What a Disasterous Morning - X5

[nav]

All

I feel i have to share my pain with you... I just had the MOST disasterous morning...... Let me begin

My friend owns a BMW X5 (its ok to laugh) - he asked me to drop it off to BMW in High Wycombe as the battery light was on. A few weeks back he had the battery replaced, but the light was still showing on the dash, so for obvious reasons, he wanted BMW to check it out.

I arranged for a friend of mine to meet me at BMW to give me a lift to work...... how did I arrive at BMW - on the back of an AA truck !!!! A tarentino moment.... rewind...

I'm driving on the M25 this In the X5 at 80 in the 3rd lane and suddenly hear this "ping" sound - lights come on then suddenly an airy silence.......... the car had died - the Engine management had gone to sleep as the battery was dead....... everything went off - no indicators, no engine, nothing... I’m coasting a dead duck at 80 in the 3rd lane of rush hour..... horrible thoughts of me pushing this X5 from the 3rd lane to the hard shoulder on the M25 made me feel nauseous.....

With no indicators, i somehow managed to avoid killing myself and other drivers around me and just about crawled to the hard shoulder (with no indicators thats hard, with dark tinted windows, its harder, with No Electric windows for hand signals...... its impossible....... not that I can remember my hand signals from the highway code....)

What was supposed to be a relatively easy morning dropping a car off then heading to work - ended up being a nightmare journey from hell.

You would have thought that there would be some backup in place to prevent a potential disaster like this from taking place.... An X5 at 80mph with NO LIFE - is a very very dangerous object......

Anyway – glad to say that I made it back in one piece, after a hairy morning……

 

[pammy]

OMG!!!!!!! That is one scary story. I guess it's another question over the safety around tinted windows.

I had a similar event happen to me in a Mini 850 (several years ago). We were in the outside lane of the motorway - Friday night teaming with rain and it dies. Fortuantely the lorries we were overtaking grasped what had happened as they could see us panicking inside and trying to see a way out. They drew back to let us pull onto the hard shoulder. Dread to think what could have happened had they not been able to see us.

At least an X5 is a bit of a brute - but if people can't see something's up - you were just very lucky I guess! Thank goodness

 

[R2D2]

.......The ultimate driving machine!

Really glad you are OK.

 

[saorbust]

Ouch

Need a new pair of trousers ?

 

[nav]

Ouch

Need a new pair of trousers ?

Definately need a new suit !!

 

[Vips]

Ouch

Need a new pair of trousers ?

I need a new pair of trousers, just reading the story

Glad you are ok. Bet thats the last time you do any one a favour. Let us know what BMW had to say about this.

Surely this must be a major safety issue or a major fault on modern cars where as soon as something suspect happens the whole ECU system goes into shut down mode.

I know its not funny, but for a second I thought I was reading the same thread as that **** in the bmw 318i who was going at 130mph

 

[nickmann]

That sounds really scary. I don't envy you having to make a split second decision to stop in lane 3, or drift across to the hard shoulder.

 

[Benzowner]

You would have thought that there would be some backup in place to prevent a potential disaster like this from taking place.... An X5 at 80mph with NO LIFE - is a very very dangerous object......

Hang on a minute................

A few weeks back he had the battery replaced, but the light was still showing on the dash, so for obvious reasons, he wanted BMW to check it out.

How much warning do you need

 

[sagalout]

scary stuff indeed

I once had a car die on me in the third lane of the motorway, and it was scary enough getting it to the hard shoulder with indicators still working!

 

[nav]

I was most concerned about the brakes and steering as when a system shuts down - i would have thought the hydraulics go as well........... the brakes seemed ok as well as steering - the engine sounded very heavy like when u try to push start an old car and just as u let the clutch up ........ it takes a while before it starts and sounds heavy..... thats what this sounded like when in D mode .....that might have been minimal engine power to allow for steering and braking..... nothing else... not even hazards were working....

Actually thinking about it now..... i was extremely fortunate.... WOW - its only after all the adrenalin has settled, have i had a chance to think about it......

 

[blassberg]

My engine shut down at 115 in the ML270 twice. Not busy so indication not a problem and coasted most of a mile to the Services in both cases

 

[nav]

How much warning do you need

lol.... there is always one - at least u bought a smile to my face.... so u have some value on this board then !!!!!!!!

 

[nav]

My engine shut down at 115 in the ML270 twice. Not busy so indication not a problem and coasted most of a mile to the Services in both cases

I guess in a situation like this.....all your years of driving and training takes over and it becomes instinct on what to do to maneouvre to safety......

What caused your engine shutdown at 115...... did u run out of petrol !!!!



On a serious note.... what caused your engine shut down....

 

[dagd]

Pammy don't read

Reminds me of a recent incident my daughter and her friend had recently. My daughter was a front seat passenger in friends car, friend is driving happily in lane three of four on M25 at around 70 in the rush hour. So there they are, chattering away, and the bonnet flies open stays on its hinges and completely blocks the windscreen! Friend has only been driving for a few months and this is her first car, she started to panic and tried looking through the small gap at the bottom of the windscreen, but could only see a small fraction of the road, so daughter winds down the passenger window and has to guide friend across three lanes of busy motorway, fortunately, the cars behind can see what has happened and move out of the way. They managed to stop OK on the hard shoulder and call the AA.

In addition, it was raining and dark, but apart from being scared and wet they were unhurt.

 

[BTB 500]

I once had a 1-week-old company car die in the outside lane of the M1 in heavy traffic. I had to put it up against the central reservation barrier, then climb out of the passenger door into the fast lane and cross to the hard shoulder to get to a phone.

It was a Talbot Solara btw, hideous thing.

 

[Will]

Didn't think BMW's needed indicators to cut accross three lanes of traffic

On a serious note - Glad you got away safely I'd be interested to hear BMW's explanation for this

Will

 

[219]

It was a Talbot Solara btw, hideous thing.

Thanks !

I had all but forgotten that those ever existed


..... how to get him back for reminding me ?


Austin All Aggro ?

Ugly Princess ?

mmmmMmmm , trying hard to think of something worse .

 

[SilverSaloon]

on the 7er the idrive comes on and says "low battery warning" if it reaches a level not enough to be able to start/restart the car. shouldnt of this happend?

 

[nav]

They managed to stop OK on the hard shoulder and call the AA.

In addition, it was raining and dark, but apart from being scared and wet they were unhurt.

OMG - glad to hear they were ok.....

 

[nav]

I'd be interested to hear BMW's explanation for this

Will

While i was waiting on the M25 - i spoke to BMW service engineers and they said that once the battery loses power and voltage goes down to a certain level - the system shuts down.

I would have thought that the car would have been able to sustain itself on engine power once started - but clearly it requires more battery power for fucntionality and cant sustain itself on just the alternator......