XSeries-forum

As this is a possible cause of non functioning remotes for locking/unlocking, is there any way to ascertain if its the culprit? Buying a used one is not difficult but if the radio functions perfectly, is the aerial really a candidate? Is it frequency sensitive and does it need coding ? I've seen a number for sale with E70 clearly printed on them, but assumptions can be dangerous.

The company that supplied one new key and reprogrammed both to the car have advised that if the diversity antenna is replaced, they will need to sync the keys to it, so another visit and cost factor. BMW scanning locally is now £220 an hour

It could be wiring in the tailgate loom but for the life of me i can't see how to even access the wiring inside the grommet. I thought i could live with manual locking, but its become a PITA quite quickly.

No mention in the TIS of any recoding being needed. The Car Access System signal comes out of the diversity unit on a Blue/Red wire from Pin 3 on the left hand side of the module. It runs to the CAS module that is inside the dash. The wire arrives at Pin 33 via a connector in the upper dash behind the glovebox.

Re-pairing might be needed but there’s no specific mention of it. The diversity unit might have a frequency ‘tap’ that detects the key signal. The tap is a tuned circuit designed for the key frequencies.

Thank you. Short of cutting open the tailgate grommets to check for broken wiring, ill have to gamble on a used diversity antenna. In theory i can always resell it i suppose, doubtless at a loss though

Something of a delayed update.

I had a mobile auto electrician visit recently, and after some time dismantling and circuit testing, the good news is the diversity aerial is good. Power to it is the issue. This was traced to a junction connector as depicted.

The happy coincidence may be, is the car is at the dealership Thursday and Friday for its airbag recall, so dash out anyway? And the angel eye bulb replacement that BMW are paying for. My only thought is are RHD cars wired the same or in opposite configuration? Regardless, i hope by Friday evening I'll have a car with remote locking functioning, safe airbags and a full compliment of angel eye DRLs

I'd think the wiring will be a mirror image for LHD , not sure if they take the dash out as that would be a big job and the passenger airbag should be removable without that but maybe it isn't.Its an all day job or mine was anyway.
Hope it's sorted soon anyway

I was assured the passenger airbag swap required the dash out on my X6, and an X5 is obviously the same. But this was dealership representatives who we know are not so well informed. If the wiring is mirrored for RHD cars it should be a doddle to access the wiring shown. The parts price, no idea, but labour should be minimal if already working in the space behind the glovebox

Looking at the pic again it will be above passenger airbag so yes they will be right at it which is a bit of a result as labour would be pricey if they had to do it otherwise.

I will have baited breath on Friday when i am due to collect it. Obviously, i will pay for the part/s but optimistically, I'd expect the labour cost to be nil. Unplug a connector and reconnect a new one........ doesnt tax anyone I'd have thought

So the saga continues. The junction connector X9331 is apparently only applicable to 2007/8 built cars. The dealership was willing to deal with this during the airbag replacement for free, but the connector is not behind the glovebox. BMW technical department advised the dealers that on a 2009 built car it was relocated to the boot lower left side, but didnt elaborate on where exactly. I have invited the mobile auto electrician to return to assist me again. If he can't find it, or does and its not the problem, it will have to remain a key entry only car. Its already cost £340 and i don't want to commit more funds to solving it.

As pre arranged the airbags have been replaced, and the offside halo bulb was replaced and charged to BMW UK. That identified another issue. Both sides had been replaced with an LED bulb which had failed on the offside. This meant the car now has both halo bulbs working but one was now an original 'yellow' and the nearside was a 'white' LED replacement by a previous owner. I elected to have the remaining LED bulb replaced with another original at a cost of £75.85 for the bulb. The dealership didn't charge me any labour for changing this. The bill to BMW for the offside bulb replacement was in excess of £200 including the bulb. As you might expect, the techies know how to swap these bulbs without removing the wheel, it took them very little time in reality, possibly why i wasn't charged any labour?

Buying a budget car, its probably inevitably going to throw up some issues. Nothing has cost a fortune to date, but the £3k car is rapidly approaching double that now, albeit a £503 service is within that, and new budget tyres and a wheels refurb. I have replaced or renewed various cosmetic items and the car will never win a concours prize but its serviceable and does what i wanted it to.

Like budget cars I've had before you need to decide if you can live with various faults as otherwise especially using dealers costs for a budget luxury car will soon get silly, 200 for a crappy yellow bulb most people bin for white leds is crazy , so much for laws that state bulbs should be a roadside fix
I could easily see you spending the price of the car before you get it fixed given labour rates these days just one of those tricky problems nobody has seen before sadly
My sidelights were not too hard to change for white led lamps which look so much more modern but I have xenons