2001 X5 - Completely Dead !

[Tekniks]

My X5 is completely dead, it cranked once and then went completely dead - no activity or lights on the panel, key fob stopped working, can only open the driver side of the door manually all other doors are locked including the trunk...so can't even jump start the car (assuming the battery is completely dead). What do you think are my options - somehow get it jump started or get it toed to a mechanic or try something else? Has anybody experienced this before ? Any help would be greatly appreciated !!

[jdauria]

If you are able to get into the vehicle via driver side door, you can manually release the trunk from inside. See post #6

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=297952

That way you can access the battery and give it a charge.

[daytonatrbo]

My X5 is completely dead, it cranked once and then went completely dead - no activity or lights on the panel, key fob stopped working, can only open the driver side of the door manually all other doors are locked including the trunk...so can't even jump start the car (assuming the battery is completely dead). What do you think are my options - somehow get it jump started or get it toed to a mechanic or try something else? Has anybody experienced this before ? Any help would be greatly appreciated !!

Pop the hood and use the jumping points under the hood...

[Qsilver7]

ditto daytonatrbo...if you can get into the cabin of the car, you can open the hood. There are jump start terminals in the engine bay:

And once you have connected cables or even a battery charger to the jump start posts in the engine bay...that should provide enough power to the central locking system to unlock the vehicles other doors (and tailgate). Which I would recommend doing until you get things figured out.

If you locked the vehicle with the remote key (or using the driver's door) when you had power...that put the vehicle into DOUBLE-LOCK mode...which means that none of the interior door handles work as well as the exterior door handles.

If you get the vehicle unlocked...but still can't get the car started...if you need to lock the vehicle and you still have enough power or still have the vehicle hooked up to a battery charger...do it manually by pressing down the interior door pins...or by pressing the central lock button on the center console (which you'll need to do from a passenger door because the driver's door has an anti-lockout feature and will not lock if it is open).

[Tekniks]

No luck! I tried jump starting from the hood but there is no response at all from the electrical circuit in the car and everything seems to be unresponsive....Could it be Battery Safety Terminal (BST) issue that it is not sending any power to the unit?

Do you think jump starting from the trunk where the battery is, would make any difference?

Also, a very strange thing happened when I was inspecting before getting into any jump start exercise, somehow the rear door on the driver's side opened up when I tried from inside, then just for a moment the interior roof light came on, I accidentally hit the key fob lock button (instead of the unlock) and it locked the rear door again. So to me it seems there should be enough charge in the battery as before the car stopped responding (last Sunday) these are the sequence of events, in case it helps to diagnose the issue:
1) Thurday - Drove the car about 100 miles after manually unlocking the driver side door (so the battery should have a good amount of charge left)
2) Friday/Saturday - no driving
3) Sunday - Repaired the driver side lock cylinder, and was able to manually unlock and lock the car. Car locks also responded to the key fob and then drove for 5 miles
4) Sunday Evening - Tried starting the car again, it cranked at first turn of the ignition key but didn't start the engine, at the second turn of the ignition key it went completely dead with no lights at the panel

Would appreciate to get some quick response from the all the Gurus out there, as it's really bothering me now !

Thanks in advance!

[jdauria]

Possible faulty ignition switch?

[Tekniks]

"Since we can't actually see what you're doing...what did you use to "jump" the battery? Are you using a donor vehicle...or are you using one of those portable battery packs? If the latter...make sure it has enough power to jump your BMW...and if the battery is deeply discharged, it may take a good 5 minutes to get it up to snuff (even if connected to another running vehicle).

Also, make sure you're using the indicated engine bay jump terminals...sometimes we find out later (after failed attempts) that the owner was connecting the negative jump cable to a random "ground" point that they assumed was grounded...but was not. (Again, only writing this because we have no eyes to see what you're doing...only the words you're telling us). "

QSilver7 - (putting it here from the other thread); actually I tried with both the donor vehicle as well as the battery pack, albeit using random ground point...as I saw someone do it on Youtube. However can check using the actual negative terminal as suggested and get back.

[xbimma]

OP - its best you remove the battery and take it to Autozone or equivalent for full testing. Then decide next steps from there



Garage:
E53 X5 4.4i M62 born 2003-03-04 (SOLD)
E53 X5 4.8iS N62 born 2006-03-16
E90 325i N52 born 2006-03-28
F30 328i N20 born 2012-09-06

[Tekniks]

Thanks all for their valuable insights, I was able to resolve the issue - it turned out to be a slightly loose cable at the positive terminal of the battery in the trunk that was causing this...all set now!