let me see if I can find my meter,
ill go out and send a no engine on reading , then an idle then a rev n rest reading

right
ignition off I get 12.3v
with ignition on , (pos 2) . I'm getting 12.1 V
engine started NO acceleration 13.8 to 13.9
rev up ( cant tell what to , as instrument cluster is dead went to 14.1
at idle after than reading was 14.0
all reading fluctuated very slightly , but you get the drift :)

For a new battery, your readings for no start and position no.2 is kind of low. You could have a parasitic drain that is discharging your battery.

unless its the alternator that's not charging it , I would say I've done....
I've gone to work in it for 2 days totalling 12 miles in total , there and back , then drove it 15 miles to garage
I know the battery tester fella said my alternator was "lazy" so who knows
I've no idea what state of charge the battery was when it was bought , presume full?.
according to techy fella seeing as it works when I leave it , ( coincidence) we have to scan the car when its working to see what's happening to it then , I'm going to fire it up tonight at 9pm UK time to see what's going on IF it works then

right, went out tonight before work , and read the codes, car working ok , its weird , I have uploaded the pdf of the error list , can only save it as this, if any one can make sense of it , it would be nice :)

quick question , the cd version of the sat nav , in the left side of the boot ,
does it always try to scan for a cd. ?.
reason why I ask is
I opened boot, didn't put ignition OFF , and its trying to read the cd
ignition on , again trying to read cd
locked car and looked into a closed boot (no parcel shelf) and its still on trying to read a cd?
or does it turn off with the ignition , as the red led is as far as I see permenantly on??

Steve

That's is a known parasitic draw. CD player should not be running with the ignition switch off. Because the CD player is running the X is not able to go into sleep mode. Put an amp meter in series with the battery and see what type of current draw you have.

abs pump module

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGry1HoB7Bg

same stuff

at least its not totally dead :)

This is a well known component failure of the X5

not that well know , I didn't know about it :)