MY X5 3.0D 2005 DIED THIS MORNING
 

Just like to say this forum is amazing, and so interesting and thanks to all the experts out there who have taken the time to contribut and share the knowledge. You know who you are and may God bless you all!!!!!:thumbup:


I had (and still do) a golf 1998 1.6 in Poland as a temporary car for over 2 years. Never had a single problem and always started even if left at the airport car park for 2 weeks during -26c weather.

This morning my nearly month old 2005 x5 3.0 which has already had a broken door handle carrier decided its not gonna start.

The car opened up with the key fob no problem. Sat in the car....turned the key 1, 2, dash lights came on for half a sec, 3 and then it died.

I am not sure wether i should pause for the 2 lights to go away before i continue to crank on 3, but it was as if somehow it didnt like the way i turned the key so quickly and it lost all power.

No sign off power at all as if someone took out the battery.

So went back inside to get the Golf keys....started as smooth as butter.

Would really appreciate if anyone can advise why my x5 died on me this morning.:dunno:

maybe a new battery? or jump start it

Let us know what you find, I have a 2005 also.

sounds like the battery was drained by something. I'd charge it overnight then have the battery tested. If it is good you may have a sporadic battery drain issue... which this great forum can help you track down maybe. ;)

thanks folks....can anyone tell me where the battery is .....

Boot under the spare wheel. :thumbup:

OK...update....

called the recovery guys which came in 45 minutes. they guy was supposed to see if he can get it going. He came and couldnt find the battery.

He tried to charge it using the + terminal and the body in the bonnet. It cause d some lights to come on but not enough power to start it.

I thought if its the alternator then he might aswell take it to the local squealer while he was here....So it was pulled onto the ramp and taken to the local bmw squealer ready for them to diagnose the problem in the morning.

Anyway the guy rolled it off the truck...before getting out he turned the key....and lo and behold it started it.

Any ideas anyone....? Why did it suddenly start again....?

Could it be a loose connection which ? Could it be the movement of the wheels which done something to the alternator?

My problem is that I don't know when this will happen again....

thanks redvault....i am going to check if there was any loose connection.

It died on me again.....had it jumpstarted but it started straight away....tried to drain the battery with everything on including the beam headlights....Battery is fine nothing wrong with it.....went to the boot and checked the battery and....YES it was a loose connection. The black negative terminal connection to the battery was loose from the last trip to the stealer when they did my door handle carrier....i tightened it and i will be over to the stealership tommorrow morning.

It seems the loose connection was causing the whole electrical system to trip much like a it would trip the fuse box at home...then it needed a just a spark to get it going again.

If anyone can confirm or deny my theory this with a slightly more technical explanation...it will probably be of help to a lot of people.

Peace to all

Update: no issues since the wire was tightened so it must have been the loose connection.

A loose connection on the battery can create a high resistance join. When there is little or no current being pulled from the battery the resistance in the bad connection will not drop much voltage and so most things like dash lights etc may work ok. However, when you try to crank the starter motor the current drawn from the battery will be much higher. Any resistance in a bad connection will then drop significant voltage and could prevent the starter from receiving enough power to turn; voltage to everything else will also drop, and lights etc may dim or go out. When you stop cranking the lights may recover, but that depends upon the codition of the dodgy connection; sometimes the heat caused by the voltage drop over the bad connection will alter the connection and you could then have no connection at all. Jolt the car and maybe the connection shifts a little and then the car may start....

The starter motor is the highest user of electrical power, by far, in your motor vehicle, and if there is any weakness in your electrical system it will show up first under cranking. Even your main beam head lights only draw a fraction of the power required to run your starter motor; so the fact that your lights work does not necessarily mean all is well with the battery system.

Thats good to know that all is ok.Summary of your bad experience would be that when the Dealer fixed your door handle ,they must have disconnected the battery terminal but then forgot to tighten it!This sort of thing happens a lot,unfortunately....

This site might be useful

BMW North America

Unbelievable isnt it. The amazing thing is when i confronted them they absolutely denied having touched the battery even though i have read that one would need to disarm the airbag by disconnecting the battery in order to replace the door handle carrier.

Absolutely spot on Cole. Thanks for demystifying. I was under the impression that a loose or weak connection would result in either 100% power or no power.

:thumbup: Its always a good feeling FINALLY resolving an electrical problem... btw, your dealer sucks. I hope u didn't have to pay them for diagnoising a problem they caused.