[NEED HELP] 2011 X5 xDrive50i issue, any ideas?

[Kiamori]

So I'm a long time Lurker of these forums, have had many BMW's over the years none with any major problems until now.. with the X5



Here are the symptoms,

Randomly the vehicle tossed a bunch of errors and went into limp mode just a few days after purchase(no option to return at this point), it went through the errors quite fast the first time so I'm not exactly sure of all of the errors but here is what is recalled.

Transmission, DSC/suspension, 4x4, and a few others I think. Since I was unable to reproduce at the time, I'm not exactly sure as road safety was the primary concern.

I stopped the car shut it off, and it started back up with no errors.

Not long after I smelled a burning smell and stopped the vehicle pulled the hood and took off the plastic engine cover and noticed the turbo coolant hoses were corroded and had been leaking coolant on the engine, hence the smell.

I did get some random battery discharge errors several times, but after turning it off and restarting it, it would go away.

It should be noted that the vehicle is also going through oil quite fast, 1qt every 100 miles but its not burning oil even on a quick acceleration so since I'm several hours from a local BMW service center I did bring it into a local shop where they noted the coolant hoses obviously, as well as an oil leak but were unable to determine where it was leaking from because oil was everywhere on and around the lower /upper oil pan and filter so they cleaned it up and added some dye as per my request so we could track down the leak. When they ran the codes it has hundreds of random codes so they were unable to diagnose and suggested I bring it to a BMW service center.

At this point I did some driving with the vehicle and monitored the turbo coolant hoses for leaks which appeared to have stopped entirely, some people have noted this is common with this vehicle and in some cases when they crust over it seals itself. (DO NOT TAKE THAT AS ADVICE)

So I did a 1 hour drive with a small 6x12 trailer attached approx. 1500lbs. This caused the issue to happen again however this time after the errors the battery died and I had to have someone come out and jump it, at first they jumped it with a battery jump and the vehicle started but the alternator was not charging the battery jump unit like it should have so then I did some searching online while the tow driver checked to see if they had parts thinking it was the alternator, I found a post that has similar issues and in their case it was the voltage regulator and the thought was to do a full reset and then have them charge the battery back to full with the tow truck rather than the jump battery. So after charging the battery with the tow truck the alternator did kick back on and the jump battery was showing a 14-15v charge from the X5 alternator and was able successfully drive it another hour all the way back home. So at this point I think for sure its the voltage regulator not the alternator.


I was able to use a multi-meter to test if the alternator was kicking on at start by testing the (20v)voltage which would show 11.5-12.5 when the alternator did not kick on at start and anywhere from 14-15 when it was on. Doing this I was able to drive the car without issue as long as the voltage showed alternator charging before driving it.

After diagnosing the problem, I scheduled service with the closest bmw service center which is 4.5 hours away.

Once it was at the dealer they told me that I would need to replace the entire alternator because the coolant had leaked on the alternator and it was bad, even though I just drove the car 4.5 hours without a single error.

They quoted me that all of the following needed to be done in order to fix the issue, approx. $5,000

Alternator, 2221.00
1137.53 labor + 963.38 parts + 50 Misc charge & tax

Vent Pipes/Hose Clamps, 422.66
307.44 labor + 74.44 parts + 35.36 misc charge +tax

Battery, 434.22
153.72 labor + 245.00 part +tax

turbo coolent hoses, 1920.58
1352.74 labor + 482.72 parts + 50 misc charge + tax

As for the oil leak they said it wasn't leaking or burning oil but could not tell me how its going through 1qt every 100 miles. Took 2 Qts just to drive the vehicle to them.

I talked with several people I know that work on BMW's as well as a few other service centers and most of them thought the alternator was not the problem since it's keeping the battery charged when its running.

I think that the coolant may be causing a short deactivating the alternator each time the turbo gets hot enough to cause the coolant lines to leak. However, after they took it back into the shop, they sprayed some type of cleaner on the cables going to the alternator to clean off some of the dried coolant. I am now unable to get the alternator to give any charge at all so as of today the vehicle is sitting at the service center.

So, I am seeking some advice on what the proper course of action for this vehicle should be?

Any suggestions or questions are much appreciated as I will need to make a decision on this soon.

Other than the issue at hand when its not acting up the Vehicle is GREAT! Drives and handles great, snow, ice mud... I love it, I just do not know what to do with it at this point.

//edit added a few things I had missed.

[MIKYZZ4]

I get the impression you are not a DIY type regarding auto repairs, so you are at the mercy of the service center.
Unfortunately you have come asking for help after the fact, when helpful suggestions could have been given earlier,
while you had access to the vehicle in your own garage, not the service centers. Nevertheless I'll toss some out.

At the first sign of errors/dash warnings, a diagnostic scan should have been performed with a BMW specific scan tool/BMW Software.
Taking note of all displayed error codes, followed by clearing of codes and observing which codes reappear after a short drive cycle.

When the turbo coolant hoses were observed leaking, they should have been replaced at that time.
The battery discharge errors coupled with the limp mode that began this thread points to unstable battery voltages,
due to a discharged or possibly failing battery.

I would have taken that list of required replacement parts from the service center and used it as reference for ordering them online,
to be replaced as part of a DIY. Could have saved thou$and$. Now that they killed your alternator with that spray, you don't have that option.
Maybe they can disconnect and physically clean the connections, instead of using the lazy spray-on method, may bring the alternator back to life.

The lack of a diagnosis from them, concerning the oil loss is puzzling.
You could use a weekend cleaning the oil pan with Simple Green completely, then observing where the leak originates from.
Leaking valve cover gaskets could also be suspect. It seems your options are totally reliant upon your DIY skills, I hope it turns out well.

[Kiamori]

Thank you for the response.
You are correct that I am not huge DIY for auto repairs, normally just the minor stuff.
I had planned to take the vehicle back home after the results of their diagnostics. I plan to order the hoses and replace that first to see if removing the leak solved the problem after the results mentioned above since they refused to replace just the hoses above the turbo which were leaking on the alternator and regulator. However, its my understanding that they are responsible for giving the car back to me in the same condition it was in when I dropped it off so they may have to look further into the issue just to get it working as it was before since after they broke it when they fiddled with it.
The BMW service center did run a scan, they said it took 2+ hours to go through all the error codes, I think this is due to the voltage being so up/down that it was causing errors in many of the systems or that the main electronics system may have been damaged by the voltage variations?
I did ask them to clear the codes and replace the hoses that were leaking on to the alt/reg in order to see if the problem persisted and they told me they would not do that until the issue was fixed, which seemed odd.
This all happened in a very short time period, and yes I should have ordered the hoses and replaced them myself but I didn't because I was told I needed to remove the turbo in order to do so and that the minor coolant leak from the hoses would seal themself. The leak is minor enough that the level has not gone down below the min marker in the turbo coolant reservoir.
Once it can make the trip back the plan was to wrap the hoses to prevent further damage until I can get it back in my garage where I can replace them. Since they wont even wrap the hoses for me I will need to do that in the parking lot I guess.
As for the actual problem, do you think it sounds like the leaking coolant is causing the charge to stop at times or do you think the regulator is actually bad now, I know I will have to test to be sure but since I'm ordering parts and the regulator is only $60 it saves me waiting for a second order if that's is the suspect part.

[hkg1975]

Hi, I think I have exactly the same problem with my car. Did you ever manage to fix this? Did you do what the dealer said (replace alternator and coolants etc.) and did that fix the problem? Thank you!