriver to twist hood latches and release hood, replace cables and replace the bumper. Done for less than $200 including three new cables and a detailed wash.
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  #8  
Old 05-01-2007, 01:53 PM
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One more note. There is a way to open the glovebox in the case of power failure. According to BMW Glovebox Technical Manual:

An emergency unlocking mechanism is provided so that the glovebox can be opened when the vehicle is de-energized or in the event of faulty unlocking mechanisms.
The emergency unlocking mechanism can be accessed from the front passenger's side. Only the instrument-panel cover needs to be opened here. Behind this cover is a loop, which, when pulled, unlocks and opens the glovebox.

To me this is nuts. You have to dismantle the front panel in order to unlock the glovebox??? Maybe I am interpreting this wrong since I (still) don't have a car to check it myself.
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Old 05-01-2007, 06:55 PM
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It is both good and bad that these vehicles have so much technology. It is sad that one really has to deal with this stuff to. It isn't just BMW....
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Old 05-01-2007, 07:00 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris F.
It is both good and bad that these vehicles have so much technology. It is sad that one really has to deal with this stuff to. It isn't just BMW....
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