Rain sensor is not active.
 

Hi guys,

I haven't had rain sensor feature for about 2 months now and getting really annoyed to manually adjust the speed.
Once the X was parked as usual and the wipers stalk in the position 1 as default for me,'cause anyway I would need to activate the sensing by spinning the dial on the stalk,so I put the key in the ignition,not starting the car yet and to my surprise I get the dry windshield wiped once,twice..I turn it off,and since that day I just have an intermittent wipers,no rain sensing.
That really sucks.
If I remove the #45 fuse wipers don't work at all,so power passes through the sensor,but for some reason it doesn't adjust the speed at all.

Any ideas?

I have the exact same problem. I haven't looked into it yet.....If anyone has a fix, it would be appreciated on this end too.

have either of you replaced your windshield recently? isnt the sensor in the windshield.. Maybe a loose wire there or somethign?

only my guess

Not to sure, but I think it may be mounted it the mount for the rear view mirror.

I think youre right. Maybe someone knows how to disassemble it?

It's located on the rear view mirror.
Mine quit working just recently,I had my X for almost 2 years now.
Wires are ok.

The sensor is mounted on the windshield. A two-piece shell covers the sensor and the arm of the rear view mirror. You can snap off the covers easily to check. hold both sides, and pull them apart by bending them and they come right off.

not sure if this is the case, but if your wiper stalk is in position 1 when you turn on the vehicle, you need to put it into position 0 and put it back in position to activate it.

there wasn't a need to return to the position 0 , was pretty enough with the dial,one click either up or down would activate the rain sensing feature.

Mine is dead as well, original winshield and cleaning the glass (on the outside) doesn't help either. Not sure but my BT code reader says no fault (GT1 may show it not sure). I saw a thread saying replacing the electronics board fix it, it's not super inconvinience but would be nice to get back working again.

It is a nice feature. I recently picked up a E38 740i and that feature didn't work. In fact, for some reason it also was not defaulting to allow the dial to control intermittent speed. I ended up unplugging the sensor and then the dial worked so at least I had manual control of the wipers. But then whenever I drive the X5 I really enjoy that feature. It is a really nice thing to have when it works.

No ideas how to fix it however...

:iagree: This is what I have to do with mine.

May just need to replace the sensor as long as the optical part of the sensor that is bonded to the windshield isn't coming unstuck/getting bubbles.

With the covers removed (described a few posts up) look at the sensor. You will see a small black rectangular spot at each top corner, press them down about 1/4" with something and the sensor pulls straight back, comes right off in your hand. Really easy to replace. Maybe even just unplug it and plug it back in just to test it first.

Well,just had a look on the sensors bond spot and surely enough there is a huge air bubble.
Was it there for there 2 years since the WS replacement,I don't know..but I am sure I have to get rid of it soon,snow season is about to hit us by the end of the week. :(

Yep, checked mine and it has buble (the sensor is peeling of the WS).

So I might try just unplugging the circuit, but what in the heck is "auto light" function, cause some folks say that unplugging the circuit will disable that "auto light" feature as well but you gain the speed sensing wiper back.

The auto light feature they are talking about is when you turn the headlight switch to the left and the headlights turn on/off automatically.

Got it, never use that; I even had the DRL disabled since took delivery of the car. Thanks.

Mine stopped working too....My intermittent speed doesn't work either. I recently had my windshield replaced so I made sure the sensor that is located inside the casing of the rear view mirror was in good shape. So its not the connection. I believe its the sensor itself. I haven't tried to unplug it to see if I can control the speed of the wipers yet but I will.

hi all ive a 2004 x5 diesel se iv got the auto light function which anytime of the day the auto light switch is active the lights always seem on , so i think thats possibly gone faulty. but also have all the x5 got auto wipers too ? as when it rains iv got to turn wipers on manually, or is that another fault on the car too. so if im suppose to have auto wipers then any ideas how to fix this fault..

will have to check mine too, the shop checked...i had my windshield replaced in Jan.....since then the rain sensor wasn't working....got them to recheck everything today...just waiting on some rain now!! lol

So it actually rained today after i pick up the car...and....no rain sensor...the glass place took it apart and cleaned it...and nothing....i have no idea now...any other suggestions?