Parking Brake Failure and still on long road trip

[bigx5er]

We drove our 2012 X5 3.5i from Minneapolis to Las Vegas. Made it to Vegas, but a major adventure with the parking brake and I could use any advice on the thing.

When we were in Denver, it started to rain like crazy and I-70 had a good two inches of rain on it, plus deeper puddles. The red parking indicator started to flash, then the steady yellow with the parking symbol in the center dashboard display. The status showed "Parking Brake Failure".

Once we got up into the mountains and it stopped raining, the light went off. Then is started to rain again and this time the light stayed on for over and hour.

Now when ever it starts to rain (throughout Utah), the red park light flashes and the steady yellow park light alternate on and off. When the red light flashes, the dong sound keeps going off. We drove over and hour straight with that thing going off.

I tried to manually release the parking brake and it didn't help.

Anything I can try? I'm a long way from home.

Thanks

[DBC]

I had my Hand / Park Brake fail her in the garage at home, released it with the tool in the back, was fixed with a full sofrwear upgrade, no parts had failed just a softwear glitch.

[blktoptrvl]

I would stop at Henderson BMW there in Vegas... Last time I was there they did Saturday work.

[bigx5er]

Originally Posted by blktoptrvl

I would stop at Henderson BMW there in Vegas... Last time I was there they did Saturday work.

Great idea. They are open Saturday and I just dropped it off. Since it is a brake issue I learned I'm covered for up to $1000 in travel expenses while my car is being repaired.

[bigx5er]

For future info. Received my car back today, diagnosed as a faulty parking brake switch. I do have error codes if anyone runs into this. Next step is to make sure that it is really fixed.

[ard]

So is blowing $1000 at the craps table a 'travel expense'??

[bigx5er]

Originally Posted by ard

So is blowing $1000 at the craps table a 'travel expense'??

Ha! I wish

Took the X5 out for dinner and it broke again. Even worse this time, parking break engaged itself once and lights/gongs going off like crazy

Just took it back to Desert BMW. When they fixed it, they followed the standard BMW flowchart. Not good, I need to head back on Wednesday

[bigx5er]

Continuing to respond to myself...

Original fault code was 4208. Desert BMW looked at it again today and guess what -- fault code 4208 again.

They claim that is the code for the parking brake switch, but that obviously isn't the problem. So they installed a new EMF unit today and are reprogramming the X5 overnight. Current theory is water got into the area the EMF is in. They said they checked all of the wiring/harnesses were fine.

Wish I knew more about where the unit is and how the heck water could get into it.

Just realized if this repair fails, I'll be close to qualifying for the Minnesota Lemon Law. Brake issues are considered more severe in the MN Lemon Law.

[genew]

I have a 2008 X5 4.8. I am 200 plus miles from a dealer. When I first started reading the parking brake issues with the e 70 I got really concerned. I have never used my parking brake in 60000 miles just because I am afraid of what might happen and being so far from a dealer. In fact the whole reliability issue of e70's is in the back of my mind every time I drive. Ha!

[Viperfreak2]

Why don't the put it on a lift and spray water in each likely location and see what lights come on? Sounds like you diagnosed the problem for them by telling them every time it is raining, the warnings light up!