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Right…. The x5 is having a laugh…. Porsche got a puncture so I’m waiting for Tuesday to get it replaced, so the X5 knew… it just knew! It’s started dropping into failure mode, the front indicator is intermittent and the drivers seat has stopped moving. As the wife is the size of a squirrel, I can’t get in and drive it to the garage to take the wheel to get the tyre on. Battery is saying 12.5 resting and 13.4 running…. It’s only a year old too… I can’t find the receipt for euro car parts as it was in my old van. Any suggestions? New battery …. Again? How do I check the alternator? Could this be killing the batteries? I have neither the time or money to be swapping parts The car is dropping into fail safe mode randomly and at speed (as always) so it’s not safe. Fault on the scanner is showing throttle position sensor jammed or something… I’ll post some pics.

This is what ista gives me

Hello Mark and Dave Yes, part of the work at the running-in service, at 1200 miles, is to remove the running-in spec oil (which apparently smells different to 'normal' oil) and amend the ECU to allow 'full' power. There are several videos on Youtube etc with these details. I hope this helps, Orchpot

Hello Dave Thanks for the warm welcome to the Club. You are correct about the main dealer not being keen to release service data, but I serviced my E60 at home by using printouts of all the service items, as given to me and used by the dealer techs. My service work was therefore done to BMW Standards, using dealer supplied filters etc, and so the warranty remained intact. It is not just the financial aspect that appeals to me; the dealer techs are always very tight for time and allocated units of 6mins to perform each task. Dealer drip-down time is only a couple of mins - for me it is overnight, when quite a bit more old oil is drained. More time is spent in the dealer's valet bay than in the dealer's workshop...... There are several OBD2 scanners (for approx £200) that will reset service lights, etc, but I suspect there may be a combination of steps using the trip reset button that may also work (as per my E60). I know the new BMWs retain the service history in the car's computer (which a scan tool will do), but the history is also copied by dealer software to BMWs records (which a scan tool will NOT do). I'm not too bothered by this omission; as resale value after 10-15 or even 20 years is determined by the overall condition of the car and by my detailed service records. If anyone has a G80 M3 in North Yorkshire please give me a shout. I am a time-served and recently retired mech engr with a lifelong interest in cars, so if anyone has a technical query I may be able to assist. Thanks everyone, Orchpot

Hi Sam A Silicone spray or a little Vaseline, remember the footwell is a mucky place all sorts of mud grit and god knows what brought in on our boots 😆 So make sure everything is clean, really clean all dirt and grit hoovered out the electrical components are sealed to protect them so your target is allowing free running sliding action of the pedal. Dave

Answered in 7 series post

Morning Gerry Welcome to the Forum A BMW Main Dealer is never going to be helpful towards an owner who is basically asking them if he can take away their workshop business by DIY 🤣 If the car you want is New or a BMW Approved Vehicle it will be covered under Warranty so any DIY work could negate the Warranty If your target is being able to home service get a good BMW capable Diagnostic suite BMW ISTA/INPA is best but these days there are several others iCarsoft, Autologic that way you can reset electronically. Newer BMW hold the service history in the car which updates when a Dealer plugs in. Dave

Thanks Dave 👍🏼 Thanks, Dave. Forgive my ignorance, but what sort of lube can you use on something like this, being that's got electrical elements? Would a smear of something like Vaseline be ok on the sliding arm part? Thanks Dave! Forgive my ignorance but what sort of lube can you use on something like this given that it has electrical elements. Would a smear of something like Vaseline on the bar be ok?

Morning Nick If the car is in Limp Mode you still have a fault or have you accidentally put the car in Delivery Mode (a Factory setting to restrict performance) Dave

Morning Mike Welcome to the Forum Wow what a post that's a load of work. My only thought is a complete back track and thorough check of all connectors, relays and fuses. I have seen an issue where the terminal 15 relay was damaged at a battery swap caused a lot of problems. I would go back to standard get the motor running before attempting a full re-flash you would at least have a usable car with an established base line Good Luck Dave

Morning Sam Welcome to the Forum I would say you have diagnosed your issue it just needs confirming I would start by checking www.realoem.com the small exploded drawings will help with seeing how the pedal is mounted. A really good clean and some lubrication may be all that's needed Good Luck Dave

Hello Everyone, This is my first post. I used to be a member of the official BMW GB owners' club, but it was mainly a social club and devoid of any technical stuff. I've had my 2007 E60 535d Sport from new, only 82k miles, £10k of factory extras and its near perfect in every way - it drives like new. But I'm thinking about a new G80 M3 and I need some advice about servicing. Does anyone know if the car's computer can be reset for service items using the trip button? Ignition on, hold trip button down, select service, hold down to reset and then confirm - does this work? My main dealer is reluctant to be helpful. I'm near Northallerton in North Yorkshire - are there any G80 M3 owners nearby? Thanks hopefully Orchpot BMW_G80_M3_Service_Reset_Guide_With_Diagrams.pdf

Is there a way to get to get out of limp mode

welcome to the club Joe!

Haha… I can guess you have never owned my X5 then! Welcome to the forum!

Ok, quick update. If I gently pull the accelerator pedal back when idling or if I rev it up and gently pull it back, revs behave normal and idle is correct. Am I right in thinking this actually points to an issue with the accelerator pedal sensor? If so, is there a method to clean it up in the short term, or is it a straight replacement kind of job. Thanks again.

Oh nice! Bet that has been many years of pure raw joy!

Hi Joe… I’m from Yorkshire so a bit closer! …. I’m on bmw 10 or 11 I think!

Hi Dave, Thank you for the warm welcome! Yes you definitely can’t help haha. I am on my 2nd/3rd at the moment. Miles of joy! cheers! Joe

Hi all, Newbie here. I have a 2013 116d with 78k on the clock. Randomly the other day the RPM just started hanging / coming back down very slowly, and when stationary, idle creeps from circa 900rpm up to around 1200/1300 and stays there. It's had a scan and the only fault code coming up is for 'Fuel Filter Heater Open Circuit'. It's booked in next week for a full service including new filter with heater (£££ 😂) but just wondering if anyone has encountered this before and whether I'm being optimistic thinking this might sort the issue, or whether I need to be prepared to look elsewhere for a cause? Thanks guys. Sam.

Hi - new to forum. I have a 220i M series 2024 suffering from the headlight condensation problem. Started in October on one headlight and now the other has followed suit. Under warranty, the dealer pressure tested the light and said it was faulty and would be replaced. Unfortunately what has been happening in the past is that they have been replacing the headlights with ones that are also faulty hence ongoing problem. Apparently headlights manufactured after September/October 2025 should now be fitted. I’m still waiting as have been told there are no replacements in the country! BMW - major car manufacturer - should have sorted this mess out years ago!

Hi. Long story. I have a 2013 F30 335i with the PWG N55 engine. The engine blew and I got it replaced with a 2015 EWG N55 engine. I got it back from the mechanic and it was running, but running rich and no boost, you could tell the car was unhappy. My assumption for no boost and running in poo conditions was that it was running with the old PWG DME and a PWG tune, which may not have had the hardware and logic to run electric wastegate. Little did I know that my mechanic had supposedly not plugged in the electronic wastegate plug as he misheard me for saying to unplug the diverter valve to I get compressor surge since I want the turbo flutter sound. (yes, I know it's bad for the turbo, I just want it for purely sound). So I go home and attempt to flash the car on a PWG tune just to see what happens. The bootmod3 OTS tune cannot successfully be flashed on the car, so I assumed I needed a new DME to run the hardware for the car to be alright. Now luckily, I have a friend with a blown M235i. Both my friends car and my engine are 2015 EWG N55's, only difference is his is a convertible. That's literally it. So I grabbed his DME, got it cloned from my old DME so the ISN align, and I attempt to start the car. Only cranks, doesn't start. I somewhat expected this since I thought I would have had to reflash a tune on it anyway, but still thought that it could have started since both DME's (my old PWG DME and my friends new EWG DME) were running on stage 2 tunes. Different platforms however, his on MHD and mine on bootmod3. Now here's where it gets complicated. The person I went to get my ECU cloned said that they have no choice but to clone everything, not specifically the ISN and VIN alone, so I was thinking the new DME was currently running on an incomplete map which makes sense as to why its not actually turning over and simply cranking. However, after contacting bootmod3 support and getting them to switch my maps from PWG to EWG, after attempting to flash the tune, it fails specifically at 87%. Every single time. No exception. So after doing miniscule troubleshooting here and there, turns out my battery was exceptionally low on charge. So I went and replaced it with another battery, same spec, AGM, 85ah, only thing about the new one was I bought this new one the moment my engine seized, about 4-5 months ago, so it had just been sitting in my friends garage ever since. Now this is where it gets bad and my impatience really starts to show. I can't exactly remember if either ECU cranked after the battery swapover, to the best of my knowledge, I think the last crank attempt that car had was on the new battery on the EWG DME. Anyway, I was swapping over both DME's repeatedly trying to flash the EWG tune to atleast see if either one of the tune's would go through, also I was hooking up jumper cables to my other car, putting a jump pack on the car aswell, I could hear the relays chattering aggressively, it was really a mess. It ended up at a point, which is still where I am now after 2 days, where no matter what DME is in the car, no matter the voltage of the battery, it simply does not want to start. Since then, my theory is that the reason the tune did not successfully flash, and made sense as to why it would fail at 87% specifically on both DME's, is due to the wastegate plug being unplugged, which to my knowledge is a critical sensor that the DME requires to have communication with when flashing a full flash. At this point, it could be anything. I'm guessing something electrical, but I have no idea what it could possibly be. The new battery (the one that was sitting for 4-5 months) I bought a battery charger for, was resting at about 12.5v, currently sitting at about 12.2v, is enough for atleast a crank attempt but nothing. As soon as I attempt to get the car to start, the dash just turns off. Currently, the car in ignition cycles through (according to my memory) an ABS code, a tyre sensor code, a fuel supply code, and some other code. I cannot remember those codes cycling through when the car was just given back to me. Only code that I can remember is a drivetrain malfunction code, that was there since it was given back to me. My mechanic assumed it was just because of the boost problems which the tune should fix. Not sure how he thought it was okay to give the car back to me with the wastegate unplugged, but thats besides the point. I genuinely have no idea why the car isn't even cranking. A bad tune should allow cranking, low voltage should allow cranking, error codes should allow cranking, I don't understand. It's important to mention that after looking around for the wastegate plug, it seems as if it's plugged in. Not sure if I'm looking at the right thing though, I'm 90% sure it's plugged in though. bootmod3 displays no codes or faults. I would really appreciate the help. I've dropped so much unnecessary money on this car and I atleast want it to drive. Thanks.

Hello, can you lower the rear seats? There should be a manual release in the boot if you can access through there.

Trying to figure out my transmission code when I run ista+ it gives me the code EGS_0x32 if I change the transmission control module with this fix that

Hi everyone I have a 2012 640D F12 convertible and had to replace the battery removed old one without problem and shut the boot lid I imagine you know the rest of the story, I have connected a battery using jump leads under the bonnet makes no difference at all also I was told some have a key slot behind the boot emblem mine has not, can someone please advise there must be a way into the boot without power or causing damage many thanks a