2013 X5M - Electrical issues after jump start/new battery

[RJM6]

Hi All,

I am having some issues with my X5M after having a dead battery, jump-starting and then replacing the battery (and registering).

The car starts and drivees, but ABS/DSC/Brake lights on, guages and IDrive flashing, Electrical Malfunction warning on, and various accessories not getting power. Most of the cases I have read about with these issues, the car doesn't start.

My autel tool was having trouble communicating with the car to reset the battery. All of a sudden yesterday morning it was able to do so and I registered the battery and cleared all codes. Drove it for a bit and all was perfect. I then got back in it later in the day and all of these warning were back on.

Does anyone have any ideas on fuses, etc I can check? The car only has 35k miles and has been flawless up until this issue. No signs of water intrusion in the trunk, etc.

Best,
Ray

[wcs531]

Sounds like the ground strap to me. There should be a few threads covering the issue

[RJM6]

Originally Posted by wcs531

Sounds like the ground strap to me. There should be a few threads covering the issue

Thanks. I’ll check into that. Rear strap does looK fine and the car starts.

[RJM6]

I just checked with a voltmeter and only getting 11.57 volts at the battery. I wonder if this new Odyssey I got needs a charge.

[JellyStyle]

Does anyone know the BMW Part number for the engine bay ground strap for the E70?
is it 12427574962?

[wcs531]

Originally Posted by RJM6

Thanks. I’ll check into that. Rear strap does looK fine and the car starts.

The ground strap on my e90 looked ok while peering down from the top of the engine, but was very brittle and broke wherever it was flexed. Even though you only have 36k miles its ~10 years old and I'm assuming its seen road salt with you being in CT. If its never been done it would be cheap preventative maintenance anyway.

[jbash87]

Originally Posted by JellyStyle

Does anyone know the BMW Part number for the engine bay ground strap for the E70?
is it 12427574962?

Looks like one of them according to RealOEM

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=12_1441

[JellyStyle]

Originally Posted by jbash87

Looks like one of them according to RealOEM

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=12_1441

Here ya go for anyone else wondering, there are 3 with the X5M E70 (likely different for non M models)

01 Ground cable MOTORRAUM - Battery Box - 12427557027
02 Interference suppression band, exhaust - 12427568573
03 Interference-suppression band, transmission - 12427574962

Dont know which is for the Engine Bay, its not on real OEM that i can see.

[RJM6]

Originally Posted by wcs531

The ground strap on my e90 looked ok while peering down from the top of the engine, but was very brittle and broke wherever it was flexed. Even though you only have 36k miles its ~10 years old and I'm assuming its seen road salt with you being in CT. If its never been done it would be cheap preventative maintenance anyway.

Thanks, that's a good thought. I bought it in CA a year and a half ago with 18k miles from the original owner. It was in the CA desert here most of its life and I haven't driven it much in salt at all, but it is 10 years old.

I am getting low voltage readings off my new battery. I may disconnect it later and charge for the night just to rule that out. Other than that, it seems to be a ground or fuse/module type issue. The fact that it is intermittent and the car starts is a bit odd given what a lot of others with these symptoms run into. I have had a couple occasions of the car taking a few cranks to start, but I had ruled that down to low voltage at the time.

[jbash87]

Originally Posted by JellyStyle

Here ya go for anyone else wondering, there are 3 with the X5 E70

Cautionary note for anyone looking. Those are X5M numbers. Verify your build on RealOEM.com prior to ordering

[tomjonesBT33]

Originally Posted by RJM6

I just checked with a voltmeter and only getting 11.57 volts at the battery. I wonder if this new Odyssey I got needs a charge.

Is this with the car running? If so, you should see 14v or more otherwise the alternator took a crap.

If 11.57 is with the car off, then I’d try changing it and see if that fixes it.

[RJM6]

Car has a new Odyssey battery but I failed to check the voltage before install. I disconnected yesterday and fully charged overnight. Unfortunately in the same scenario. A lot of my codes are Kombi related?

[wcs531]

The computer systems in these cars are very finicky and will go haywire without proper voltages. I'm not sure how true it is but I have read the car wont charge the battery with a bad ground strap which would explain the low battery.

One method to check if its ground strap related is to use a makeshift ground strap from jumper cables. You only need to use one cable out of the pair, connect one clamp to to the block and the other to the body. Unfortunately with the rats nest that the n63/s63 is, I don't know a proper place to get an easily accessible ground to the block with jumper cables, everything ive seen is related to the inline 6.

Also please do not drive around with the temporary ground strap, just idle in the driveway for a while to see if it charges the battery and codes go away.

[RJM6]

I had trouble starting out of the blue the other day. Could this be the IBS fully failing?