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Discuss your latest mods or ideas, and anything to do with the BMW X5 (E70).
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Richard991
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New Member

Post by Richard991 » Wed Mar 04, 2020 4:16 pm

Hi. I'm new to the forum. I have recently bought a 2007 X5 E70 4.8 V8 and we already had a 530 F10 diesel. I guess I have been BMW ed.
The F10 has given very little trouble but I bought an ISTA-D diagnostic tool (to reset the rain sensor of the F10) so I have some experience. I also work on Porsche 928s (principally the A-C but other stuff too) so I have developed some skills over time.
I thought I would share any solutions to problems so everyone benefits. I got the X5 at a good price as I knew I had a few little issues to sort and I am gradually going through them - the curled up cover on the glovebox lid being the first (easy fix), a 'moisture in the offside headlight' issue caused by a small crack is going to be somewhat more involved, and I am fitting an Oris towbar when I get a chance. I paid extra to get the proper electrical connections.

Before all of that I have had an interesting issue which got somewhat hairy. I was unable to connect to the OBD port frustratingly and in checking the appropriate fuse (131) and putting a fuse into 130 as it is confusing which fuse the OBD port uses, I suddenly lost all of the dash and functions, the stalks did absolutely nothing, the central locking did not operate and the windscreen wipers were on continuously. All that worked was the engine, lights, and the central display.
Well after a load of headscratching we found that the OBD port was a dummy! The real one was tucked behind. Ye Gods. So that was sorted. Ish as the port had lost power (Autologics will talk to it as it only requires the two canbus pins. Ista won't as it needs power) The OBD port has 6 wires only, 2 comms wires 2 grond wires and 2 power wires.

The source of the dash and power problem turned out to be the block behind the set of fuses numbered from 129 to 138 in the rear fuseboard. The tabs which keep the block in place were not locking the block into place and the block just dropped away when I pushed the fuses into 130-131. I eased the tabs out with a screwdriver and the block clicked back into place.
Fuse 131 is critical to the instruments! As I had powered the car down for at least an hour I everything faulted out and I ended up clearing 45 faults before everything back to normal. A small problem turned into a major effect.
Any instrument or OBD problems - look at fuse 131 in the rear board first.

Apologies. A bit long winded. I do now have a proper fuse board layout and description of each fuse for both fuseboards. The BMW official fuse layout is awful and very confusing
Richard

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Re: New Member

Post by mr angry » Wed Mar 04, 2020 4:23 pm

Welcome aboard Richard you sound like you have some skills we could all benefit from on here.

I retrofitted an Oris swivel towbar on my E70. It is not yet quite functional as I think there is an internal problem with the swivel motor but yet to have a look.

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