My battery looks fairly new. Actually it was put in before I bought
the truck 2 months ago. Not sure about the alternator?
I'll disconnect the battery again tonight and I'll monitor everything
that happens after I reconnect it.
I'll keep you guys posted......

:tgif:

You need to check the volts on you battery with the car turned off then with the car running. Give us the results.

ok, I`ll do that. I haven`t had the selflevel message for awhile now (1 week). Yesterday it rained a lot and guess what? Selflevel inact. is baaack!
Gonna check battery area for water and condensation?

Self level inactive occasionally will most likely be the relay in the metal dome under the spare. #9 in this link, can be bought at dealer.

RealOEM.com * BMW E53 X5 4.4i LEVELL.DEVICE, AIR SPRING AND CTRL UNIT

The radio antenna is built into the drivers rear quarter glass, metal based window tint does lessen reception in some cases. Not all tints affect it but some do.

I wouldn't associate the airbag light to that door before having the codes read, most likely passengers seat occupancy sensor related or a belt pretensioner circuit resistance problem etc.

If the PDC is always beeping when activated it is likely a sensor crapping out, the BMW diagnostic software (GT1 or ISTA-D) can help you find which one.

And there are many numerous fixes for the rear hatch rattle, usually just a minor adjustment and some vaseline as lube on the bump stops quiet it up.

Most of these issues are discussed on the forum with fixes, just a matter of searching them out.








btw, the ML looks like a "short bus minivan" to me! " :nanana::rofl::bustingup

Thanks "Weasel", this self leveling issue is a real headache.:banghead:
Last week I disconnected the battery and the self level went away. It didn't give me any problems for one week, till today when it lit up again.
I also noticed that my radio reception was better after connecting my
battery. Everything reset nicely. My truck even felt and drove better.
All this lasted for about a week.??

My Mechanic at BMW told me that the rear airbags were suppose
to be disconnected for safety purposes. When we took off the rear
doorskins, we noticed that they were connected, so we disconnected
them and he cleared the airbag symbol (Mechanic). Two days later
the symbol came back up.

I'm gonna hook them back up and have him clear the codes again and
see what happens.

I adjusted the rear hatch and no more rattle.

:iagree: :thumbup:

13.4 volts with truck turned off.

sounds like you have a bad earth problem.I was having the same problems and discovered that every time i drove over a bump my spare tyre was hitting the many earth cables running around inside the tyre well.Remove the spare tyre and tighten all the earth cables.no need to remove the cover over the battery.Some of the issues i was having were.Radio switching on and off,No PDC.No sound when hazzard lights switched on.brake lights staying on.self level suspension inactive.All of the problems have now been resolved

Our 2002 X5 has been nothing but problems since we bought it. Mostly all electrical problems. About 2 weeks ago, the alternator died. So I replaced it and all is well again....But for how long? This piece of crap that we spent way to much money on, is always having some issue. I have owned many vehicles, and by far this one has been the most trouble. I know that 2002 was the start of the ROHS solder initiative. Boy does it show! The alternator situation is extremely funny. There are no brushes in these water cooled alternators. No parts to wear except bearings. This should rarely fail. BAD DESIGN!
My Job is to take poorly designed electronics from industrial machines and re-design it so the chance of failure is greatly reduced. (Reducing down time) for the customer in the future. I run across this garbage all the time. I have owned Chevys in the past.....400,000+ Km on a brushed alternator. Now this isn't a great design, but come on. A little over 100,000 Km on the X5, and an alternator that has almost no parts that wear, is now faulty? According to this forum, this is the norm.
This is just one problem...How about the FSR? How about the DSC module? Steering angle sensor? TCM? The list goes on. The bottom line is BMW needs to hire a crew that understands how to design things properly. This kind of failure rate is 100% unexceptable. We will "never again" buy another BMW. Dealing with this kind of stuff at work is enough. I don't need to come home to it. I really hope somebody learns from this, so they don't have to go through the same hassles that we have had to deal with.
Yes BMW, the truth hurts!

I also have a 2002 X5 4.4 owned since new....mine has not been that bad for 90000 miles.....so far...

Replaced alternator
replaced fsr
replaced cv boot on drivers side
replaced battery
replaced transmission harness
replaced trans thermostat
replaced expansion tank
replaced tires --- now recently on my third set
replaced 2 brake light bulbs
replaced one fog light bulb
general oil change/air filter type maintenance...
NOT Bad...