What a Disasterous Morning - X5

[nav]

Austin All Aggro ?

lol - now thats showing your age !!!

 

[nav]

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?

Ya the battery indicator light was on - but i thought once started it would have been able to sustain itself using engine power..... clearly not the case.... the X5 has one mother of a battery - its in the most craziest location - under the spare wheel in the boot of the car...... i guess the only place they could find to put such a beast.......

 

[DieselE]

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......

That red light is not a battery indicator. It illuminates when the alternator is not charging. It will say quite clearly in the handbook that you should seek immediate assistance. That does not translate into "drive it round for a couple of weeks wondering why the light is still on".

Glad to hear that you're OK but your mate could do with RTFM to understand at least the basic warnings that the car gives you when something is wrong.

 

[A-AvantGarde]

All

... 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.

So he asked you to drop it off at BMW in High Wycombe, d'ya reckon he knew what was going to happen?

Glad you got through it okay, scary stuff. I've had a Ford Focus lose all power on the M25 (the 5 lane stretch too!) with the Engine managment light come on, not a great feeling so I know how you feel.

 

[nav]

So he asked you to drop it off at BMW in High Wycombe, d'ya reckon he knew what was going to happen?

Glad you got through it okay, scary stuff. I've had a Ford Focus lose all power on the M25 (the 5 lane stretch too!) with the Engine managment light come on, not a great feeling so I know how you feel.

If he did know - hes in my bad books for a very very very ............ VERY LONG TIME....... I did ask him "is the car gonna break down on me"..... in hindsight...... that was such a stupid question..... !!!!

Never EVER EVER trust a BMW Drivers word when they say "yeh it'll b ok......... ehum..... cough cough..... "

Glad to see you made it though your ordeal ok as well.... It seems to be a common theme here - loss of engine management causing total failure of cars at high speeds....... you really would have thought there would be some fail safe - like ......... a loud warning - to say "PULL OVER PULL OVER.... THE CAR IS ABOUT TO DIEEEEEE"

 

[fuzzer]

 

[blassberg]

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



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

ECU glitch. Interestingly I still had power steering until I braked at which point the steering went understandably heavy as I was about to stop. Brakes still worked.

 

[fuzzer]

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

Really glad you are OK.

Reading this again when im not just about to go to sleep ...

This is no reflection on bmw , sounds like something that could happen to anyones car.

Mercedes arent immune from the odd mishaps

 

[DieselE]

Glad to see you made it though your ordeal ok as well.... It seems to be a common theme here - loss of engine management causing total failure of cars at high speeds....... you really would have thought there would be some fail safe - like ......... a loud warning - to say "PULL OVER PULL OVER.... THE CAR IS ABOUT TO DIEEEEEE"

Based on the information in your posts, for some reason the alternator has not been charging the battery since the new battery was installed. That is why the ignition warning light was on. So the car has been running for two weeks with all electrical functions operating from the stored energy in the battery.

BMW have installed software to protect the electronics from an over discharged battery which is why it shut down. Yes, laptop computers have a low battery warning "low battery, switch to mains power or save your work". For well over than fifty years, in cars that loss of battery charging capability has been by the ignition warning light. That warning light and the yellow low oil pressure warning lights are the two that you NEVER ignore. So the car was giving the warning and you and the owner were ignoring it.

Sorry if this sounds harsh but the best warning systems in the world are useless if they are ignored.