Alarm issue? Dead X5 - help
 

So I am installing my new Xtrons radio into my 2004 3.0 E53 and the alarm starts going nuts. I cannot lock / unlock doors from the key fob. The LED on the rearview mirror is flashing. I cannot open the trunk from the keyfob to access the battery. The drivers door is unlocked. I have pressed buttons in all order on the fob to no avail. If I put the key in the ignition, few lights come on and this thing is staring at me really funny.

Any suggestions? I am a little panicked at how this thing is acting. :(

Well it would help if we knew what you did right before this happened. Telling us you are installing the radio is kind of vague for us to know what you might of done.

On a normal car that might be enough info. On an x5 that's not even in the ballpark of enough info to know what all you may of done up till now.

Numerous things will make the key fob not work. Clown nose blink means alarm is set but if door is open / unlocked it's not armed. Shut the door lock with the key unlock with the key report back. The clown nose should stop blinking.

Oh: in case of emergency roll down a window first and maybe lock twice when you lock to disable the motion sensor.


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First of all, I this is my first BMW and I have had the X5 for about 3 weeks.
Generally speaking I know what I am doing. On a BMW however, I am learning fast by mistakes like this.

Right before this happened I was following Crows' Seicam radio install and was struggling on the blue wire (amp signal on) issue. Power to the radio, all wires connected except the amp on and steering wheel control. The Xtrons is nearly identical or is identical. I was testing a wire on the harness which is a solid green and undocumented; I think different on the Xtrons than Seicam. I tested it for DC voltage with a multimeter and positive to the wire and negative to the metal 'pipe' behind the radio. I didn't notice anything happen right away but within a minute I noticed lights a little dim and the alarm issue. It is possible I shorted another wire in this but I am not sure if/how/etc.

This happened around 10 last night. I called it a night and this morning at 6 the battery appears close to dead but not 100%. No dome lights like last night and no clown nose flashing. If I put the keys in and try to start the airbag light will come on, that's it.

I have not dug for the battery before but the trunk is locked so I guess I would have to dig from the back seat into?

Should I disconnect the battery for some time and let it sit?

Connect a battery charger to the post under the hood to charge it.

The pictures on this page will show you were they are.

Magcode Connector | Crowz Nest


After getting the battery charged back up things may return to normal. It sounds like you ran the battery down during the install.

Until you get it charged back up you wont know where you stand on the install or the problems.

Thanks Crowz. I see the positive post on the drivers side and the negative post a little ways done. Will get a charge on there and report back in a while.

Im about to snooze but I will check back in here when I get up in a few hours.

Thanks. Could not find my charger (have not used it in 10+ years) so picked up a new Viking ($50 one from Harbor Freight). Had good reviews. Came up with a battery failure within 30 mins. Ran the repair cycle and it came back with a failure. It's detected 50% capacity and 4.4V (scratching head). I am going to come through the backseat to try and pull the battery and bring it up to the store to have it tested.

I'm really scratching my head on this one that I could have done anything to destroy a battery like that :-). As of right now I'm thinking the battery is old/on the edge of failure and the radio install pushed it over the edge.

Are you not able to connect a set of jumper cables under the hood to power up the car enough to open the rear hatch?

The pair I had would not reach so I borrowed cables from a neighbor. Got the trunk open :-).

Tried to get the motor to to turn over while the cables were on (with the donor car running) and it clicks, won't turn over. The clown nose is blinking crazy and the FOB will not unlock/lock the doors so my gut says there is still something slightly haywire with the alarm.

In the mean time I am going to focus on pulling the potentially bad battery out.

Someone called and woke me up so I checked in :)

The newer battery chargers are annoying because they show a battery bad when it isn't most of the time. You need a "dumb" charger to charge it back when it gets low. Most modern "digital" chargers wont charge a fully dead battery.

The battery problem isn't "bad" but each time you drain one down that far you lower the max amount it will charge back up again. So its weaker now than it was one way or the other.

But you probably can get it back going if you can get a "dumb" battery charger. Look for one with the old needle type gauge on it and avoid the fancy expensive ones for what your dealing with right now.

Well back to snoozing :)

:iagree:

On the hundreds of reviews for this charger on HF it seems to have done well for others to bring back totally dead batts. I am pretty good about checking out purchases before grabbing from the shelf and running.

I may run up to HF to see if they have a dumb charger in a bit and try to give this a slow charge for an hour and see if it makes a dent.

Thing is, after uncovering the battery it is an Interstate with a 6 year warranty. Looks like a decent battery but I have no idea if it's 2 years old or 10 years old as whomever installed it did not mark it in any way :-(. I am always good about writing that with a sharpie. So it "could" be time for a new one.

Disconnected all battery cables from the battery and for about 40 mins it appears to be accepting a charge now on the 15amp charge setting. It would not accept a charge with the charger hooked up under the hood. Perhaps something (alarm?) was trying to discharge. Will let this run a bit and see...

Resolution...
 

Fixed. I think I have figured out my self inflicted wounds with the help of those replying here :-).

The person installing the JVC radio for the previous owner put a Canbus adapter in the trunk. I didn't see/realize this and I think having the new radio hooked up with it's own Canbus (@ the dash cavity) probably freaked out the system and I didn't realize it immediately and that caused the alarm to freak out and finish draining an already low battery.

My fault - I should have more carefully dug around in the trunk to size everything up. I removed the JVC's Canbus from the trunk and I now have audio @ the Xtrons!

Second, the alarm was still confused and I think draining the battery as the charger was trying to charge. Charging the battery directly from the posts with it disconnected from the vehicle brought it up to 100% charge in about 3-4 hours (15amp setting).

Thanks to the hatchetman who installed the aftermarket radio I have some other minor audio issues I will take over to the Seicam thread.

Another issue - my primary FOB has a dead battery from this event. I am getting in and out from my backup FOB. So I will chase that down to find the battery procedure. It also appears the driver's lock is disconnected (mechanically) inside the door and I had a major panic for a moment there. I will have to chase that down soon so I don't get locked out like I almost did.

Thanks all for the advice :-)! -T

I bought this to charge my gear s3 frontier watch. It turns out it is a kick butt bmw keyfob charger. I have charged up several peoples key fobs with it. Takes about 30 minutes for a full charge it seems. Its $10.

https://amzn.to/2G1lyds

Battery charges when in the ignition. You can have the car on a charger I don't remember if the car has to be in on position.

Double locked door should resolve with a couple lock/unlock cycles from outside with the key. If not use the emergency exit method: lock with the (working) fob when inside the car, press twice to disable the motion alarm then hold the central lock button down and pull the door handle to disable the double lock. You should feel resistance. You can pull a second time to release the door.

(just be aware the alarm will sound and get ready to put the key in to disable)

Here is the charger I was talking about. I borrowed the wifes key to demonstrate :)

Alarm issue? Dead X5 - help
 

It's great community service. Not all wireless chargers will work. Some cordless tooth brushes and razors will work but no guessing this is great


Too bad I didn't see this a year ago could have saved me $200: I used my spare key on a long trip as my primary key to charge it and managed to leave my primary key behind somewhere. Aaaarrrghh

Slick charger. I drove around with the "bad" FOB in there for ~15 mins and it's not charging up. Dead or need more time? Should I spring for the charger and try to bring it back to life that way?

When the key is in the ignition the body module and ECU/PCM is aware that the key is in the ignition. Open the door with the key still in the ignition and the buzzer will sound to remind you that you left the key in the ignition. Also leaving the key in the ignition mean the car will never go into sleep mode so the current drain is a lot more compare when the car is in sleep mode.

I would. Its only $10 and you can top off a key anytime you want to. If I had of known about the thing before buying it to charge my watch I would of bought one to keep the keys topped off as several of my bmw's sit a bunch.

The cars steering column charging is VERY weak in comparison. This charges much faster. But on the plus side it hasn't fried any keys charging with it so far. I had read some people had killed their keys with the toothbrush chargers which I think are much stronger than this charger.

Again so far after 20 plus key chargings for people its worked flawless for them.

Not sure if I agree with that. My X always has the key in the ignition in the garage, I never take it out unless I am out and around town outside of the garage. No drain what so ever in the garage and always goes into sleep mode.

Good feedback. I would suspect that until sleep the key would be powered so you could get 16 of charge each time you opened and closed the door. Sleep would prevent the car's battery from draining


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- My E39 1998 528i just did this (alarm going off for no reasons etc.). Cra didn't start.

- Turned out a new battery (Exide L5 $115) solved the problem!

Crowz, ordered the key charger Sunday via that link; it'll be here Tues and I can see if it brings that FOB back. Thanks for the tip on this.

Your welcome.

That's the same charger that I use for my Samsung Gear S3 watch. Well, it looks the same. Whether it is the same or not is a good question.

If your e53 alarm is still going crazy check fuses 1-5 in glove compartment. Had an X5 do this a few weeks ago. Thinks it’s fuse 4 that supplies one of the 12v sources to alarm module/DWA system. Had a completely dead battery and drivers door lock cyl was grenaded. Replaced 10A? fuse, Took lock cyl out, centered the lock switch, threw a good battery in, initialized key, and good to go.

Note: another symptom of that blown fuse is no power to OBD2 port for scan tool equipment.