Even though I got 50% off on this BMW M Car, it's extremely unreliable. A much better deal would've been 50% or MORE off of a Simplisafe Security System during their biggest sale of the year. Visit SimpliSafe.com/samcrac to learn more!
Hey sam! I had a bmw from a similar generation with similar problem! Check the rear damper. There is a shim that rust and let the damper go trough and upp in the wiring harness in the back! It then crates a short.
Great to see how it all started with the x6, Sam! I'm honored for the mention, and am looking forward to showing off the X6 in my channel in the near future as well!
Great video response Super Mario. Electrical probs can be so confusing, but it's clear you have serious skills and experience. I'd trust you with my VW or BMW.
Hello Sam, too bad you live on the other side of the continent as an electrical engineer could identify the source of your problem. I have some comments based on my observations. Since the center display goes on and stays on when the relay is removed, but appears to be resetting due to apparent power drop when the relay is installed, I would be looking for a module that is pulling too much current when it is activated. Now on the canbus system. Canbus is a multidrop system meaning that all the modules share the same pair of wires for communication and they each have a unique communication address. Mario is correct in that the canbus signal could have a problem. Canbus is a differential pair twisted wire which means both the wires have the same impedance to ground or +12v as this gives the signal better common mode noise immunity. The canbus also has a 124 ohm termination resistor at each physical end of the bus (one is at the master device). You can verify the presence of these resistors on any location in the canbus network across CAN_L and CAN_H - make sure power is off or disconnect the battery. The measured resistance should be about 62 ohms. If the termination is present, the next thing I would do is put an oscilloscope on the operating canbus to make sure the canbus signals are the correct amplitude (about 4V peak to peak). If the canbus checks out, then you can start pulling fuses to find out which module is loading down the +12V distribution bus. If you need more advice, just reach out to me.
This reminds me of a video I've seen recently regarding canbus... It turned out to be a faulty reverse camera was the issue and was indeed detected by using an oscilloscope. I can't remember the correct terminology but, there is a large main fuse that can often cause similar issues if it's fully broken or potentially cracked enough to make contact sometimes.
I was thinking CANBUS as well. All it takes is a pinched wire, or a break before the termination and the signals will start bouncing off that "disjoint" and cause all kinds of problems. Normal "chatter" is interpreted as something else causing the car to behave in strange ways. Yet, the problem may not be visible with a regular meter. (But it's a good start.)
There is a tool to check the load or rather current on a fuse while it is still in place. If you can't make one then the car wizard featured such a tool recently.
The Paddle shifters on the steering wheel are not stock. There is a bunch of wonky after market junk on that car. I am thinking its a short or loose wire.
Following this logic, I'd start by looking at stereo/multimedia wiring. From previous Car Wizard videos, the CAN bus is *extremely* finicky when it comes to wiring. Some shop probably did a botch job installing an amp/bluetooth/etc and it's cascading into everything else.
@@Proth1975 I saw that years ago when I worked in Mercedes service. A CLK came in with all sorts of lights flashing, the alarm siren blaring, Etc. Turned out he took it to Best Buy to have some huge sub box installed in the trunk, and they took power from somewhere that they managed it to get into the rear canbus. Fortunately for the manager of Best Buy, the rear canbus was replaceable separately from the entire harness.
Hey Sam, I had the same issue as this on my 2008 BMW E70 X5 (same platform). Water was pooling behind the engine partition/cowling near the brake booster and on the other side near the blower motor. It seems to be a common issue with these. You need to make sure those drains are clean (they fill with dirt and leaves) replace the partitions (such a poor design for waterproofing). Anyway, there is a ground cable inside one of those compartments and if it has been sitting outside and filling with water, the cable will corrode. On the other side there is the engine fuse box (another great design). Mine was doing the same headunit flash and no cluster. Hope this helps!
i follow eric at SMA and the amount of times he has traced electrical fault's down to bad grounds and corrosion in and on the back of fuse boxes ECT sometimes multiple faults like this turn out to be a simple fix but have you pulling the thing to bits and firing the parts canon at it
I've had a German car develop a similar problem and we traced it down to the CAN wired being fed 12v from the battery. The fine folks at the dealer had sliced through the main harness wires to install a lowjack device and allowed corrosion to set in and eventually bridge a 12v wire to the canbus wires. It would be interesting to see what voltage you have on the CAN wires...
Good start there. I had a e65 7 series have very similar issues. Turned out to be the central gateway module that bridges all the other modules around the car itself.
Trunk gets filled with water usually in right rear trunk area. There is a main harness that runs through there that have Can Bus Splices that usually get filled with corrosion that's my guess.
Yes, this sounds like an issue with the CAN bus itself. (stuff not turning on/off because it hasn't been told to, K-CAN Errors because the modules cannot be reached...). It could be a broken module as well, which can affect the bus, but that failure mode is very unlikely. Checking the voltages on CAN-H and CAN-L is a good start, maybe a more sophisticated instrument, like a scope, will give you a better insight on what the bus is doing exactly.
I had a similar problem when I was an Audi tech. I used an oscilloscope to view CAN bus communications. It should be a clean square waveform mirrored across the X axis, CAN-HI and CAN-LOW. What I saw looked more like an analog signal with no symmetry or pattern. I just started disconnecting and reconnecting all the modules until the waveform cleared up. It turned out to be the convince control module which was located under the driver's seat in that model. No visible sign of damage but I found out later the car was flooded at one point.
Someone kept the original wheels because they were probably more worth than the car itself… 😄 hope you can fix it and remove all the hideous (cheap) aftermarket sh*t… good luck sam! 👊🏼
Driving with the relay removed shouldn't hurt anything. The systems affected are powered through the relay and are simply not active with it removed. My guess is that one of those systems is causing the problem when powered. I would pull all the fuses downstream of the relay and plug it back in. It probably won't chatter. Then, plug the fuses in one at a time to isolate the problem.
Used that same method in the past to identify random power draws. Hook a multimeter up to the battery and power each system and see what's drawing more than it should with the car off.
My Mercedes has a relay just like the one shown that must be replaced once in awhile. It lives in the trunk by the battery. When it's contacts become dirty it causes all kinds of performance problems.
I agree. Something which that relay is powering is causing the issues. Pulling the relay robs that thing of power and the problems go away. In fact I bet if you pull all of the fuses that power things after that relay then the relay will stop chattering. Probably the central module sends a CAN signal to switch the relay on, this powers the bad module which trashes the CANbus, so the relay goes off. Now the CANbus is ok so the relay comes on again. The situation will just oscillate between the two states and you have a chattering relay.
I agree. With the relay pulled, something isnt being powered. Find out what receives power when the relay is on and you might know what is the cause of the issue.
Sam that rear junction where you pulled that relay from needs to be taken out, opened up and inspected. That relay shows signs of water getting to it and if water got to it then it got in that box and I suspect it is moving around inside of there shorting out various things. I bet you if you open up that rear box and inspect the internals you will find corrosion.
Could have even been the result of condensation or often having even a slightly damp trunk for prolonged periods of time. Definitely corrosion by the looks of my phone screen. Overheating generally results in discolored contacts and plastic melting / deforming, especially around the contacts. The socket it plugs into will usually show signs of melt / deformation too.
@@Beer_Dad1975 I’m on my 7th consecutive X5 lease and I’ve never had any major issues with any of them. Sure, I’ve had a few minor things here and there but I haven’t had anymore trouble than any other car I’ve owned.
@@Jkur2009 Yeah that's because you lease them and send them back before they start to fall apart. That's the only way to go with German cars these days IMO.
As a car audio guy, I would swap out the relay to just make sure it acts wrong too,. It's a standard style relay, a simple 4 dollar one would probably do the trick but I would verify it with the relay pinouts on each relay. I would do this even though it's reading fine, just so I didn't run around pulling everything out of the car to fix a slightly bad relay, even though it is likely fine.
Sam, you make me smile...I had the same car with the same problem! Needed to change all electric wire system (it took 3 years for BMW to understand ) ...and took 3 weeks to fix it!
I had a 325xi that had similar issues. Took 1 year and multiple different garage visits but in the end I fixed myself. Turned out about 30 pins of the engine ECU had minor corrosion on them(almost impossible to see). Figured nothing to lose. Cleaned them up with a mild mini brush and cleaned the socket side by inserting and pulling out the main plug about 100 times(also used some contact cleaner and di-electric) and VOILA. Car ran great for another 4 years to be sold later and the same owner still has it today.
I note in your video Sam that the car has clearly had an afermarket towbar fitted and coincidentally one of the things on that circuit was a towbar so i am wondering if when it was fitted they messed up the wiring?
Its the fusebox corroded losing communication the Ford Focus does the same thing because its under the hood in front of the car and it gets soaked then corrodes took me 2 days to figure it out chasing wires from junction box to the fuse box
The CanBus is a network with a plurality of subordinate microcomputers below. All the modules in the car talk to a master module and share segments of that network. One bad module can clobber the messaging of all the other good modules randomly. There are CanBus analyzers that will report when messages get corrupted and even say who was involved. Ideally the modules will identify their failure and just nicely code out but if something is really wrong (broken pin etc) then it can do this. IE: It can clobber a message if it does not detect the message is in progress. If the module you replaced is oscillating the cutoff relay then some stimulus to it specifically is making is do so. So I'd focus on errors coming specifically out of it. Of course if its the master the errors may be a subordinate. Okay - so what is coming from the subordinates that is of a magnitude that a cutoff would be necessitated? Since the relay is chattering ( which would heat it up ) then is it possible to pull easy to access subordinate modules and just see if the chattering stops? I'm surprised the shop manual does not have a flow chart.
Funny thing is, a Land Rover (Based on the BMW X5 E53) didn't turn on, because one Headlight Module shorted the bus system. Gosh dang was that a hassle to find, unplugged it and it fired right up.
Is that relay not 'fail open' ie closed contact to power up the systems and open to cutoff? So pulling the relay would by default cut off the systems and and not have them running with the relay out?
@@efrenvazquez2585 - Does the shop manual identify the modules and their PN's and firmware revs? Does ODBII and CANBUS allow you to find if all modules are "right" and updated? I suppose that takes a BMW specific reader.
@@dennisfahey2379 yeah when performing a scan the bmw software talks to each module and awaits a response from each one. If one the response isn’t there it yellows the module indicating an issue on the module tree which all the other ones with good comm. are green. from there if you have a bit of communication you can get the PN And “integration level” of the module. If the module is not communicating it will show up in red.
I took the week long training course for BMW body electronics and it was brutal, less than 50% pass rate. Removing modules to check CAN communication is not what they want you to do....Y-cables and break out box
Relays are so simple and even though yours passes a test, it may fail under load. 85 and 86 only activate the coil. 30 and 87 (the big ones) need to be jumped to test this.
I had two E71 X6Ms and loved them both. Racechip on one that made it bonkers. One was wrecked, the other traded in for a newer X6M. I can tell you the battery coding was a bit of trouble. Both my cars had all the options and the only defect for real was the windshield strip peeling back off at high speeds.
I had nearly the exact same thing happen to my 135i. In my case, water had gotten into the trunk and soaked the keyless entry module, parking assist module, and I think the comfort access module. When I unplugged these, the car worked fine, just without these features.
Pretty ridiculous that BMW couldn’t solve these issues with “certified technicians” but a weekend warrior can. I love that. I’ve thoroughly enjoy diving into any troubles myself and fixing them. Save a hell of a lot of money too !!
K-can is used to talk to power windows, door locks, radio, sunroof and those kinds of accessories. It is different than the can bus high and low that the pcm and tcm use to talk to eachother. K-can simply uses something like Morris code to move your windows up down, lock unlock doors etc. Every command had a different pattern to tell the body control module what to do. Since there is a junction box that means that a module that runs through the box is freaking out. Get a diagram and disconnect one by one every module that runs through that junction box until everything starts working besides the module you disconnected.
I'm not a BMW fan. Had one a one a long time ago and it was financially ruinous. But I do like the X6 and especially the M and GT versions. There is a guy that lives not far from me and he has 4 BMW SUV's. He has a metallic green X6M that was designed to look like the Green Goblin from the Tobey McGuire Spider-Man. Another X6GT that is done in stealth black ceramic and chrome black highlights with oversized wheels and rear spoilers. The inside is black leather with yellow piping. It looks like a Batman vehicle. He has an X2 in pearl white and chrome metallic blue that resembles R2D2 and an X5 that is painted by hand in varying shades of tan, green, black, brown and cream. Has giant tires, winch, roof rack with spare gas cans, water cans, sand ramps, shovels, axes, tent and stove. Inside is a custom gun rack, 4 full plate carriers and ammo cans plus magazines. He's totally nuts and you can see him in his driveway yelling at his cars. Cursing at them for not working. Then he gets in his Ferrari 488 Speciale and leaves. I tell him all the time to start a TH-cam channel or TikTok. But he won't.
Looking at the aftermarket tat - make sure it doesn’t have cheap LED bulbs in any of the lights, they can take out the K-line - I have seen this sort of weirdness on a 2011 M5
We had an X5 do that. A detail shop used a pressure washer in the engine bay and caused the electronics to go wonky. It took the dealer a week to sort it out and cost the detailer a few grand to repair it.
I worked on a magnum that had the exact same electrical problems. It was running, loud fan, no cluster, the works. It turned out to be a faulty key sensor antenna and key switch.
This car has literally nothing in common with a magnum. The BMW runs on Canbus, linbus, and flex-ray with individual modules for everything. nothing anolog wired directly like a magnum
@@XcoolcoolbeansbeansX true, but i said it had the same symptoms. Maybe there's an issue with the system that recognizes the key and turns all the other hamster wheels of the car. I would hope its that simple anyway. Prices on some of those parts get into arm, leg, and first born range 🤣
Agree with the comment regarding removing fuses downlink from relay, reinstall 1 at a time until issue re appears. This may help isolate issue. I was in electronic troubleshooting business all my career. It's so often eliminate its not to find what it is. Good luck. Can't wait to see results
Great video! My 2013 328i had an issue turning all the lights on on the dash! Simple repair! Replace the left rear wheel sensor and drive away. I replaced it months ago and all is good!
I almost bought an identical X6 a few years ago. So glad I didn’t. BMW has allowed themselves to forget what made them a producer of great drivers cars, sacrificing this for profits.
I have that car it likely going to be the central CAN bus module, or other module on bus, or corrosion in harness, as had similar issue. Thankfully got it cheap for very reason and did trace it down and fixed it. You have the right idea process of elimination pretty much? Find what circuits those relay are on and trace it out. Look at schematics it help you break down the individual systems and you can trace easier and find the fault or bad module quicker. That relay being melted something likely drawing excessive current, or from kicking on and off so may times as for cutoff? Yep costly and unreliable but smooth when it works. Had to put 4K in parts as had other issues as well and many days of labor to get it right. Pretty sure something else will break like any BMW I owned over the years? I would inspect that rear junction as well for signs of corrosion?
I had a similar problem with my wifes Peugeot, it turnet out to be a faulty aftermarked Yatour bluetooth adapter connected to the radio, shortening the canbus connection that ran instrument cluster, climate control, radio and some other stuff. It took me months to finally find the fault, once the Yatour module was disconnected, the car worket perfect again.
I fixed an 06 Mini Cooper with similar goofiness. Water corroded a junction plug that the sole function if was to connect the two halves of the car harness together at the factory. Bypassed it with solder and heat shrink, fixed 100%.
Brings back memories of my auction BMW and the Christmas tree of warnings and errors that I had to clear through various means. It took a couple weeks to get them all. Good Luck Sam.
a friend of mine had one of these..it drove great and the seats were amazingly comfortable... but the front end was partially removed by a crossing car at an intersection. The estimate to repair was $42,000.
So the way I would go about this would be to first look at the canbus network. For each network, there will be two terminating ends. Each one of those has 120 ohm resistor. Every other item on that can bus system Will not have any terminating resistors. I would first meter to make sure the resistance of the can network is 60ohm. Then move on to depinning one module at a time from the system until we find the module that is causing the issue.
Hey Sam I love your channel I've been subscribed for the past three-and-a-half, 4-years! keep up the great work!👍 I especially love the lemons that you get!!😂😂😂
Gday Sam, I’m working on a John Deere skid steer at the moment. Had half a dozen codes including Can Bus data rate transfer faults. The fuse and relay box had enough garbage and moisture in there that you could grow vegetables! Cleaned it all out, contact cleaned all the holders and cleaned the terminals. Also cleaned all the grounds. No more bad codes and running great! Good luck man 👍👍🍻
It works fine with relay removed. Relay tested good but showing stress. Test the control panel and look for lose wires or ground issues there. It can be a pinch in a wire going to the control panel where the relay is. Start simple don’t over think it
90% sure that a can line is shorted, either to the positive, the ground or another signaling line. Removing the junction box helped because it disconnected the faulty (the one with the short) from the other module. It seems that the box you removed is like an hub for the various can and other communication system in the car
My solution to CAN bus problems in the past has been to pull all the fuses, get the car to stable (mostly not working state) and then replace fuses until I see the fault re-appear. That would generally (but not always) be my culprit. water commonly gets to where the spare is and BMW seems to think this is a great place to put your electronics. I've had bad bluetooth and towbar modules that caused these types of problems.
I can’t watch your videos before bed, I had a terrible nightmare. I owned a BMW With electrical issues. It was horrible worst nightmare I’ve ever had. Thanks Sam😀
Canbus line grounded or shorted might be water ingress into a component or wiring harness connection. Check for water under carpets, I'm sure i saw a drop from the glovebox screw at 9.40. If itwas water check evaporator drain clear, if windshield has been replaced that bonding is correct and check scuttle panel drains aren't blocked with leaves etc as water will cascade into car through heater air intake.
I have owned a BMW in the past and after 5 yrs of ownership, it cost me over $18k for the services and maintenance from the BMW dealer. I had had enough of constant costs of time and money to bring it in for services. Driving was very nice, exciting, and enjoyable, but the headaches were non-stop on the long-distance driving with a reliable issue, a major worried for me. I am glad, those days are long gone and over.
Im an electrical tech, and that relay is water damaged . You can see the rust seeping out of the case. I would start with replacing it first and then the fuse box it was located in and check any modules in that area for water damage . Remove some plugs and see if there is corrosion. Good luck and let me know if you need any help.
My 7 series had a fuse behind the dash that was shared across numerous computers. Want to say it was #3 or #5. The comfort access handle wiring would short and cause the fuse to blow.
Sam , I've been going back over your past episodes , if you will and as I have become very impressed with your tenacity to complete your objective . I'm viewing the range rover escapades right now and as I look at the total of what you allow us to see . There's one thing that does come to mind . " You're a busy guy " !
I bought a lemoned out Nissan Titan XD with a Cummins diesel in Wisconsin that came from Florida. I've owned it a year now with only very minor problems.
My old MKI Wolfsburg-madeJetta had a firewall rain leak, so that fuel pump relay _(Kraftstoffpumpenrelais)_ got filled up with water…. but the relay was never totally ruined so I swapped in the spare till the first dried out. Nice car overall… simple and fun to drive.
Armchairing here a bit.... Scope the canbus, one of the modules is sending corrupt data, looks to be triggering safety relay. De-pin each canbus pair and test for faulty signal. It looks like failure is detected by simple power-on ( since it does it ignition on) Don't forget to look at harnesses under the hood and under the car, chaffing could be be the issue, actual canbbus pair shorting to ground. Since the car shifted to park a few times, I would definitely check the transmission harness, every Mm of it. Good luck Chicken man
Would it be possible to replace the ECU, each module and rewire the harness to fix the problems? My feelings are if it could have been done then BMW NA would have paid to get it done. Or maybe once a car floods then it’s toast?
no, if you replace the ECU you need to reprogram it, the donor module must be reset in order to be able to install it in your car. Most probably it has a CAN interference from bad / corroded wires, putting the CAN bus to ground or to voltage (which is bad in both situations). It is a pain to troubleshoot, you need to measure the CAN wires with all modules disconnected, and then put 1 by 1 and test again.
trunk button is on the center dash under the number 4 on the CD changer. no power steering means the alternator also ain't working so battery is low & the car should go into a limp mode or "randomly" throw its self in park. also check the transfer case actuator .
I owned a 2010 X6M from new, $196K and sold in 2017 for $40K. No real issues with reliability, but did have issues such as injectors at 110k’s - $7K, PCV lines twice at $1.8K a pop,
I had a 2006 Honda civic diesel that devolped a simular problem @ 6 years old and 100,000 miles. Had the car from brand new serviced on time no other problems throughout it's life, just strated to not start one day, could be for 5 seconds could be for 50 minuets. Then one day it didn't start any more, 6 grand car ended up being sold as a parts car for £1500. Turns out that the main ecu had lost it's programing, it cost the guy I'd sold it too £100 to get the ecu reflashed and the car was working perfect again. Good luck in finding the problem, god I miss the older cars that you could take things off then to find the problem instaed of plugging something in.
I have a german car which developed similar issue with electronic flickering on and off, at the end we figured out that all the fuses where the original one from the company and as the car was 10 years old there were corrosion over the pins of most of the fuses, after cleaning them...the car runs completely fine.
Sam I'd start suspecting the gateway module. ALL modules on the CAN bus run through it. And when you scan the car for codes, you are not scanning the module directly. You are scanning it through the gateway module. Remember when Hoovie bought that green Mercedes in NY and tried to drive it back to Kansas and the gauges started turning off and on and the car would randomly shut off certain functions to include the engine running? He had a bad gateway.
The relay clicking on/off rapudly in a DC system sounds like a loose connection maybe shaking with the engine. Rev the rmps and see if it flickers faster. An oscilloscope is great for this. Also there will be several inputs to the controller that drives your shutoff relay, an advanced code reader or data logger should be able to read all those inputs and flag which one(s) are toggling on/off
battery in trunk, check the gutters that drain the water from the top, check the battery for water damage. Fixed 5 different things on my old volvo, was a cable under the battery that had water damage.
You can purchase a DC clamp on amp meter. We had automation systems that had dozens of sensors on one fused circuit so finding a short was a problem. Checking the current to a single group at a time would quickly narrow down where the fault current was going. I really think you will eventually find a damaged harness or corroded ground connection.
Just a small point , 12v battery voltage means nothing. Have the battery capacity tested at its rateing, on the label. Fully charged it should be Over 80% of rateing value. Or start vehicle ,measure battery voltage around 14.2v with engine running, then turn on everything electrical Full bean ,heated rear window, blower fan, heated seats ect, then check battery voltage. Correctly operating alternator should show 14v ish
At a Ford dealership in around 2004, the first generation Expeditions started popping up with similar issues. They would even try to start themselves while just sitting there with not even key in the ignition... Turns out cars with replaced windshields were the common denominator. Why? Because the replacement windshields weren't sealed properly and would cause water leaking into the fuse panel up by the firewall on the left side thereby cause everything to short out. It was like an epidemic back in the day. Lots of windshields replaced in metro NYC. I wonder how many people actually gave up on them.... BTW: 90k and BMW bought it back?? Is that weird or normal? I can't imagine it was lemon-ed as per any law. It had to be because of the goodness of BMW. Yeah, I don't think any law allows a lemon buyback at that mileage...
As a new owner of an older BMW with a few issues…. Well maybe a little more then a few but I am knocking them off one by one. I sure did enjoy this video. I can’t wait to see the next video. Thanks for sharing.
Closed circuit cutoff means there is a short somewhere. Look at the radio system or anywhere else people look to tap into the factory wiring. My money is someone has fed power back through the ground. Either accidentally wired or shorted. Check your grounds. When you find one that’s hot, figure out why. The relay was preventing something from frying. You’re lucky you didn’t let any smoke out.
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Even though I got 50% off on this BMW M Car, it's extremely unreliable. A much better deal would've been 50% or MORE off of a Simplisafe Security System during their biggest sale of the year. Visit SimpliSafe.com/samcrac to learn more!
Got 12 seconds in.. transmission low on fluid isnt it?
@@Stefan_Smith It's a little worse than that, it's pretty much FUBAR.
i would want at least 80% off !!~
Hey sam! I had a bmw from a similar generation with similar problem! Check the rear damper. There is a shim that rust and let the damper go trough and upp in the wiring harness in the back! It then crates a short.
Sam why are you so cheap when you are making like 50 grand a month
Great to see how it all started with the x6, Sam! I'm honored for the mention, and am looking forward to showing off the X6 in my channel in the near future as well!
Super Mario thanks to your guidance I FOUND THE PROBLEM. I'll be uploading a follow up ASAP! Stand BY!
Great video response Super Mario. Electrical probs can be so confusing, but it's clear you have serious skills and experience. I'd trust you with my VW or BMW.
Sam is Luigi lol
@@Samcrac tell us soon! I’m on the edge of my seat
I love the logical progression of your explanation. I’m going to go suv this one
Hello Sam, too bad you live on the other side of the continent as an electrical engineer could identify the source of your problem. I have some comments based on my observations. Since the center display goes on and stays on when the relay is removed, but appears to be resetting due to apparent power drop when the relay is installed, I would be looking for a module that is pulling too much current when it is activated. Now on the canbus system. Canbus is a multidrop system meaning that all the modules share the same pair of wires for communication and they each have a unique communication address. Mario is correct in that the canbus signal could have a problem. Canbus is a differential pair twisted wire which means both the wires have the same impedance to ground or +12v as this gives the signal better common mode noise immunity. The canbus also has a 124 ohm termination resistor at each physical end of the bus (one is at the master device). You can verify the presence of these resistors on any location in the canbus network across CAN_L and CAN_H - make sure power is off or disconnect the battery. The measured resistance should be about 62 ohms. If the termination is present, the next thing I would do is put an oscilloscope on the operating canbus to make sure the canbus signals are the correct amplitude (about 4V peak to peak). If the canbus checks out, then you can start pulling fuses to find out which module is loading down the +12V distribution bus. If you need more advice, just reach out to me.
This reminds me of a video I've seen recently regarding canbus... It turned out to be a faulty reverse camera was the issue and was indeed detected by using an oscilloscope. I can't remember the correct terminology but, there is a large main fuse that can often cause similar issues if it's fully broken or potentially cracked enough to make contact sometimes.
I was thinking CANBUS as well. All it takes is a pinched wire, or a break before the termination and the signals will start bouncing off that "disjoint" and cause all kinds of problems. Normal "chatter" is interpreted as something else causing the car to behave in strange ways. Yet, the problem may not be visible with a regular meter. (But it's a good start.)
There is a tool to check the load or rather current on a fuse while it is still in place. If you can't make one then the car wizard featured such a tool recently.
What is a cannabis system? :)
Its the fusebox being corroded on the contacts its losing bus communication stick to fixing vcr’s
The Paddle shifters on the steering wheel are not stock. There is a bunch of wonky after market junk on that car. I am thinking its a short or loose wire.
Following this logic, I'd start by looking at stereo/multimedia wiring. From previous Car Wizard videos, the CAN bus is *extremely* finicky when it comes to wiring. Some shop probably did a botch job installing an amp/bluetooth/etc and it's cascading into everything else.
@@Proth1975 Exactly. Only use OEM or stuff that plugs into OEM connectors. Even then....be careful!
@@Proth1975
I saw that years ago when I worked in Mercedes service. A CLK came in with all sorts of lights flashing, the alarm siren blaring, Etc. Turned out he took it to Best Buy to have some huge sub box installed in the trunk, and they took power from somewhere that they managed it to get into the rear canbus. Fortunately for the manager of Best Buy, the rear canbus was replaceable separately from the entire harness.
Always, always, always, reputable shop if you don't know what you're doing.
My buddy owned a Custom/ window tint shop, he wouldn't touch any German made Vehicle except for wheels and Tint.
Hey Sam, I had the same issue as this on my 2008 BMW E70 X5 (same platform). Water was pooling behind the engine partition/cowling near the brake booster and on the other side near the blower motor. It seems to be a common issue with these. You need to make sure those drains are clean (they fill with dirt and leaves) replace the partitions (such a poor design for waterproofing). Anyway, there is a ground cable inside one of those compartments and if it has been sitting outside and filling with water, the cable will corrode. On the other side there is the engine fuse box (another great design). Mine was doing the same headunit flash and no cluster. Hope this helps!
i follow eric at SMA and the amount of times he has traced electrical fault's down to bad grounds and corrosion in and on the back of fuse boxes ECT sometimes multiple faults like this turn out to be a simple fix but have you pulling the thing to bits and firing the parts canon at it
I've had a German car develop a similar problem and we traced it down to the CAN wired being fed 12v from the battery. The fine folks at the dealer had sliced through the main harness wires to install a lowjack device and allowed corrosion to set in and eventually bridge a 12v wire to the canbus wires. It would be interesting to see what voltage you have on the CAN wires...
Good start there. I had a e65 7 series have very similar issues. Turned out to be the central gateway module that bridges all the other modules around the car itself.
Trunk gets filled with water usually in right rear trunk area. There is a main harness that runs through there that have Can Bus Splices that usually get filled with corrosion that's my guess.
Yes, this sounds like an issue with the CAN bus itself. (stuff not turning on/off because it hasn't been told to, K-CAN Errors because the modules cannot be reached...). It could be a broken module as well, which can affect the bus, but that failure mode is very unlikely.
Checking the voltages on CAN-H and CAN-L is a good start, maybe a more sophisticated instrument, like a scope, will give you a better insight on what the bus is doing exactly.
This sounds like noise on the BUS often caused by a bad connector, damaged loom or dodgy sensor!
CAN network was my first thought. A short of some sort. A scope would show you for sure.
I had a similar problem when I was an Audi tech. I used an oscilloscope to view CAN bus communications. It should be a clean square waveform mirrored across the X axis, CAN-HI and CAN-LOW. What I saw looked more like an analog signal with no symmetry or pattern. I just started disconnecting and reconnecting all the modules until the waveform cleared up. It turned out to be the convince control module which was located under the driver's seat in that model. No visible sign of damage but I found out later the car was flooded at one point.
Someone kept the original wheels because they were probably more worth than the car itself… 😄 hope you can fix it and remove all the hideous (cheap) aftermarket sh*t… good luck sam! 👊🏼
@Dacia Sandero guys I had similar looking wheels on my F10 528i, they most definitely are the base wheels
Driving with the relay removed shouldn't hurt anything. The systems affected are powered through the relay and are simply not active with it removed. My guess is that one of those systems is causing the problem when powered. I would pull all the fuses downstream of the relay and plug it back in. It probably won't chatter. Then, plug the fuses in one at a time to isolate the problem.
Used that same method in the past to identify random power draws. Hook a multimeter up to the battery and power each system and see what's drawing more than it should with the car off.
My Mercedes has a relay just like the one shown that must be replaced once in awhile. It lives in the trunk by the battery. When it's contacts become dirty it causes all kinds of performance problems.
I agree. Something which that relay is powering is causing the issues. Pulling the relay robs that thing of power and the problems go away. In fact I bet if you pull all of the fuses that power things after that relay then the relay will stop chattering. Probably the central module sends a CAN signal to switch the relay on, this powers the bad module which trashes the CANbus, so the relay goes off. Now the CANbus is ok so the relay comes on again. The situation will just oscillate between the two states and you have a chattering relay.
@@gepwxaqdfsidsesg1548 Sam I hope ure reading this
I agree. With the relay pulled, something isnt being powered. Find out what receives power when the relay is on and you might know what is the cause of the issue.
Sam that rear junction where you pulled that relay from needs to be taken out, opened up and inspected. That relay shows signs of water getting to it and if water got to it then it got in that box and I suspect it is moving around inside of there shorting out various things. I bet you if you open up that rear box and inspect the internals you will find corrosion.
We didn't see any sign of water anywhere else in that box. I agree with Sam that the stuff there was likely due to it overheating and not water.
@@nicholasvinen - It looks like corrosion/oxidation to me.
Could have even been the result of condensation or often having even a slightly damp trunk for prolonged periods of time.
Definitely corrosion by the looks of my phone screen.
Overheating generally results in discolored contacts and plastic melting / deforming, especially around the contacts. The socket it plugs into will usually show signs of melt / deformation too.
100% that white power is the remmanints of corrosion. Check the whole box.
Sam continues to provide incredible content for the Bad Decision Making theater.
BMW = Badly Made Wobbler.
Thankfully he does that great so we do not have to
Buying this car is like getting a hooker pregnant.
@@Beer_Dad1975 I’m on my 7th consecutive X5 lease and I’ve never had any major issues with any of them. Sure, I’ve had a few minor things here and there but I haven’t had anymore trouble than any other car I’ve owned.
@@Jkur2009 Yeah that's because you lease them and send them back before they start to fall apart. That's the only way to go with German cars these days IMO.
A cracked piece of plastic
Sam: "I've never seen anything like that"
Lies! Lmao
Is it me, or does sam act like he doesnt know whats going on with the car when its obvious he is well aware....i guess its for views.
The auction houses try to hide as many issues as possible. They will take weird angle pics
As a car audio guy, I would swap out the relay to just make sure it acts wrong too,. It's a standard style relay, a simple 4 dollar one would probably do the trick but I would verify it with the relay pinouts on each relay. I would do this even though it's reading fine, just so I didn't run around pulling everything out of the car to fix a slightly bad relay, even though it is likely fine.
Sam, you make me smile...I had the same car with the same problem! Needed to change all electric wire system (it took 3 years for BMW to understand ) ...and took 3 weeks to fix it!
3yrs to make bmw understand and 3 weeks to do = 30yrs on this channel
2035: “I finally finished my BMW x6M, almost.”
@@kmatax9237 by the time he finishes the car is gonna be a classic
I had a 325xi that had similar issues. Took 1 year and multiple different garage visits but in the end I fixed myself. Turned out about 30 pins of the engine ECU had minor corrosion on them(almost impossible to see). Figured nothing to lose. Cleaned them up with a mild mini brush and cleaned the socket side by inserting and pulling out the main plug about 100 times(also used some contact cleaner and di-electric) and VOILA. Car ran great for another 4 years to be sold later and the same owner still has it today.
Super Mario diagnostics is on point. Dude knows his stuff. Great choice to collab Sam.
As a bmw channel, I just have to mention that you got the dream spec x6m 😍😍
Curious, what makes this a dream spec of the x6m?
@@Matt-yv6yu Probably the color combo and a performance pack option if it has one.
Badly made wankwagon
B m w
I note in your video Sam that the car has clearly had an afermarket towbar fitted and coincidentally one of the things on that circuit was a towbar so i am wondering if when it was fitted they messed up the wiring?
Yeah we need Samcrac to put the Towbar through the windshield like he did the R8 with a Sledgehammer
Cheers Sammy 🇬🇧
Mario is an electrical genius! Electronics are a pain, so it's great to have him on your side!
The guy is intelligent and adept at fixing electrical problems, not sure how you would call him a genius though, he didnt even fix it?
Its the fusebox corroded losing communication the Ford Focus does the same thing because its under the hood in front of the car and it gets soaked then corrodes took me 2 days to figure it out chasing wires from junction box to the fuse box
The CanBus is a network with a plurality of subordinate microcomputers below. All the modules in the car talk to a master module and share segments of that network. One bad module can clobber the messaging of all the other good modules randomly. There are CanBus analyzers that will report when messages get corrupted and even say who was involved. Ideally the modules will identify their failure and just nicely code out but if something is really wrong (broken pin etc) then it can do this. IE: It can clobber a message if it does not detect the message is in progress.
If the module you replaced is oscillating the cutoff relay then some stimulus to it specifically is making is do so. So I'd focus on errors coming specifically out of it. Of course if its the master the errors may be a subordinate. Okay - so what is coming from the subordinates that is of a magnitude that a cutoff would be necessitated? Since the relay is chattering ( which would heat it up ) then is it possible to pull easy to access subordinate modules and just see if the chattering stops? I'm surprised the shop manual does not have a flow chart.
Funny thing is, a Land Rover (Based on the BMW X5 E53) didn't turn on, because one Headlight Module shorted the bus system. Gosh dang was that a hassle to find, unplugged it and it fired right up.
Is that relay not 'fail open' ie closed contact to power up the systems and open to cutoff? So pulling the relay would by default cut off the systems and and not have them running with the relay out?
The shop manuals are interactive programs on a computer, unlike lets say Chevy which is a printed page of instructions and a flow chart.
@@efrenvazquez2585 - Does the shop manual identify the modules and their PN's and firmware revs? Does ODBII and CANBUS allow you to find if all modules are "right" and updated? I suppose that takes a BMW specific reader.
@@dennisfahey2379 yeah when performing a scan the bmw software talks to each module and awaits a response from each one. If one the response isn’t there it yellows the module indicating an issue on the module tree which all the other ones with good comm. are green. from there if you have a bit of communication you can get the PN And “integration level” of the module. If the module is not communicating it will show up in red.
Fair play to Mario. Not many people want to help others anymore
That looks like a car that has been wrecked and pieced back together by a shotty rebuilder like rich rebuilds.🤣🤣
Send it Rich for a Tesla drive swap. I hear he has one of those lying about.
He wouldn't be rich if he didn't do shoddy rebuilds.
@@jimmyaber5920 👏👏👏😂😂😂
Haters going to hate.
I took the week long training course for BMW body electronics and it was brutal, less than 50% pass rate. Removing modules to check CAN communication is not what they want you to do....Y-cables and break out box
I wonder if it is trailer wiring. I've seen that go pretty bad on all kinds of cars on multiple occasions just due to the elements and location.
Relays are so simple and even though yours passes a test, it may fail under load. 85 and 86 only activate the coil. 30 and 87 (the big ones) need to be jumped to test this.
I had two E71 X6Ms and loved them both. Racechip on one that made it bonkers. One was wrecked, the other traded in for a newer X6M. I can tell you the battery coding was a bit of trouble. Both my cars had all the options and the only defect for real was the windshield strip peeling back off at high speeds.
Does the racechip works have it on my x5m i honestly can't tell if it does i have the app and everything and i bought the black series.
I had nearly the exact same thing happen to my 135i. In my case, water had gotten into the trunk and soaked the keyless entry module, parking assist module, and I think the comfort access module. When I unplugged these, the car worked fine, just without these features.
Pretty ridiculous that BMW couldn’t solve these issues with “certified technicians” but a weekend warrior can. I love that. I’ve thoroughly enjoy diving into any troubles myself and fixing them. Save a hell of a lot of money too !!
its not that they can't, they just dont want to, they'd rather have you trade it in for a new model
K-can is used to talk to power windows, door locks, radio, sunroof and those kinds of accessories. It is different than the can bus high and low that the pcm and tcm use to talk to eachother. K-can simply uses something like Morris code to move your windows up down, lock unlock doors etc. Every command had a different pattern to tell the body control module what to do. Since there is a junction box that means that a module that runs through the box is freaking out. Get a diagram and disconnect one by one every module that runs through that junction box until everything starts working besides the module you disconnected.
My thought exactly
"When other drivers see that I'm driving a BMW, they'll understand" 😂😂😂 good one, very good one 😂
I learned that BMWs are awful vehicles. And I love them 😍
Randy learns from his mistakes....he learns people will watch him make them and he can get paid for it.
Lol
Definitely not awful. You just buy shtters randy
They are awesome vehicles if serviced correctly. Unfortunately, it is often not the case
I'm not a BMW fan. Had one a one a long time ago and it was financially ruinous. But I do like the X6 and especially the M and GT versions. There is a guy that lives not far from me and he has 4 BMW SUV's. He has a metallic green X6M that was designed to look like the Green Goblin from the Tobey McGuire Spider-Man. Another X6GT that is done in stealth black ceramic and chrome black highlights with oversized wheels and rear spoilers. The inside is black leather with yellow piping. It looks like a Batman vehicle. He has an X2 in pearl white and chrome metallic blue that resembles R2D2 and an X5 that is painted by hand in varying shades of tan, green, black, brown and cream. Has giant tires, winch, roof rack with spare gas cans, water cans, sand ramps, shovels, axes, tent and stove. Inside is a custom gun rack, 4 full plate carriers and ammo cans plus magazines. He's totally nuts and you can see him in his driveway yelling at his cars. Cursing at them for not working. Then he gets in his Ferrari 488 Speciale and leaves. I tell him all the time to start a TH-cam channel or TikTok. But he won't.
Looking at the aftermarket tat - make sure it doesn’t have cheap LED bulbs in any of the lights, they can take out the K-line - I have seen this sort of weirdness on a 2011 M5
yeah, high power leds can screw up the module in charge of light management and other things on the cam bus
This
@@jarnotyni3207 That, See the latest vid - Hint: The sunroof did it
We had an X5 do that. A detail shop used a pressure washer in the engine bay and caused the electronics to go wonky. It took the dealer a week to sort it out and cost the detailer a few grand to repair it.
Damn that’s crazy, lack of quality… I’ve seen older bmws get engine bats washed and not have any issues, German cars + water = disaster
I worked on a magnum that had the exact same electrical problems. It was running, loud fan, no cluster, the works. It turned out to be a faulty key sensor antenna and key switch.
This car has literally nothing in common with a magnum. The BMW runs on Canbus, linbus, and flex-ray with individual modules for everything. nothing anolog wired directly like a magnum
@@XcoolcoolbeansbeansX true, but i said it had the same symptoms. Maybe there's an issue with the system that recognizes the key and turns all the other hamster wheels of the car. I would hope its that simple anyway. Prices on some of those parts get into arm, leg, and first born range 🤣
Agree with the comment regarding removing fuses downlink from relay, reinstall 1 at a time until issue re appears. This may help isolate issue.
I was in electronic troubleshooting business all my career. It's so often eliminate its not to find what it is. Good luck. Can't wait to see results
@@kosmotini nothing worse than swapping a fuel pump or a bunch of sensors only to find out it was a fuse. Really chaps the wallet too.
Great video! My 2013 328i had an issue turning all the lights on on the dash! Simple repair! Replace the left rear wheel sensor and drive away. I replaced it months ago and all is good!
I almost bought an identical X6 a few years ago. So glad I didn’t. BMW has allowed themselves to forget what made them a producer of great drivers cars, sacrificing this for profits.
I have that car it likely going to be the central CAN bus module, or other module on bus, or corrosion in harness, as had similar issue. Thankfully got it cheap for very reason and did trace it down and fixed it. You have the right idea process of elimination pretty much? Find what circuits those relay are on and trace it out. Look at schematics it help you break down the individual systems and you can trace easier and find the fault or bad module quicker. That relay being melted something likely drawing excessive current, or from kicking on and off so may times as for cutoff?
Yep costly and unreliable but smooth when it works. Had to put 4K in parts as had other issues as well and many days of labor to get it right. Pretty sure something else will break like any BMW I owned over the years? I would inspect that rear junction as well for signs of corrosion?
I had a similar problem with my wifes Peugeot, it turnet out to be a faulty aftermarked Yatour bluetooth adapter connected to the radio, shortening the canbus connection that ran instrument cluster, climate control, radio and some other stuff. It took me months to finally find the fault, once the Yatour module was disconnected, the car worket perfect again.
I have heard that before on other cars what a pain
Not quite another outright "L" for Sam... but I fear we'll never know what actually happens with this X6M..#60%completeislife
I noticed water intrusion on the junction box itself when he pulled it out. How did you miss that?
I may not the greatest fan of the X6, but I love these troubleshooting stories, I'll be looking forward to see if you can fix this one
Calling it now - Oct 2025's video "I've finally sorted my BMW X6M".
I fixed an 06 Mini Cooper with similar goofiness. Water corroded a junction plug that the sole function if was to connect the two halves of the car harness together at the factory. Bypassed it with solder and heat shrink, fixed 100%.
I love the collaboration of both channels helping each other out.
I think a three way collaboration with Sam's Stepmom would do wonders for the diagnosis of the "Problem" Great content
Put the relay back in, and remove the fuses one by one. Once you remove the one causing the relay to trigger, you'll know where your problem is.
Shame that they stole the M wheels off of it.
Brings back memories of my auction BMW and the Christmas tree of warnings and errors that I had to clear through various means. It took a couple weeks to get them all. Good Luck Sam.
a friend of mine had one of these..it drove great and the seats were amazingly comfortable... but the front end was partially removed by a crossing car at an intersection. The estimate to repair was $42,000.
Damn that sucks
Yes, the problem Mario had my 550i had the same problem on same DME 2 and even the same transistor, this dude it by far the best at what he does.
That puma track suit should be your new permanent uniform Sam
Edit. The lemon Lincoln was one of my favorite series!
So the way I would go about this would be to first look at the canbus network.
For each network, there will be two terminating ends. Each one of those has 120 ohm resistor.
Every other item on that can bus system Will not have any terminating resistors.
I would first meter to make sure the resistance of the can network is 60ohm.
Then move on to depinning one module at a time from the system until we find the module that is causing the issue.
Hey Sam I love your channel I've been subscribed for the past three-and-a-half, 4-years! keep up the great work!👍 I especially love the lemons that you get!!😂😂😂
Gday Sam,
I’m working on a John Deere skid steer at the moment. Had half a dozen codes including Can Bus data rate transfer faults.
The fuse and relay box had enough garbage and moisture in there that you could grow vegetables! Cleaned it all out, contact cleaned all the holders and cleaned the terminals. Also cleaned all the grounds.
No more bad codes and running great!
Good luck man 👍👍🍻
I wonder when this will finally be not finished.
Underrated comment
Lol, the best comment ever. I think Sam is in a tie with Rich on unfinished projects. The Ferrari takes the cake
Im intrigued on this one. Hurry up get that next video up bro!!!
Check back in 3-4 weeks.
I was just thinking as I was watching this that mario would be the perfect person for the job
super mario is a fantastic source to learn about trouble shooting electrical issues in cars
Always great to see Sam using the parts cannon on these BMWs
It works fine with relay removed. Relay tested good but showing stress. Test the control panel and look for lose wires or ground issues there. It can be a pinch in a wire going to the control panel where the relay is. Start simple don’t over think it
Thanks for being my eyes and ears in the European car market! I'm gonna stay with Japanese cars lol
90% sure that a can line is shorted, either to the positive, the ground or another signaling line.
Removing the junction box helped because it disconnected the faulty (the one with the short) from the other module. It seems that the box you removed is like an hub for the various can and other communication system in the car
Super Mario seems like a genius - I think a more in depth collaboration with him would be a very interesting video.
My solution to CAN bus problems in the past has been to pull all the fuses, get the car to stable (mostly not working state) and then replace fuses until I see the fault re-appear.
That would generally (but not always) be my culprit. water commonly gets to where the spare is and BMW seems to think this is a great place to put your electronics.
I've had bad bluetooth and towbar modules that caused these types of problems.
Having spent more than my fair share of time working on car electrical systems, this is screaming "grounding issue" to me.
Great video xxx BMW's in the U.K genuinely have a good reputation when it comes to reliability!!
Get a Klein wire tracer and trace the cables that stem from that relay back to the terminal and so on. You will find your issue in no time. 🤓
I can’t watch your videos before bed, I had a terrible nightmare. I owned a BMW With electrical issues. It was horrible worst nightmare I’ve ever had. Thanks Sam😀
Best looking paperweight I ever saw
Canbus line grounded or shorted might be water ingress into a component or wiring harness connection. Check for water under carpets, I'm sure i saw a drop from the glovebox screw at 9.40. If itwas water check evaporator drain clear, if windshield has been replaced that bonding is correct and check scuttle panel drains aren't blocked with leaves etc as water will cascade into car through heater air intake.
Cheap M car with electrical issues? How hard can it be?
I have owned a BMW in the past and after 5 yrs of ownership, it cost me over $18k for the services and maintenance from the BMW dealer. I had had enough of constant costs of time and money to bring it in for services. Driving was very nice, exciting, and enjoyable, but the headaches were non-stop on the long-distance driving with a reliable issue, a major worried for me. I am glad, those days are long gone and over.
Sam created a new tool. The “Allen head Torx” wtg Sam.
Im an electrical tech, and that relay is water damaged . You can see the rust seeping out of the case. I would start with replacing it first and then the fuse box it was located in and check any modules in that area for water damage . Remove some plugs and see if there is corrosion. Good luck and let me know if you need any help.
I’m sure you’ll fix it sam, between you and your support network it’ll happen 🇳🇿
My 7 series had a fuse behind the dash that was shared across numerous computers. Want to say it was #3 or #5. The comfort access handle wiring would short and cause the fuse to blow.
My first thought was just go try to disconnect each module separately.
Sam , I've been going back over your past episodes , if you will and as I have become very impressed with your tenacity to complete your objective . I'm viewing the range rover escapades right now and as I look at the total of what you allow us to see . There's one thing that does come to mind . " You're a busy guy " !
I bought a lemoned out Nissan Titan XD with a Cummins diesel in Wisconsin that came from Florida. I've owned it a year now with only very minor problems.
Sam this is one of my favorite videos of yours so far. Incredibly informative. The X6 is an awesome car. Gotta love the BMWs, for better or worse.
I dont really like suv's but man, that thing is beautiful
One of the better guys on electrical issues is Mr.O from The South Main Auto Channel. Guy is a master when it comes to chasing down electrical issues.
I guess Samcrac is starting a German junkyard. 😂
My old MKI Wolfsburg-madeJetta had a firewall rain leak, so that fuel pump relay _(Kraftstoffpumpenrelais)_ got filled up with water…. but the relay was never totally ruined so I swapped in the spare till the first dried out. Nice car overall… simple and fun to drive.
A firearm is the right tool to keep your home safe.
Armchairing here a bit....
Scope the canbus, one of the modules is sending corrupt data, looks to be triggering safety relay.
De-pin each canbus pair and test for faulty signal. It looks like failure is detected by simple power-on ( since it does it ignition on)
Don't forget to look at harnesses under the hood and under the car, chaffing could be be the issue, actual canbbus pair shorting to ground.
Since the car shifted to park a few times, I would definitely check the transmission harness, every Mm of it.
Good luck Chicken man
Would it be possible to replace the ECU, each module and rewire the harness to fix the problems? My feelings are if it could have been done then BMW NA would have paid to get it done. Or maybe once a car floods then it’s toast?
no, if you replace the ECU you need to reprogram it, the donor module must be reset in order to be able to install it in your car. Most probably it has a CAN interference from bad / corroded wires, putting the CAN bus to ground or to voltage (which is bad in both situations). It is a pain to troubleshoot, you need to measure the CAN wires with all modules disconnected, and then put 1 by 1 and test again.
trunk button is on the center dash under the number 4 on the CD changer. no power steering means the alternator also ain't working so battery is low & the car should go into a limp mode or "randomly" throw its self in park. also check the transfer case actuator .
Automotive masochism at it's finest.
I owned a 2010 X6M from new, $196K and sold in 2017 for $40K. No real issues with reliability, but did have issues such as injectors at 110k’s - $7K, PCV lines twice at $1.8K a pop,
I had a 2006 Honda civic diesel that devolped a simular problem @ 6 years old and 100,000 miles. Had the car from brand new serviced on time no other problems throughout it's life, just strated to not start one day, could be for 5 seconds could be for 50 minuets. Then one day it didn't start any more, 6 grand car ended up being sold as a parts car for £1500. Turns out that the main ecu had lost it's programing, it cost the guy I'd sold it too £100 to get the ecu reflashed and the car was working perfect again. Good luck in finding the problem, god I miss the older cars that you could take things off then to find the problem instaed of plugging something in.
I have a german car which developed similar issue with electronic flickering on and off, at the end we figured out that all the fuses where the original one from the company and as the car was 10 years old there were corrosion over the pins of most of the fuses, after cleaning them...the car runs completely fine.
Sam I'd start suspecting the gateway module. ALL modules on the CAN bus run through it. And when you scan the car for codes, you are not scanning the module directly. You are scanning it through the gateway module. Remember when Hoovie bought that green Mercedes in NY and tried to drive it back to Kansas and the gauges started turning off and on and the car would randomly shut off certain functions to include the engine running? He had a bad gateway.
The relay clicking on/off rapudly in a DC system sounds like a loose connection maybe shaking with the engine. Rev the rmps and see if it flickers faster. An oscilloscope is great for this. Also there will be several inputs to the controller that drives your shutoff relay, an advanced code reader or data logger should be able to read all those inputs and flag which one(s) are toggling on/off
battery in trunk, check the gutters that drain the water from the top, check the battery for water damage. Fixed 5 different things on my old volvo, was a cable under the battery that had water damage.
Sam I use a flir thermal camera . It can be helpful to diagnose electrical issues .
You can purchase a DC clamp on amp meter. We had automation systems that had dozens of sensors on one fused circuit so finding a short was a problem. Checking the current to a single group at a time would quickly narrow down where the fault current was going. I really think you will eventually find a damaged harness or corroded ground connection.
Just a small point , 12v battery voltage means nothing. Have the battery capacity tested at its rateing, on the label. Fully charged it should be
Over 80% of rateing value. Or start vehicle ,measure battery voltage around 14.2v with engine running, then turn on everything electrical
Full bean ,heated rear window, blower fan, heated seats ect, then check battery voltage. Correctly operating alternator should show 14v ish
At a Ford dealership in around 2004, the first generation Expeditions started popping up with similar issues. They would even try to start themselves while just sitting there with not even key in the ignition... Turns out cars with replaced windshields were the common denominator. Why? Because the replacement windshields weren't sealed properly and would cause water leaking into the fuse panel up by the firewall on the left side thereby cause everything to short out. It was like an epidemic back in the day. Lots of windshields replaced in metro NYC. I wonder how many people actually gave up on them.... BTW: 90k and BMW bought it back?? Is that weird or normal? I can't imagine it was lemon-ed as per any law. It had to be because of the goodness of BMW. Yeah, I don't think any law allows a lemon buyback at that mileage...
Notice that BMW said the buyback reason was for white exhaust smoke.
Maybe it was a CPO and had a extended warranty etc. But that's a lot of miles.
As a new owner of an older BMW with a few issues…. Well maybe a little more then a few but I am knocking them off one by one. I sure did enjoy this video. I can’t wait to see the next video. Thanks for sharing.
Closed circuit cutoff means there is a short somewhere. Look at the radio system or anywhere else people look to tap into the factory wiring. My money is someone has fed power back through the ground. Either accidentally wired or shorted.
Check your grounds. When you find one that’s hot, figure out why.
The relay was preventing something from frying. You’re lucky you didn’t let any smoke out.
My thoughts exactly - those Janky paddle shifters are not OEM and no doubt there will be other mods fitted, spliced into existing wiring.