Trunk Lid Open Dash light on and Alarm randomly going off/not locking.
 

So last summer my sister slammed my back hatch closed and broke. Instead of replacing it for $150 or so at the time we drilled out the rivets and opened up the hatch assembly and all that happened was the spring got lose from the assembly so it wouldn't hold close, we fixed it after messing with it for a while and put it back together and plugged it in and it worked! Sweet problem solved right? Well we thought so until we realized the car wouldn't lock. Hatch worked flawlessly but the car thought the trunk was still open so we close the hatch then unplugged the assembly and it locked and turned the alarm on fine no idea why it wasn't Locking properly since the hatch worked.

So we left it like that for weeks because it wasn't a huge deal then I wanted to use the trunk again so we plug the hatch back in and it locked and turned the alarm on! Figured hey maybe the computer needed to re recognize the hatch working? But soon after I was having intermittent locking and alarm issues with it and having the dash light saying "Trunk Lid Open" warning come up while driving. It's slowly gotten worse and worse where now I physically can't lock my car without the alarm going off in 5-10 minutes and if I don't hear it the battery dies. Anyone have any idea what's going on with the hatch and alarm? Thanks for reading and any help guys!

Also my car is a 2006 E53 BMW X5 4.8is and if formatting is weird sorry typing this on my phone.

Lose the Jerry Rigged, Shoe Maker, MacGuyver repair and go to a junk yard and buy back a new hatch. Craigslist is also another source to find people stripping BMW X5.

It's not really Jerry Rigged. All we did was open the mechanism and just re attached the spring that came lose. If it was the latch wouldn't the trunk be physically opening now just the car thinking it's open? The trunk is never open its totally secured shut and the hatch works just fine. I just didn't know if there was some kind of sensor in the trunk or something that could of gone bad?

I mean I guess it could be because we fixed the broken hatch but I don't see why it's not like we use duck tape and really MacGuyvered it we just opened up out everything back in place and close it.

after the first accident with that mechanism it won’t work the same. so is best if replaced.

:iagree:

Chances are that the micro-switch that is registering the hatch as "open" was damaged - and it's inside the mechanism. As others have said, its time for a new mechanism, unless you are able to remove and disassemble the old one and repair or replace the micro-switch. I've done this on a few other cars but not on an X5 so I don't know how feasible this is.

You can see the micro-switch in this image from freddan in his post from last year....

http://www.xoutpost.com/attachments/...205_180533.jpg

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...-lock-fix.html

Not sure what model year the actuator above comes from...but just an FYI...the upper lift gate on the facelift models have a slightly different electrical architecture due to the addition of the SCA (soft close) feature. The facelift actuator uses a hall sensor instead of a microswitch. :)

BTW...until you get this worked out and you need or want to secure the vehicle (lock doors) without arming DWA (the alarm)...you'll need to bypass using the remote or using the key in the driver's door lock cylinder. Doing either of those two things automatically initiates DWA.

And since you can't lock the driver's door when it's open (anti lock out feature)...you can "single lock" the vehicle by using the central locking button on the center console...or manually lock the doors by pressing down their door locking pins. Single lock mode doesn't arm the alarm.

But to do the above...you have to lock the vehicle from one of the passenger doors...again, because the driver's front door has the anti lock out feature. So, close the driver's door...then open a passenger door (rear driver's side most likely) and either press the console button or each door locking pin.

Now, you won't have to worry about the alarm going off because it hasn't been activated. :)

Thanks for the correction, Qsilver7. Another item in the long list of facelift updates! ;)

The hall effect sensor (instead of the micro-switch) may well be more reliable but it will be a little harder to diagnose, as you can't use simple tools like a multi-meter to check its operation.

Best bet might be to visually check the sensor, to check it doesn't have any swarf on it or near it (from drilling out rivets) and that metallic component it detects is correctly aligned. This will be some metal arm or a pin etc. in the plastic gear. It's possible the the gear/sensor relationship has been disturbed and while the hatch will still close and lock, the sensor cannot detect the gear being in the correct orientation.

Also visually check the wiring to the sensor for damage.