Help!! Major Power Outage!!
 

I've got no power distribution throughout my X5. I checked the battery with a multi-meter and have 12 volts direct. When I checked the voltage from the front where you connect the jumper cables, it read 2.6 volts. All my fuses are intact and not blown. The last thing I did electrically to the vehicle was unlock it; got the alarm to chirp once but when it chirped the second time it sounded like Tweety got choked. :dunno: Mind Blown :dunno:

Appreciate anyone who may have any suggestions on how to troubleshoot this.

See post #12 in this thread, try what they did in the picture - http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...t-issue-2.html

Also might be the BST battery cable assuming the E53 has one, assume it does?

You should be able to find the problem pretty easily.

Thanks guys for the responses, I will post later on today on the results I received by your recommendations.

Found the problem, thanks again guys for responding to my issue. It was the BST cable that tripped. After inspecting the positive cable connecting to the battery, I noticed a yellow tab loose, hidden under a tiny red cover on the BST. I fiddled with it and heard a snap and all of a sudden all my interior lights came on. Have no idea how it tripped and I'm not going to do any further investigation on it; everything works now. Again, thanks for the help.

BST is a one time part, like an airbag, once "triggered/deployed" it needs to be replaced. But the BST is only officially "triggered/deployed" during an accident when the front airbags and/or seat belt tensioners are deployed.

I have seen BST cables have problems when they were not"triggered/deployed". They have a tapered/press fit connection that can come loose over time.

You should take a picture of what you found and post it back here, the problem may not be the BST, it may be a bad connection at some other point bear the battery.