Multiple Failure Messages & Failures
 

Hello,
I had gone to a long drive to Moneterey Bay yesterday when my X5 started acting weird. I have a 2006 BMW X5 with some 28K miles.

Here is the sequence of all warnings and failures that I got:

- Airbag not working warning
- Seatbelt not on warning (though we had seatbelts on), and a persistent warning on "Use seatbelts"
- CD player/radio stops working
- Cruise Control stops working
- All controls on the steering wheel stop working
- Trans Failsafe Prog warning
- Brake Fluid low warning
- Check brake lights warning (and my friend told me that my brake funtion was reversed as they were on all the time only turning off when I used brakes)
- It started raining and Wipers did not work

My car is still working and is driving well, so somehow I managed to drive back to Sunnyvale. I plan on taking it my X5 to the dealer soon but I thought I will ask you all to see if you have know what the problem is. Please let me know if you have had similar problems.

Thanks

Someone please let me know if you have seen something like these warnings before. Thank you for your inputs.

Regards

thats a lot to happen, maybe its a ECU problem. about $900 but you are covered under warranty.

my airbag warning went off one time and it ended up being a seatbelt sensor.

Thanks NINCHS
I am going to drop it off at the dealer and will keep you updated on what the dealer tells me.

With that many errors across that many different devices, I'd agree with an ECU issue - or maybe something wrong with the wiring harness ?

That many errors across that many devices lets you know that the devices aren't failling, but something major is... I should also note that this isn't a problem one sees everyday on an X5.

has your X had other sporadic issues?

What was the solution?

That happen to me once when a UFO flew over head :rofl: . J/k How long have you had the car ? its weird for everything to just fail at once. sounds like a bad ECU, hope the dealership take care of it.

Dealer Fixed my X5
 

Hello,
I took my X5 to the dealer and they said that it was a bad ignition switch that was causing this problem. So they replaced the ignition switch.

I do not believe that this is the problem as I keep getting sporadic errors every now and then. They just do not last long enough for me to take it to the dealer.

Thanks

I'm having the same problem "TRANS FAIL PROG". I've been reading the forums and I really did not come up with a exact soultion why this is happening. Any suggestions??

I know this is an old thread but had this happen over the last few days. Picked up a Uhaul trailer and a few minutes later the fun began. Since I've been driving a couple of days without the trailer it seems to be happening less and less. I saw somewhere it could be a battery voltage issue? The worst part of it is no power steering or radio and brake lights stuck on. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Scott
'05 4.8iS

That guys fix with the ignition switch seemed strange, but you know what, there are weird fixes for this car. How many miles on it? Also have you tested the battery? You can use a multimeter and check the batt. It should be atleast 12v. Then start the X and put a load on her. (Headlights and blower motor on) Make sure the power output is above 14V. If those are good, then we can move on.

Just under 75k miles. I'm kind of doubtful of the battery thing as I put a new Interstate in about 2 years ago(plus I really hate getting to it). She's doing great today after multiple shutdowns. I figure maybe the trailer drew enough off of her to throw messages. Maybe a sign of something on the horizon? Thanks for the response.

Scott

Well another thing you can do is check the voltage through the cluster by going through the test mode. From there you can monitor the voltage for 30 mins.

Or check the voltage at the jump start terminals under the hood.

The couple amps the trailer lighting drew should not have caused any issues, I mean your head lights use 3-4x the power.

So, good luck, see you when it acts up again in a couple days.

It already did it again last night. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home and when I got back in "DING". I pulled over, shut down, locked with the remote, unlocked and started it up again and the fault went away. Today on my way to work started fine but about 5 minutes in it came up. Pulled over and it took two tries to get it to all go away but the amber "brake" annunciator. I'll try the voltage checks when I get a chance. Thanks again guys.

Scott

Well the more I research the more it looks like the ignition switch may be the culprit. I'll keep you posted.

Scott

Ok, see the link in my sig. Unlock your OBC and do the voltage test while driving. Your research is pointing you in the wrong direction. Checking voltage, is not just for battery, it could be your alternator, or even the voltage regulator. Without doing this, you are not diagnosing anything at all.

Finally had a chance to do the voltage check through the onboard computer tonight. Drove around getting up to ~60 mph. Stayed around 13.6-13.8 for the most part, would drop to 13.4 when loaded w/ seat heaters and A/C full on. Lowest drop I saw seemed to be during a downshift (maybe 3rd to 2nd) briefly at 12.3. Doesn't that sound pretty normal?

Scott

just bought a x5 last week
looked at paperwork it came with,
prior service at bmw. all light came on engine tranny ect just like you
they dignosed the alternator and replaced. looks like they billed just under $2000 for that

No, dipping to 12.3 is not normal. Keep monitoring it. How is it acting anyway?

She acts just fine. It is still happening once every few starts, but usually goes away if I restart. Guess I'll have to get her in to the doctor.

Scott

Just an update. Called indy a few weeks ago and he agreed with ignition switch being likely. Decided to tackle it myself and now working normally. Used Bentley manual pretty straight forward.

Scott