My 2006 M5 is stuck in gear and having electronic overload. would not open with key, once in wipers would go on and off - dash flashed many signals - or just goes blank. Tried jump, but all that did was make the dash do more funny things.
Only symbol I saw was a lock and a steering whees (or clock) a few times.
I am doing search now but and help would be appreciated?
My 2006 M5 is stuck in gear and having electronic overload. would not open with key, once in wipers would go on and off - dash flashed many signals - or just goes blank. Tried jump, but all that did was make the dash do more funny things.
Only symbol I saw was a lock and a steering whees (or clock) a few times.
I am doing search now but and help would be appreciated?
JCM
I had the key/steering wheel lock symbol and couldn't start the car once. I just put the key in the ignition and turned the wheel. Sounds like you may have more serious problems, but it couldn't hurt to try.
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Mike
2006 E60 M5 Silverstone II/Silverstone/Aluminum, All Options, 35% tint, Aluminum Pedals, Valentine V1 and Passport 9500i Hardwired, Blinder Xtreme M40, Michelin PS2's on 20 inch BBS RS-GT's, Winter Pirelli Sottozeros on OEM 19 inch wheels, Resonator Delete, Charcoal Filters Removed, Eibach Springs and Spacers, Active Autowerks ECU, BMC Filters, RPI Air Intakes, Evosport Pulley. Retired from track duty 10/08. Dinan diff replaced with OEM at my cost due to failure at 56,000 miles. First on the list for the upcoming F10 M5.
I had this happen for the first time last week too. Turn the wheel back and forth until it's centered and try an unload the power steering pump. It is telling you that the steering column is resting against the lock and will not let you start the car until it's off-loaded.
I'm wondering if this might be a side effect of the Evosport Pulley which we both seem to have. The logic being that it turns the power steering pump a bit slower.
To avoid having it occur again, be sure the steering wheel is centered and power steering pump is off-loaded before shutting the car down.
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"Quitters never win, winners never quit. But those who never win and never quit are idiots."
2008 BMW Z4M Coupe
2007 BMW M6 Coupe--SOLD, but not forgotten!
2010 335d
Had a simular problem a while back. To eliminate a lot of possibilities, put your car on a trickle charger over night and let us know what happens.
I had the same problem: wipers going crazy, gears changing weird, radio not working, etc.. and I later found out that it was from a cooler I had in the trunk that tipped over and spilled water under the trunk matt and into the computer area. I simply took everything out, cleaned up all the water and let it dry out. Everything works fine now but it was sooooo frustrating trying to figure it out.
I had this happen for the first time last week too. Turn the wheel back and forth until it's centered and try an unload the power steering pump. It is telling you that the steering column is resting against the lock and will not let you start the car until it's off-loaded.
I'm wondering if this might be a side effect of the Evosport Pulley which we both seem to have. The logic being that it turns the power steering pump a bit slower.
To avoid having it occur again, be sure the steering wheel is centered and power steering pump is off-loaded before shutting the car down.
I thought this might be the case after seeing the warning light. But when I tried to jump the car from my wife's X5 - the car dropped out of first gear and into neutral. At that point the steering wheel could be turned (with effort due to car not running) which allowed us to push the car out of the parking structure to the street so it could be put on a flat bed tow truck. So the steering was not locked (but that doesn't mean the computer did not think it was).
The light show on the dash, no radio or nav, could not open the trunk and the winshield wipers randomly starting to run and not being able to turn them off with the stick on the steering column would suggest this is electrical and the computer has deeper issues. I have read about this from others in the past, but thought I had on of the lucky cars!
My car has about 18,000 miles on it, but was not built until March 2006, so it was not one of the early cars with lots of problems, most had been fixed by then.. To date I have had the steering column sensor replaced and a few other recall items but all under normal service none of them actually failed. To date I have considered myself lucky vesus some other early owners
Dealer called this morning and said they had to push it in as well, could not start it and would call when diagnosed. I will let you know what I hear.
JCM
Last edited by supercup; 18th July 2008 at 20:30.
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Dealer called and said they had traced the problem to a bad "negative lead" battery cable (the ground cable) which was causing a draw on the battery and they think caused the computer to go into confusion. So like when we don't get our coffee in the morning!
They had to order the cable and it will not be here until next week. I will post what I find after it is fixed.
Seems odd that the cable would be ok, then instantly fail. The car was parked for about 2.5 hours and if I left the lights on I don't know if that would have been enough for a dead battery. Car would not jump so the draw on the battery over that period to completely dead seems odd. Regardless car was confused and now we will have to see if such a simple fix will heal all wounds.
In the meantime I test drove an RS4, Cayenne Turbo, and a Alpina B7 today in anticipaton of bad computer news. RS4 is great fun, but a bit small. Cayenne Turbo is great but lease cost was $2,000 per month, even with $10K off MSRP - no deals there. The B7 was $1650 per month, lot of power, but still a much heavier car, not as fun to drive, but certainly much more luxury oriented (be sure my wife doesn't get in that one).
M5 leases are unbelievable right now, so maybe that will be the way to go. Don't you love how any excuse to buy a new car. Hey why did you get a new car - oh my battery cable went bad - most people are like what???? But most of you understand.
JCM
Last edited by supercup; 19th July 2008 at 01:27.
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If you're seeing a lot of computer issues it's often something simple like a bad battery, battery lead or ground connection.
Modern cars often have automatic power cut-out in the case of accidents. That's a component in the battery lead which when failing can cause all kinds of weird side effects.
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Got the call today, car is done, but did not have time to pick it up. They said the IBS sensor on the negative battery cable went bad, drained the battery and caused the issues. The replaced the cable and the sensor, so we will hope for the best.
The logic being that it turns the power steering pump a bit slower.
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