Hi everyone,
Last Thusday I went to the grocery store on the way home from work. When I got back in the car to head home and started driving throught the parking lot, suddenly the I-Drive display starts flashing and the speedometer needle starts going up and down about once a second (from my current speed to zero) even though I was maintaining constant speed. After a few seconds it stopped and then was fine for the 3 mile trip home.
I didnt drive the car all weekend due to other issues, but I thought maybe it just had a glitch or something.
Then Sunday evening my girl and I decided to go out to dinner so we started on our way. Driving through my neighborhood for about 1.5 miles it was fine. I decided to turn on the headlights since it was getting dark. (I keep the auto lights off since I don't like it turning them on just for me to back out of the garage, afraid it will wear out the headlights faster.) Everything was still fine for about a half mile after that, driving around 45mph. Then suddenly the I-Drive started blinking and the speed gauge needle started going from my speed to zero and back up again, like someone was turning it's power on and off. The tachometer was not affected at all. I decided to pull over and restart the car to see if it would fix itself (like rebooting Windows for the PC or something).
Upon restarting, and beginning to drive, the I-Drive was still blinking on and off and the speed needle was acting crazy, then the car started chiming and flashing warnings on the intrument panel and I-Drive, but because it was blinking I couldn't read them and drive at the same time. I pulled into a gas station and shut it down and then me and my girlfriend walked in and got some soda to let it sit a few minutes.
About 5 to 10 minutes later we went out and I started it, and I had the same chiming, I-Drive blinking, and speedometer stuff, then the Idrive stopped blinking which allowed me to read it, and it said "Servotronic Failure, DSC Failure, and Start assist failure". I also noticed that the steering effort was difficult, like the power steering was only working halfway or less.
Well, I took the car home and parked it. Found some info online where some other types of BMWs (7 series, etc) had the same trouble and had battery issues. I decided to hook it up to a battery charger and let it charge overnight. I disconnected it from the charger yesterday and drove it around the block (very short drive) and everything was fine. No warnings, service requests, or anything... like it had amnesia that anything was wrong the day before. But I was busy so I could not drive it longer.
This morning I started it, and everything was fine. I drove it to work, and then out for lunch, which is a total of about 25 miles, and no issues. Not even anything listed in the check control. No warnings, service requests, or anything. I am taking it into the dealer tomorrow for them to check it (warranty). My service advisor said that the last time my car was in (about two months ago for inspection) it reported a low battery level so they charged it. He said the battery is about 4 years old (original one, 2008 MY) and they typically last only 3-1/2 years, so they are going to check the codes, do an overnight discharge test or something (checking to see if the car is drawing too much when it's just sitting asleep) and figure out if it needs a new battery or not. My appointment is Wednesday.
The service advisor said that the 5-series has a computer specifically for monitoring power in the car, and if the car is getting too low on power it will start shutting down non-essential functions to keep the car driving. He suspects this is why the power steering, DSC, and start assist may have been shut down. It makes sense because my 2005 530i had a similar issue when the battery was going, losing the steering wheel adjustments and power seat controls. Once the battery was replaced in that car everything was fine for the next 60000 miles until I traded it for the M5.
Wish me luck. I hope it's just the battery, but if it's not that may be a blessing too since my warranty is still active.
Last Thusday I went to the grocery store on the way home from work. When I got back in the car to head home and started driving throught the parking lot, suddenly the I-Drive display starts flashing and the speedometer needle starts going up and down about once a second (from my current speed to zero) even though I was maintaining constant speed. After a few seconds it stopped and then was fine for the 3 mile trip home.
I didnt drive the car all weekend due to other issues, but I thought maybe it just had a glitch or something.
Then Sunday evening my girl and I decided to go out to dinner so we started on our way. Driving through my neighborhood for about 1.5 miles it was fine. I decided to turn on the headlights since it was getting dark. (I keep the auto lights off since I don't like it turning them on just for me to back out of the garage, afraid it will wear out the headlights faster.) Everything was still fine for about a half mile after that, driving around 45mph. Then suddenly the I-Drive started blinking and the speed gauge needle started going from my speed to zero and back up again, like someone was turning it's power on and off. The tachometer was not affected at all. I decided to pull over and restart the car to see if it would fix itself (like rebooting Windows for the PC or something).
Upon restarting, and beginning to drive, the I-Drive was still blinking on and off and the speed needle was acting crazy, then the car started chiming and flashing warnings on the intrument panel and I-Drive, but because it was blinking I couldn't read them and drive at the same time. I pulled into a gas station and shut it down and then me and my girlfriend walked in and got some soda to let it sit a few minutes.
About 5 to 10 minutes later we went out and I started it, and I had the same chiming, I-Drive blinking, and speedometer stuff, then the Idrive stopped blinking which allowed me to read it, and it said "Servotronic Failure, DSC Failure, and Start assist failure". I also noticed that the steering effort was difficult, like the power steering was only working halfway or less.
Well, I took the car home and parked it. Found some info online where some other types of BMWs (7 series, etc) had the same trouble and had battery issues. I decided to hook it up to a battery charger and let it charge overnight. I disconnected it from the charger yesterday and drove it around the block (very short drive) and everything was fine. No warnings, service requests, or anything... like it had amnesia that anything was wrong the day before. But I was busy so I could not drive it longer.
This morning I started it, and everything was fine. I drove it to work, and then out for lunch, which is a total of about 25 miles, and no issues. Not even anything listed in the check control. No warnings, service requests, or anything. I am taking it into the dealer tomorrow for them to check it (warranty). My service advisor said that the last time my car was in (about two months ago for inspection) it reported a low battery level so they charged it. He said the battery is about 4 years old (original one, 2008 MY) and they typically last only 3-1/2 years, so they are going to check the codes, do an overnight discharge test or something (checking to see if the car is drawing too much when it's just sitting asleep) and figure out if it needs a new battery or not. My appointment is Wednesday.
The service advisor said that the 5-series has a computer specifically for monitoring power in the car, and if the car is getting too low on power it will start shutting down non-essential functions to keep the car driving. He suspects this is why the power steering, DSC, and start assist may have been shut down. It makes sense because my 2005 530i had a similar issue when the battery was going, losing the steering wheel adjustments and power seat controls. Once the battery was replaced in that car everything was fine for the next 60000 miles until I traded it for the M5.
Wish me luck. I hope it's just the battery, but if it's not that may be a blessing too since my warranty is still active.