Electrical Problem(s) .. or a ghost??? UPDATE: going to service for 3rd time..
 

1) So a few days ago, I was driving around the town and all of the sudden the alarm goes off. I had to pull over, "reboot" (engine off, lock, unlock, engine on) and that fixed it. I was alone in the car, i do NOT have key-less entry, there was no way I would press the panic button on the key... would it even work while driving anyway?

2) Yesterday morning, i had the car parked in a public lot in Jersey City, NJ. I locked the car and walked away with the keys (self park lot). I glanced at the car a few times while walking away as there was another X5 parked nearby and I was admiring my 214s :thumbup: vs their 212s.. Last time I looked at the car i was about 150 feet away and everything was ok. When I came back in the evening, all the windows + sunroof were open and there was a VERY faint humming noise coming from the car. WTF??? I ruled out the accidental key pressing theory as I always keep the keys in the jacket pocket where they move around freely and don’t press against anything.. Furthermore, the car took longer than usual to start and it felt like battery was low! Luckily it didn’t rain otherwise I’d be screwed!!

3) Alarm went off last night 2 minutes after I parked the car in the driveway.... this was around 8pm

4) In the middle of last night, I woke up because the alarm went off again! I live in a quiet neighborhood, in a cul-de-sac. I’ve owned 3 X5s , I am well aware of their alarm’ sensitivity level and never had this happen in my driveway before. I went to get the keys and went outside. I have to mention that I have a movement-sensitive flood light on top of my garage door and it was off when I came outside and turned on as I approached the car, thus indicating there was no intrusion attempt. I shut the alarm off by unlocking the car. I also started the engine and it seemed to start ok.

5) In the morning, car appeared ok but I heard that same low humming noise again….and it also took longer than usual to crank and start..

Any ideas what is going on here? I will make an appointment for dealer right away but concerned I’ll get the usual “problem cannot be replicated”..

:bawling:

A Low Battery can cause the alarm to go off, charge it up and see if that works

right, but..

a) why would it go off while driving?
b) why did the windows and sunroof open by themselves?

FWIW there has been some anecdotal 'evidence/reports' that water can get to the electronics/sensors in the driver's door and produce odd behavior like you describe. IOW wet (or water damaged) sensors/electronics in the driver's door can spontaneously respond as if someone were pressing their key fob buttons.

Funf Dreisig

I would call your SA and bring the car in. Our 07 had a bunch of ghosts. Took two software updates before it was fixed. My car did have the auto window down issue along with one headlight staying on, one fog light randomly turning on, alarm issues like you mentioned, radio staying on (non-comfort access) until you lock/unlock a few times, and a the tail lights would take turns staying on. I was not shocked on a first year 07 but. A my10?

bringing it in shortly..

my alarm went off while driving once also. it stopped after i pulled into my driveway after about a ten minute ride. according to my dealer this is a known issue. my courtesy lights would flash on their own every once in a while also.

most of my ghosts have disappeared. the dealer replaced the TCU about a year ago. the SAT radio still locks up every once in a while but otherwise no issues.

car is at the dealer.. driving a zippy 328xi loaner.. updates to follow.

No help but I also experienced the alarm going off while driving in my 07....isolated incident....never happened again. Was pretty annoying though haha

lol paranormal activity ! Dont worry, its the battery when it goes low or malfunction it puts trhe alarm off and does weird stuff...Did u get any warning on ur dusplay?

My theory is that there is some shortage due to flooding, which causes battery to discharge and setting off the alarm...

Shortage needs to be eliminated, leak plugged and battery replaced. If battery manage to discharge that rapidly to that low level, it is probably not very good at this point and might have developed some undesirable "features".

Dealer thinks they MAY have found something wrong with the alarm sensor.. updates to follow.

Fly in the car ?? :) :bustingup

good one..

seriously Dude, are you 12? the English language is a wonderful thing. give up on the text stuff. :stickpoke

But seriously, you kids want to do a search or just kibbitz?

:)

Literally this thread uses the same term as your post...
http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...t-machine.html


GL

A

Service advisor says CCC has failed and has been replaced.. should be ready tomorrow as long as programming goes well.

Is the CCC a slang term for a battery or is it a actual component in the car which was causing the Ghosts :D:stickpoke

CCC = Car Communications Computer

One of far too many electronic bits and pieces scattered about in an E70, which all too often require "re- programming", just to keep E70's from going brain dead (or crazy) at any given moment. Which BTW is why our E70 will almost certainly be on some form of extended warranty all it's life :(

Funf Dreisig

:iagree: Yea I was just trying to be funny since "ard" as sure that it was a battery issue and not anything else.

looks like they replaced the CCC but fried the new one in the programming process.. now they are waiting for BMW to give them ok to replace the fried one... OMFG!!!

I guess there is a chance BMWNA will NOT give them an OK to give you a new one, in which case they put back the fried one and send you on your way ??? :bustingup

Seriously, the only other time they would not want to try another unit is when they want to rule out other issues first, such as electrical shorts... I hope they will do that too!

I'd been thinking about this thread.

I suspect it may turn into a bit of a case study in the disconnect between owners and BMW. But maybe not.

The fault is the "CCC" or the nav drive unit. I cannot fathom how that is causing the reported complaints, so I am left wondering.

Here is where the disconnect comes in...

SA takes report from you, writes up the work order, assigns it to the tech. Tech runs a few programs, finds nothing except a few bus errors on the CCC. Nothing definitive, but that is the only thing that jumps out at him....OK. So he tells the SA "No clue as to why the alarm went off- but I got a few codes so we could replace the CCC and see what happens".

SA tells you "We found the problem, its the CCC"

So they replace it.

See what happens now? You haven't been told there is some uncertainty- the SA, since he would rather not have to explain why "the BMW dealership" doesn't have perfect knowledge, has taken a risk that their guess is right- or, more likely, that when it returns or their are other issues, he can make up some other story.

Hence the "we put the CCC in and it burned up when we were programming it"

Lets see how this story changes as they proceed. Do you want to bet the story becomes "nothing wrong with the CCC, but BMW-this and BMW -that".

We shall see, but I simply do not allow them to not tell the truth. I am also very accommodating when it comes to the uncertainty in diagnosis. It is a quid pro quo that takes a bit of work to establish.

GL

Maybe it really was the nav drive setting off the alarm and maybe they really did burn up a $3000 drive just by programming..... right

A

I agree with you. I am hoping to get the car today or by Monday the latest.. and it'll take a while for me to regain trust... i dont care as much for the alarm going off as for the windows/sunroof rolling down while away.. One rain and the car is totalled!

Oh, that's not the only issue.

If you are not lucky, BMW will BLAME YOU and refuse to cover rain damage. They will say "no issues" and say it must have been your fault.

I agree that the CCC is separate from the windows problem, which is most likely the drivers door latch assembly... And that the CCC may not have anything to do with the alarm issue. I can't really say too definitively without seeing the faults/diagnosing myself though. But the CCC is a complex module that has more functions than just NAV drive, it is the master module of the whole MOST BUS (fiber optic audio bus) and acts as a gateway between the MOST bus and some other buses. It does fail during programming sometimes. So I wouldn't think they are lying about that.

I'd maybe put the bug in the service advisers ear that you don't understand how the CCC could cause the alarm to go off while driving or put the windows down as it isn't part of either system, maybe have him ask the tech more details to see if they can put it together or need to dig deeper for the real issues.

I agree with what Weasel said - I'd suggest you require them to explain, in writing, how CCC helps to solve your problem.

got it back.. they swapped the Alarm module and reprogrammed the CCC.. took 7 business days!!!... lets see how it holds.. updates to follow!

They gave me a 335d loaner yesterday...OMG, that thing flys!! 425ft torque. Made me re-think my X5 purchase...

This is how I ended up buying 335 late last year....I took my 08 4.8 in for service, and they gave me 335 loaner...

Problems continue..
 

so all was ok for about a week and half and then it started to rain.. and the problems started to rain too.. Alarm going off on its own a few times during last few days and this morning all the windows and sunroof rolled down.. Back to the dealer!

i suspect water somewhere in the system..

See Post #4 and #26.

These symptoms have been reported several times in this forum. Weasel has confirmed the most likely diagnosis/fix at least twice that I can remember. You have to wonder why every BMW tech hasn't been provided with a SIB on it by now :confused:

Funf Dreisig

Wow. Must be another bad CCC.


(I know, not helpful.)

Too bad we cant bring our cars to Weasel.....

A

Windows rolling down by themselves, especially in wet conditions = drivers door latch.

They can read out the alarm trigger counter in diagnosis which will tell them what set off the alarm when it went off. If it happens to be drivers door setting it off that further confirms the need for the latch assembly to be replaced.

So after 3 more days at the dealer, they are saying they don't see any faults.. i mentioned water issues, i mentioned getting BMWNA involved - they are not doing anything!!!. I am pi&&ed off to infinity and beyond and don't know what to do next.

I wrote a big complaint email to the dealer, told them to make sure the email is recorded and i will also send them a certified letter ...

at this point i am stuck with a potential disaster.. i will pick up the car today and if ANYTHING happens again, i will record it on video or take pictures, take it to the dealer and call an attorney..

UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!

:bawling:

did you write your dealer's general manager yet? I responded to a survey that goes to him very negatively one time and he immediately wrote me... met with him a few days later with a tech and my SA all involved.

Jeez, the things I pointed out are VERY logical for any tech that understands how the systems work. Every time we've had any BMW where the windows rolled down by themselves it has ALWAYS been fixed by replacing the drivers door latch. If you know the system and signal path for that feature to work it is the only component that makes sense to cause the issue. There will NOT be any fault codes stored, hence knowing the system and signal path is needed. Sometimes you can't "confirm" a problem for a 100% diagnosis and you actually have to think.

As for the alarm counter, any tech with any knowledge at all should know how to, or at least figure it out quick how to check it. That's just a matter of looking it up via the diagnostic tester. If you see the alarm was triggered 13 times by the hood switch, maybe once or twice by something else, it should be pretty damn apparent what the problem is.

It amazes me how problems like these get thrown out of some shops... do some dealerships not monitor their techs at all?

Weasel, thanks for the words of wisdom... these guys are idiots.. the car now spent a total of 10 business days in the shop and the service manager has no idea about the case..

Finding a weasel at BMW dealership is pretty easy. Finding a Weasel is much more difficult :(

We (and our X5s) should all hope to find our own Weasel :)

Funf Dreisig

Boy, one could make some mileage on this...a Weasel in hand is worth....

I'll see your weasel and raise you a Weasel..

Jeez, I feel special now..... and not even the short bus riding helmet wearing kind of special. ;)

More problems over the weekend.. taking it in tonight for 3rd time.. FRUSTRATED!