First time BMW owner and huge issues on 2nd day...

[Suge206]

You got a new motor, just drive the shit out of it an enjoy it. My 50i is rock solid.

[JoeyBimX5din]

They are unique 'trucks' (I still have no idea what to actually call the X5 that makes sense in my mind) and they drive well. The mileage for the power being made is crazy

[UglyBuzzard]

Originally Posted by beachcomberx5

FWIW and just my two cents, but in my opinion you might consider getting rid of the X5. I know it has a new engine and a 2 year warranty but the N63 has so many problems. It might be ok if you lived close to a dealership but you are over 300 miles away. I can guarantee something will go wrong that either your local shop won't know what to do or if they try to fix may void the warranty.

With the new engine the truck value is probably worth more than what you paid.

The F15 is a much better vehicle and engine. Maybe the dealership would consider taking your x5 as a trade. Might be worth asking.

In my opinion the F15 drives like a mini van. I went e70 for the driving experience. I have had a few issues with mine but under warranty for another 50k miles. And, I get decent loaners.

[beachcomberx5]

True but OP has no warranty except for a new engine warranty. A CPO or new car warranty make all the difference with the 5.0. Without it good luck.

[Birdoprey]

Update....

Been driving the X-5 being easy with it till the 1st oil change. Its been a week and 3 days since i picked it up and i've put 1140 miles on it. No issue till today. Driving into town this morning(10miles) got warning that vehicle was discharging. Didn't get much farther and got warning of ABS issue. Seconds later Transmission issue. Then info center went out. Windows would not roll down. All this happened within a mile. Trying to get to a parking lot with access, i made it a few more blocks. As i pulled into the parking lot it was not running and kinda grinded to a halt(think it put itself in park and wouldn't go till almost stopped). When stopped, nothing electrical worked. I was a few blocks from work and had to make the walk. Was about an hour before i got back to it. Could lift the rear gate and it actually tried to turn over but the battery was too low. Got a work truck and some jumper cables and hooked them directly to the battery. Left the work truck running and let it charge the battery. After 30min it the X5 started right up. Had my son drive it towards home and i followed. We got 2 miles and it started going crazy again. Pulled it over and charged again for about 45min. Had my son turn a/c and radio off and run with the windows down. Made it the 7 miles home and it actually started twice after arriving to get it where i could put it on a charger. Have an automatic charger and have it set to 2a to see what happens.

My thinking is that there could be 3 possible problems
1) Short somewhere
2) Alt not charging
3) Battery

I'm thinking that 1 and 2 are more likely since it runs down so fast while driving. If it were the battery, the Alt "should" keep it charged while running. Not sure.
I did check to see if all connections were tight on the battery and such. Not sure what to check under the hood though. Its very compact under the hood!

I just can't get a break with this vehicle! For what its worth, i've loved every bit of the past 1100 miles....when there were no issues...

[-c-]

Originally Posted by Birdoprey

Update....

Been driving the X-5 being easy with it till the 1st oil change. Its been a week and 3 days since i picked it up and i've put 1140 miles on it. No issue till today. Driving into town this morning(10miles) got warning that vehicle was discharging. Didn't get much farther and got warning of ABS issue. Seconds later Transmission issue. Then info center went out. Windows would not roll down. All this happened within a mile. Trying to get to a parking lot with access, i made it a few more blocks. As i pulled into the parking lot it was not running and kinda grinded to a halt(think it put itself in park and wouldn't go till almost stopped). When stopped, nothing electrical worked. I was a few blocks from work and had to make the walk. Was about an hour before i got back to it. Could lift the rear gate and it actually tried to turn over but the battery was too low. Got a work truck and some jumper cables and hooked them directly to the battery. Left the work truck running and let it charge the battery. After 30min it the X5 started right up. Had my son drive it towards home and i followed. We got 2 miles and it started going crazy again. Pulled it over and charged again for about 45min. Had my son turn a/c and radio off and run with the windows down. Made it the 7 miles home and it actually started twice after arriving to get it where i could put it on a charger. Have an automatic charger and have it set to 2a to see what happens.

My thinking is that there could be 3 possible problems
1) Short somewhere
2) Alt not charging
3) Battery

I'm thinking that 1 and 2 are more likely since it runs down so fast while driving. If it were the battery, the Alt "should" keep it charged while running. Not sure.
I did check to see if all connections were tight on the battery and such. Not sure what to check under the hood though. Its very compact under the hood!

I just can't get a break with this vehicle! For what its worth, i've loved every bit of the past 1100 miles....when there were no issues...

Well your model year does see battery failures around now, if the dealer missed something it would have shown up earlier. Are you still under your warranty period ? Could get a new battery installed as it's the easiest way to tell and probably cheapest. If it goes dead again then you know it's mechanical or shorting out somewhere.

Some of the issues you speak off happen with a low discharged battery.

My dealer OEM price was 150 for a new battery.
Mines a 2012, The dealer you bought it from will probably change it just for good measure because of the issue you had. It's worth a call. And you don't need to drive to the BMW dealer for it. If you want OEM they can send it to your dealer you bought it from.

[beachcomberx5]

Originally Posted by Birdoprey

Update....

Been driving the X-5 being easy with it till the 1st oil change. Its been a week and 3 days since i picked it up and i've put 1140 miles on it. No issue till today. Driving into town this morning(10miles) got warning that vehicle was discharging. Didn't get much farther and got warning of ABS issue. Seconds later Transmission issue. Then info center went out. Windows would not roll down. All this happened within a mile. Trying to get to a parking lot with access, i made it a few more blocks. As i pulled into the parking lot it was not running and kinda grinded to a halt(think it put itself in park and wouldn't go till almost stopped). When stopped, nothing electrical worked. I was a few blocks from work and had to make the walk. Was about an hour before i got back to it. Could lift the rear gate and it actually tried to turn over but the battery was too low. Got a work truck and some jumper cables and hooked them directly to the battery. Left the work truck running and let it charge the battery. After 30min it the X5 started right up. Had my son drive it towards home and i followed. We got 2 miles and it started going crazy again. Pulled it over and charged again for about 45min. Had my son turn a/c and radio off and run with the windows down. Made it the 7 miles home and it actually started twice after arriving to get it where i could put it on a charger. Have an automatic charger and have it set to 2a to see what happens.

My thinking is that there could be 3 possible problems
1) Short somewhere
2) Alt not charging
3) Battery

I'm thinking that 1 and 2 are more likely since it runs down so fast while driving. If it were the battery, the Alt "should" keep it charged while running. Not sure.
I did check to see if all connections were tight on the battery and such. Not sure what to check under the hood though. Its very compact under the hood!

I just can't get a break with this vehicle! For what its worth, i've loved every bit of the past 1100 miles....when there were no issues...

Sorry to hear that but in my experience this is just the beginning. Problem is you are 300 miles from dealer... trade now and avoid headaches later.

[BOOF-M3]

As I had mentioned earlier, I think it's astounding that some of these cars average 4 trips to the dealer per year. We can put a man on the moon but we can't make a car that drives with minimal issues. Hoping for the best for you Bird.

[jiggz]

Originally Posted by BOOF-M3

As I had mentioned earlier, I think it's astounding that some of these cars average 4 trips to the dealer per year. We can put a man on the moon but we can't make a car that drives with minimal issues. Hoping for the best for you Bird.

Mine doesn't!

There was another thread on here sometime back about X5 reliability, etc., and most of the 50i owners who chimed in said they've had none/minimal issues beyond general maintenance (which of course is expected, even though some people seem put off even by dealing with maintenance!). It's these few threads that involve major issues that seem to take precedent on the overall view of the 50i.

Mine's a 2012 50i, CPO expires next week, and I'm just gonna keep driving it!

[BOOF-M3]

Originally Posted by jiggz

Mine doesn't!

There was another thread on here sometime back about X5 reliability, etc., and most of the 50i owners who chimed in said they've no had issues beyond general maintenance (which of course is expected, even though some people seem put off even by dealing with maintenance!). It's these few threads that involve major issues that seem to take precedent on the overall view of the 50i.

Mine's a 2012 50i, CPO expires next week, and I'm just gonna keep driving it!

Hey Jiggz, you were very helpful when I was looking for one. Can't tell you enough how much I appreciated your knowledge. It's good to hear that you haven't had any issues. Many that I looked at had a multitude of issues. Many of the sellers were proud of the records they had but they were long lists of items that were fixed over a four year period. It was stunning. We just decided to get another M3. It's too bad because we really could have used the bigger vehicle.

[Naz24]

Originally Posted by jiggz

Mine doesn't!

There was another thread on here sometime back about X5 reliability, etc., and most of the 50i owners who chimed in said they've had none/minimal issues beyond general maintenance (which of course is expected, even though some people seem put off even by dealing with maintenance!). It's these few threads that involve major issues that seem to take precedent on the overall view of the 50i.

Mine's a 2012 50i, CPO expires next week, and I'm just gonna keep driving it!

My X5M CPO goes out first week of October.

Pray for all of us!

[jiggz]

Originally Posted by BOOF-M3

Hey Jiggz, you were very helpful when I was looking for one. Can't tell you enough how much I appreciated your knowledge. It's good to hear that you haven't had any issues. Many that I looked at had a multitude of issues. Many of the sellers were proud of the records they had but they were long lists of items that were fixed over a four year period. It was stunning. We just decided to get another M3. It's too bad because we really could have used the bigger vehicle.

Sure I remember you, plus I see you on the M3post as well! 2 M3's, nothing wrong with that.

I have a folder of service records myself, but almost all of them are N63 campaign related, and every 50i owner should have those. Other than that, just regular maintenance.

Originally Posted by Naz24

My X5M CPO goes out first week of October.

Pray for all of us!

Haha, yah perhaps

I figure worst case scenario, the thing begins to fall apart, and then I'll just sell/trade it.

But it's been so reliable for so many years, why would I give up on it now, especially given all maintenance is current/turn-key vehicle. Plus, BMW ownership and expensive repairs go hand in hand (especially on the E70 platform), you can't own these things above 50K and not realistically know you're going to spend some $ on them at some point.

[JoeyBimX5din]

Originally Posted by Birdoprey

Update....

Been driving the X-5 being easy with it till the 1st oil change. Its been a week and 3 days since i picked it up and i've put 1140 miles on it. No issue till today. Driving into town this morning(10miles) got warning that vehicle was discharging. Didn't get much farther and got warning of ABS issue. Seconds later Transmission issue. Then info center went out. Windows would not roll down. All this happened within a mile. Trying to get to a parking lot with access, i made it a few more blocks. As i pulled into the parking lot it was not running and kinda grinded to a halt(think it put itself in park and wouldn't go till almost stopped). When stopped, nothing electrical worked. I was a few blocks from work and had to make the walk. Was about an hour before i got back to it. Could lift the rear gate and it actually tried to turn over but the battery was too low. Got a work truck and some jumper cables and hooked them directly to the battery. Left the work truck running and let it charge the battery. After 30min it the X5 started right up. Had my son drive it towards home and i followed. We got 2 miles and it started going crazy again. Pulled it over and charged again for about 45min. Had my son turn a/c and radio off and run with the windows down. Made it the 7 miles home and it actually started twice after arriving to get it where i could put it on a charger. Have an automatic charger and have it set to 2a to see what happens.

My thinking is that there could be 3 possible problems
1) Short somewhere
2) Alt not charging
3) Battery

I'm thinking that 1 and 2 are more likely since it runs down so fast while driving. If it were the battery, the Alt "should" keep it charged while running. Not sure.
I did check to see if all connections were tight on the battery and such. Not sure what to check under the hood though. Its very compact under the hood!

I just can't get a break with this vehicle! For what its worth, i've loved every bit of the past 1100 miles....when there were no issues...

I would not look to deep into a short in the system. Typically when you have a multiplexed system, a short will not cause complete catastrophic shut down. You would possibly see a soft code or an error if it was a simple short. This kind of behavoir makes me lean towards failed batter (being as it had a motor, that is highly likely) or failed alternator. I do not know exactly how the system work, but the dumb ignorant understand I have of these charging system is, that they do not charge all the time, only when needed, to keep the parasitic drag off the motor. So troubleshooting the system may be tricky. I would call your dealer and see what they want to do, that large of a repair and only 1100 miles since, they should own. Do you have a smart battery tester around at all? If you do I would see what kind of CCA that battery has, because it might be a simple fix of a new battery, and you can avoid all this commotion.

I would start there, it is the most simple component, and probably the cheapest.

good luck

[Birdoprey]

Got the X5 to BMW of Dallas on Friday. Thinking the alt must be bad or some such. I had to stop every 40mi to charge it and it would do fine for roughly the next 40mi. Needless to say it was a long trip! I wanted to get it back to the same dealer that had been dealing with the warranty though Autonation, especially since it was in their network. They gave me a loaner and said it would be Monday before they got a look at it. Told them to go ahead and change the oil since it crossed 1200 miles(since new motor) on the trip there. I also had an issue with the right side bolster on the drivers seat not moving. The left side would adjust but the right side was not. They will be looking into that as well. Hoping to get all this stuff taken care of since i now have less than 3 weeks left of the 90 day warranty.
Back to hurry up and wait...

[X Driver]

Originally Posted by Naz24

My X5M CPO goes out first week of October.

Pray for all of us!

Never had one. Two years now. It was "okay"....

[Birdoprey]

Got a call from the BMW rep this afternoon. Good news and bad news.
Good news: Alternator and side bolster motor bad and are being replaced. Zero cost to me($3000ish total).
Bad news: Battery bad and its NOT covered. Cost is $450 for a battery with a 2 year warranty installed. Cost is $40 more for a lifetime battery installed, but will take a week to get it.
I griped stating that the alt killed the battery. Battery was fine til the alt had issues. Rep stated that i could contact the warranty company if i wanted. I did and they quickly stated that the warranty contract states that if the alt OVERCHARGED the battery, they would cover it. If the alt UNDERCHARGED the battery(or not at all), then they would NOT cover it.....boo-hiss...

Told rep to order the lifetime warranty battery......

[jandref321]

Originally Posted by Birdoprey

Got a call from the BMW rep this afternoon. Good news and bad news.
Good news: Alternator and side bolster motor bad and are being replaced. Zero cost to me($3000ish total).
Bad news: Battery bad and its NOT covered. Cost is $450 for a battery with a 2 year warranty installed. Cost is $40 more for a lifetime battery installed, but will take a week to get it.
I griped stating that the alt killed the battery. Battery was fine til the alt had issues. Rep stated that i could contact the warranty company if i wanted. I did and they quickly stated that the warranty contract states that if the alt OVERCHARGED the battery, they would cover it. If the alt UNDERCHARGED the battery(or not at all), then they would NOT cover it.....boo-hiss...

Told rep to order the lifetime warranty battery......

At some point you will have an entirely new truck

[BOOF-M3]

Insurance job. We are your friends, we won't tell.

[Birdoprey]

LOL! No kidding!
Normally i would not consider anything thing like that, but lately....? lol

I sure hope this is it and i can enjoy driving the thing!

[JMD]

Sounds like a Valvetronic issue or something! Hopefully it's not catastrophic!

[JMD]

Originally Posted by Birdoprey

Got a call from the BMW rep this afternoon. Good news and bad news.
Good news: Alternator and side bolster motor bad and are being replaced. Zero cost to me($3000ish total).
Bad news: Battery bad and its NOT covered. Cost is $450 for a battery with a 2 year warranty installed. Cost is $40 more for a lifetime battery installed, but will take a week to get it.
I griped stating that the alt killed the battery. Battery was fine til the alt had issues. Rep stated that i could contact the warranty company if i wanted. I did and they quickly stated that the warranty contract states that if the alt OVERCHARGED the battery, they would cover it. If the alt UNDERCHARGED the battery(or not at all), then they would NOT cover it.....boo-hiss...

Told rep to order the lifetime warranty battery......

Fight the battery issue! They do a full diagnostic on all cars they take on trade and retain on the Lot! So, they would have definitely done a battery check on a vehicle that has some 50K on the clock!

If don't get full compensation,...try for 50/50 split!

GL.

[BOOF-M3]

Assuming everything is going smoothly?