4x4, ABS, Brake, Self Level fixed...
 

So last weekend I loaded up our bicycles to head to the track. With the bicycles, tool boxes and gear all in the hatch we got on the highway.

I got the 4x4, Brake, ABS errors and then the Self Level Susp Inactive message.

Got home, unloaded the car and started looking in to the issue. I read that it could be a ton of different issues. Well 15 minutes later I started the car and all was fine for a week now.

Today I am headed to my Dad's to fix his car. Load up the X5 with my tool box, jack, jack stands and other gear. Get halfway there and all the lights and warnings come on again.

So I think to myself, is it just a coincidence that these lights come on when the car is loaded up with heavy stuff?

Get home and pull the hatch area apart. I find a black wire labeled "Battery Squib" near the back of the rear passenger seat and see that this wire is basically being crushed by the spare tire, I guess the weight of additional cargo put it over the edge.

So I cut the wire, soldered and crimped it back and made sure it was zip tied tight against the wall so that when the tire was in and weight was on it there was no issue.

Well I button it all up, start the car and all is great. So when you get the plethora of warning lights, check the wiring in the spare tire/battery well in your hatch to make sure none of it is obstructed. Before you go diving at ABS modules, speed sensors, transfer case actuators etc...

Well, off to Dad's I go.

Battery Squib??? WOW!!! got a picture of that one???

Yup, thin black wire going in to a yellow plug along the back of the spare tire well. Has a grey tag hanging off of it that says "battery squib" It was looped out and the spare tire cradle was sitting right on top of it and had it completely pinched off.

yellow plugs normally are associated with the airbag (SRS) system, could be a crush detector... next time i dig in my trunk, i will see if i find that cable...

I will get a picture of it when I get home and have the hatch unloaded. I also noticed the fastener that holds the negative battery cable to the floor was broken, so the negative battery cable was being crushed by the spare tire.

I can't believe the amount of loose wiring in that area. I mean the spare, battery, all the tools etc... are back there. That loose wiring is just begging for problems like this.

I've googled it and the only "squib" I come up with has to do with the air bag as well. I just wonder how that ties in to the other systems. Or if the short was causing voltage to drop and that triggered everything else.

Gotta love these high tech, high maintenance ladies. Mo computer Mo problems.

I'm just glad it wasn't something serious as I didn't feel like dumping hundreds or thousands in to fixing it.

Do you have a plethora of warning lights?

Three Amigos-What Is A Plethora? - YouTube

Ok, scratch that. Celebration was premature. I made that road trip to my Dad's (around 65 miles round trip) and on the way home all the lights came on again, along with the radio cutting out for a few minutes, the TPS light came on and the speedo dropped to 40MPH and slowly crept back up to 75mph which was my actual speed. I'm going to test the ABS sensors tomorrow. Does anyone know if the ABS sensor wiring goes through the spare tire well? It has to have something to do with the weight of all my tools in the hatch. I got home, unloaded the car, started her up and all the lights went away.

the speed sensor wire on rear left, and the speed sensor and the brake sensor wires on the rear right are going to the cabin through grommets in the side of the wheelwells and join the huge cable harnesses on each side of the car... they do not go through the spare wheel cavity. the cables in the spare wheel cavity are the power cables from the battery, and the cables for the air suspension, along with the trailer hitch, PDC, TV module wiring coming from the battery compartment and the radio wires if so equipped...

the extra weight that you put on to the rear axle may trigger some load sensors on the back that are acting up...

do you have xenon lights from the factory? do those lights go up and down on cold start-up? do the they point down all the times?

They go up and down on start up.

I just got in the car, started it with the voltage showing. It was fine, I figured I was going around 70mph when it happened tonight, engine was around 2k rpm. So I revved to 2k and held it there. Voltage seemed fine, but after 30 seconds or so dipped to 11.8 for a second, right after that all the warning lights and the suspension warning came up. Looks like I'll be replacing the faulty reman alternator with a replacement tomorrow.