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      06-06-2021, 11:11 AM   #1
Serf27
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E70 Comfort access not working.

Hi everyone, the CA on my 2011 x5 has stopped working.

I’ve had the car for a year and it always worked pretty well.
Sometimes the car wouldn’t lock or unlock until I pulled the keys out of my
Pocket. Other times it wouldn’t read the key when I sat inside until I took the keys out of my pocket either.
Those issues wouldn’t happen all the time but they did happen.

Now I need to use the fob to lock/unlock and start.

Battery in fob is new.
When I scan the car with protools, no faults appear.

In my e91, it was a common issue for the wires going to the hatch to rip and cause the same issue. Could this be it?

Thanks.
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      06-06-2021, 09:47 PM   #2
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How new is the battery and what brand is it? I’ve had the same thing happen within a week of replacing the battery. Turned out the cheap brand of battery I bought didn’t work well with the bmw fob.
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      06-07-2021, 12:23 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dayday505 View Post
How new is the battery and what brand is it? I’ve had the same thing happen within a week of replacing the battery. Turned out the cheap brand of battery I bought didn’t work well with the bmw fob.
The car battery is a year old. I bought it from Walmart. It was about $150.
Not the cheapest battery they had but also not the most expensive battery.

The battery in the actual fob is energizer I believe.

The actual fob for unlocking/locking has also been very slow.
Half of the time I have to press the fob about 3-4 times for the car to lock, and even get closer to the car itself with the fob.

The 2 year old Duralast in my e90(though it has no CA) has never had an issue locking/unlocking even from a distance.
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      06-07-2021, 07:05 AM   #4
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Sorry, I was just talking about the fob battery. Energizer is usually legit but I’d try changing it out anyway. I’ve had a few batteries fail and would get the same problems you’re having after a few days/weeks of replacing it.
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      06-07-2021, 02:31 PM   #5
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If not related to fob or vehicle battery, next most likely are the door modules (or whatever they're called). They are prone to fail. Had a couple of them replaced under warranty on other X5s- rather spendy. ;-)
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      06-08-2021, 10:46 AM   #6
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I’ll try another new battery In the fob.

And door modules? I’ve read the door handles
Failing and causing issues. I’ve also seen the antennas failing. Wouldn’t I get a code for those things if they were bad?

Locking and unlocking the car with the fob is becoming a hassle now too. I need to click the buttons about 3-4 times now.
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      06-08-2021, 09:18 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Serf27 View Post
I’ll try another new battery In the fob.

And door modules? I’ve read the door handles
Failing and causing issues. I’ve also seen the antennas failing. Wouldn’t I get a code for those things if they were bad?

Locking and unlocking the car with the fob is becoming a hassle now too. I need to click the buttons about 3-4 times now.
Yeah. Handles sound right, but I’m pretty sure the electronics in them are what cause failures. I believe them failing is consistent with your experience. I am definitely not an expert though...
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      06-08-2021, 11:42 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Molez93 View Post
Yeah. Handles sound right, but I’m pretty sure the electronics in them are what cause failures. I believe them failing is consistent with your experience. I am definitely not an expert though...
I have a few spare handles, it’s not much work to swap them but I wish I knew which one is bad.
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      06-09-2021, 10:02 AM   #9
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My comfort access goes out if I leave a wireless ob2 Bluetooth plugged into it or the jb4 ob2 connector attached after it sits for 10min or so. Do you have Any wireless devices or anything attached to the ob2 port all the time?

If not then as mentioned before check out your handles and also the internal comfort access antennas.
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      06-09-2021, 01:26 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sophisticated Redneck View Post
My comfort access goes out if I leave a wireless ob2 Bluetooth plugged into it or the jb4 ob2 connector attached after it sits for 10min or so. Do you have Any wireless devices or anything attached to the ob2 port all the time?

If not then as mentioned before check out your handles and also the internal comfort access antennas.
There is an OBD2 dongle plugged in from the previous owner. I think its a WiFi receiver for the android radio screen.
I’ve always left that plugged in though and never had issues.

I’m also starting to see other threads where a weak battery or parasitic draw while the car is off will shut off the CA to avoid battery drain.

Is there anyway to check the door handles or module before swapping?
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      06-09-2021, 07:21 PM   #11
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Have you checked if one of the handles is warmer than the others? Seem to recall that some people who had issues with their comfort access had that symptom.
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      06-09-2021, 07:39 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Serf27 View Post
There is an OBD2 dongle plugged in from the previous owner. I think its a WiFi receiver for the android radio screen.
I’ve always left that plugged in though and never had issues.

I’m also starting to see other threads where a weak battery or parasitic draw while the car is off will shut off the CA to avoid battery drain.

Is there anyway to check the door handles or module before swapping?
The theory on why certain obd2 devices knock it out is that it doesn't allow the car to go into full sleep mode and so it shuts everything down. I would recommend you still test it, just disconnect it from your obd2 port and let the truck sit for 30min, then come back.

If that doesnt make a difference then like the other member posted above, feel all of your handles when its cool out and see if any are warm.

Also there are multiple antennas, if your rear hatch will pop open when its locked from touching it but your front doors wont, good indication that the front antenna needs to be replaced
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      06-09-2021, 10:10 PM   #13
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OP, get ProTool and scan the vehicle for faults. You will be able to tell which one is bad this way. I had a similar experience a couple months back and bought a used door handle eBay...problem solved. Good luck!
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      06-11-2021, 11:27 AM   #14
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so NONE of your CA handles work? Or just one? When I had one fail (happened on both my E70 and my E91), only the failed one stopped working... I don't know why one failing would ever cause all the rest to not work. Makes no sense
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      06-14-2021, 02:51 AM   #15
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Thanks for the replies everyone.

Quote:
Originally Posted by zoom750 View Post
Have you checked if one of the handles is warmer than the others? Seem to recall that some people who had issues with their comfort access had that symptom.
I’ve seen this issue too online. I’ve checked all my handles and they all feel normal.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sophisticated Redneck View Post
The theory on why certain obd2 devices knock it out is that it doesn't allow the car to go into full sleep mode and so it shuts everything down. I would recommend you still test it, just disconnect it from your obd2 port and let the truck sit for 30min, then come back.

If that doesnt make a difference then like the other member posted above, feel all of your handles when its cool out and see if any are warm.

Also there are multiple antennas, if your rear hatch will pop open when its locked from touching it but your front doors wont, good indication that the front antenna needs to be replaced
I will remove the odb2 attachment and see if it works. But I’ve had that obd2 dongle on since I got the car and it never caused the system not to work.
None of the 4 handles work and neither does the hatch.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Skers 05 View Post
OP, get ProTool and scan the vehicle for faults. You will be able to tell which one is bad this way. I had a similar experience a couple months back and bought a used door handle eBay...problem solved. Good luck!
This was the first thing I did. Protools did not show any faults.
I cannot find the comfort access module on protools either. I remember there being a specific CA module right?

Quote:
Originally Posted by drummr8 View Post
so NONE of your CA handles work? Or just one? When I had one fail (happened on both my E70 and my E91), only the failed one stopped working... I don't know why one failing would ever cause all the rest to not work. Makes no sense
Yes, none work. On my e91 it was broken wire going to the hatch antenna. But that completely stopped the fob from working too.
On my e70 the fob still works, but half of the time I have to press the buttons down hard and/or multiple times.


I’m going to get another new battery for the fob tomorrow, if that doesn’t work, I’m taking the car battery to get charged and if that doesn’t work...
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      06-22-2021, 01:24 PM   #16
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The new battery in the fob did nothing.
Scanning with protools does not show any CA errors.
Only error I get that I can think would be related is 9D12- Alarm siren internal battery.
Could that be the issue?

In my e93 I can see a CA module under the safety option in protools.
In my e70, I do not see a CA module.

Last edited by Serf27; 06-22-2021 at 01:56 PM..
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      07-09-2021, 11:42 AM   #17
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Hey all. Still dealing with this issue.
Very frustrating.
The key fob hardly wants to work now. I need to press the lock or unlock button on the fob like 3 times sometimes for the car to do anything.

I’m going to order a used CA module.

There are 2 listed modules on eBay. Which do I need?
There is comfort access body control module and passive GO module.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
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      07-09-2021, 01:40 PM   #18
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If you end up finding a solution, I'd be very interested in finding out what worked. My tailgate opens with Comfort Access, but none of the doors do. The keyfob buttons work for lock/unlock just fine (thankfully).

I think I may need to replace the front antenna, but I have no idea where it is -- I can't find much about this online other than for replacing door handles.

Thanks!
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      07-09-2021, 02:09 PM   #19
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I just found the location of the CA module.
I think 1 antenna is behind the bumper and 1 on the hatch spoiler.
Not really sure.
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      07-12-2021, 09:35 AM   #20
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I encountered almost the same problem on my x5 e70 with the soft close option and the fuses in the trunk were dead.
Did you check the condition of the fuses?
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      07-12-2021, 11:06 AM   #21
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Quote:
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I encountered almost the same problem on my x5 e70 with the soft close option and the fuses in the trunk were dead.
Did you check the condition of the fuses?
I have not, where are the fuses in the trunk?
I do have soft close as well.
Thanks.
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      07-12-2021, 12:31 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SarDecK View Post
I encountered almost the same problem on my x5 e70 with the soft close option and the fuses in the trunk were dead.
Did you check the condition of the fuses?
Fuse 132 for comfort access was indeed blown.
I replaced it. My scanner now shows the comfort access module!
It’s working now!!!
Wow, what a slip up on my end for not checking the fuses first.
Will see if the system responds better and is not laggy.
Thank you.

I think the fuse may have blown when I swapped my door and was changing the wire harness.

Last edited by Serf27; 07-12-2021 at 12:50 PM..
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