X5smw

Hi jim the loom might already be fitted and you can just plug it in. If I am right, which is not often... you can just run a 12v feed to the seat if needed, although when you switch the engine off it won’t revert back or remember settings. what model is your car? my seats in thex5 have memory from the ecu so when I get in, the seat and heaters and radio and mirrors , steering wheel etc move to my preferred position. Likewise if my wife uses her key it does the same for her. this is an option if the loom is in place and the seats can be programmed for comfort entry I think it’s called.

Basic principle of over unity with regards to charging. You can’t use a battery to power the car, use all the ancillaries and use a Dynamo to charge the other battery... the magnet in the charger would have to be so large, it would stop the drive battery from running and you would end up with 2 flat batteries! to trickle charge the second battery to even get a mile of power, would take 500 miles of driving. If you could create more power from the device you use, thus overunitiy... you would solve the worlds oil crisis, stop wars and become the richest person ever.... vive la fossil fuels!

Convert the car to run on lpg. converting a non electric car would not be viable at all. the costs to build it from the chassis up would be ridiculous. Batteries weigh in at around 300kg and you would have to introduce things like regen braking and basically just build a bmw shell over a new vehicle. our company is switching the fleet to all electric... all good for the office staff, but us as engineers can cover 500 plus miles a day.... once you think about loading it up with gear, and ladders, we got figures of around 90 miles on a purpose built car. one of my mates is doing a course at Tesla and it still amazes him what goes into the car design. Thats my two pence worth

Welcome Alan. We are a useful bunch... mostly . where in Glasgow are you from? I had a girlfriend from knightswood and one from bellshill. I used to live in Newton mearns too!

Check the fuel pump. Remove the rear bench seat and turn the key to 2. You should hear the pump spin and prime. That would be my first point of call. the relay is located behind the fuse box in the glove box ... hopefully

Hi all and thanks for the festive message. Dave, thank you for all your help over the last year and your knowledge is a great help to us all. to everyone on the forum, have a safe and happy festive period. Keep the cars clean and see you all in 2021. Blessings to you all!

What car is it? Does it have throttle positioning sensor? are the idle revs always stable?

Personally I would hand it back, get the finance company to deal with it. check all the documents to make sure they didn’t list this or any repair work on any receipt. also, make sure you get a receipt from the finance company that you have relinquished ownership to them and the garage. I got in a massive mess because of a missing document that the finance company ‘forgot’ to send me. If it is a precious car to her, then ask for an independent valuation of the car with found issues and approach the finance company with that figure. see what they say. good luck, but you should not be having to spend any money replacing what was not declared in the finance agreement

Would the brake pad wear light be yellow and not red? if the pads are ok, as greydog said, check the wires. If you short them out... ie connect them, the light should extinguish, telling you it’s the wear sensors.

I got some new lights... set of standard on eBay for £35 delivered.... guess what.... I CAN SEE!!! the issue was the lenses on the aftermarket units. Now to find some decent led lights

I married a Latino salsa dancer ..... doing 200mph On a unicycle blindfolded And on fire would be less on the edge! 😂😂😂 quarry doesn’t have any lights in at the moment, but the hunt is on!

Hi Dave. i think the lenses are the issue on the aftermarket ones. I’ll get some standard ones and try them. I might take your tip and fit some halo units in when I get time 👍🏻 .... as for driving slowly, my wife is Brazilian and does not understand the word slow! .... or knows who Elton John is! 😂😂😂

Update..... i finally got round to getting some led lights... I cannot See a thing! im going to go back standard lens and run led bulbs. i could tell they were brighter as the road signs were lit up in the distance, but absolutely nothing in front of the car... and I mean nothing. The angle of the light is correct as they self level, but it is just a faint glow. Projector headlights are a bad bad design. as I live in the countryside, I couldn’t even make out the road markings. I was expecting Blackpool illuminations, I got Elton John’s candle in the wind! 😂

I had this on my e46. When I pushed the clutch in, the noise went away and it was fine in gear.... it was the thrust bearing on the gearbox. I had to replace the clutch as the bearing failed and left me stranded. hopefully it’s not as serious for you.

We had a quote at my old bike shop that said ‘nothing is impossible, it just costs a lot more’ .....

Hi, I’m not sure how to check it. I also own an x5 and so does greydog. if you can, buy a bmw scanning lead and software off the well known selling site. I use bmw 1.4.000 or something like that. Plug it into the car on a laptop and you will be able to diagnose all issues and also do random stuff to the car. Maldonado worth checking when you turn the ignition to position 1, do you hear the fuel pumps prime? I think they are under the rear seats and you should hear them spin (they do on the petrol one anyway) my old 3 series e46 ramndomly failed to start and it turned out to be a faulty pump.

Hi and welcome. the first question is, do the doors work on the key button? Do they unlock and lock ok? I would look at the transponder on the ignition barrel. im sure more answers will be along soon.

Check the ‘knock’ sensor. it tells the engine when to fire the injectors etc. It’s located near one of the pulleys. my pulley actually failed At the vibration damper on the m43 engine and caused the pulley to move back and forth away From the sensor, causing Sporadic spikes and dips on the revs. nightmare to diagnose, I could be completely wrong but I would start there.

Hi Dave, this unit definitely doesn’t fit as it’s square edged and not rounded like the oem one. the screen is facing a little too angled so you can’t see the screen while driving. may some point I will buy one that is rounded so I can compare. It does go flush into the dash if I could trim the corners and the cage doesn’t seem to affect it. .... I’ll go buy a file tomorrow!

Be wary of buying a Chinese one.... I have one (it came with the car) and the bottom of the head unit isn’t curved to fit the e53. It is listed as e53 and all 5 series compatible but I think the normal 5 series range use a different figment. The screen is facing too far upward so you can’t really see what’s going on, but it has all the sat nav, mp3, Bluetooth, aux, touch screen and looks fairly standard and would fit well in a standard 5 series, so it’s worth double checking if I’m not mistaken. I’ll try and get some pics when I get home from work. i will change mine at some point, but it plays music, the wife is happy and I have more pressing matters 😂

My x5 has a tracker buried deep in the dash and runs off the permanent live feeding the stereo memory, my Motorhome has one running off the clock permanent live and tucked away in the roof lining.

take it off the stereo Inputs. The stereo has both switched and permanent lives and earth.

When you say it’s been on diagnostics, did you clear the faults? the sensor warning lights maybe still on as the sensor has been unplugged and the warning has been latched, IE will stay on until reset. the one next to it is parking brake on? the middle ones equate to tyre pressure sensor and not sure about the 4x4 one.

Check the wires. You will have a red and a yellow, both +12v. Black will be earth. Check that the feed is present on only the yellow (I believe) with the ignition off and both when ignition is on. Any loose connection on either one will stop the unit. It could explain why the Cd loads, but doesn’t come on.... I may be way off the mark though, but it’s a start.