Glove box not opening

[felonious monk]

Picked up a '13 35d a month ago with under 30k miles. Loving it so far. However, just as you've probably already guessed, after popping out the glove compartment light out to change it to an LED (the light turned off) and I mistakenly closed the compartment doors. Now it will not open. An audible click is heard when the button is pressed. Previously, both of my vehicles were over 10 years old and nowhere as complicated as this thing. The idea of an electrically operated glove box is just insane; what were they thinking??

My helper and I, we both searched online for answers. Based on what we found online, fuse #10 under the passenger side dash is supposed to be the culprit. We checked that and the fuse appears to be fine. We even tried a spare fuse he had and it returned the same result.

Looking at the diagram that is tucked next to the cargo area fuse box, #10 fuse is associated with "START STOP" which my X5 doesn't have. It is also associated with the parking brake, but that seems to be working fine. Nothing on the diagram is marked for the glove compartment. Are we looking at bad/old info? is it a different fuse?

We also looked for the emergency release loop by opening the end cap at the side of the dash. The only thing resembling a loop looked and felt like a wiring harness and it was clipped to the metal structure that is closes to the door jamb. Is that the loop? Because it felt like wiring I did not dare to yank on it.

Since I still have warranty left, and the leather and padding on the top door is coming undone, I could take it to the dealer. But, then I'd have to explain why the light is just hanging there.

Help!

[tdement]

I have the EXACT same issue. And it appears that the emergency release cable is not used anymore? I can't find it anywhere. Have you had any luck with this?

[felonious monk]

I have the EXACT same issue. And it appears that the emergency release cable is not used anymore? I can't find it anywhere. Have you had any luck with this?

Funny that you ask this today. I just got mine back from the dealer this evening, briefly (CEL came on 3 blocks from the dealer after I left. WTF!). They determined the glovebox door motor was stuck. Their fix was to just order and install a new motor on BMW's dime. Needless to say, I'm not going to mess with that glovebox light anymore; it is not getting a LED... ever. No idea if the loop I found is the release or a harness. Too afraid to pull on it to find out. This thing is far more complicated than necessary. Starting to feel buyer's remorse.

It's amazine how little information there are on the E70s. Maybe the general demographic does not DIY or just leave everything up to the mechanics/dealers?

[peter2772000]

The fuse for the glove compartment mechanism is under the dash on the passenger side. 10A fuse if I'm not mistaken

[felonious monk]

The fuse for the glove compartment mechanism is under the dash on the passenger side. 10A fuse if I'm not mistaken

In my case the fuse was not blown. The motor was simply stuck. Dealer replaced it.

[JoeyBimX5din]

have you checked in the owners manual to see if it references it?

[felonious monk]

have you checked in the owners manual to see if it references it?

Of course. There is nothing useful in the owners manual.

[JoeyBimX5din]

The 400 page owners manual doesn't have any useful information?

-I stand corrected, nothing-

silver lining, I found out how to work my own glove box from this thread

[felonious monk]

Well, captain obvious, if you don't think there is useful information in the owner's manual about stuck gloveboxes, why don't you look at it yourself and prove otherwise? BTW, did you even read the entire post and follow up post to understand what is even being talked about and what was found to be the problem?

[JoeyBimX5din]

I corrected myself that nothing was in there. Yes I read the posts.