E61 unlocked and windows open

E61 unlocked and windows open

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Toltec

Original Poster:

7,163 posts

224 months

Tuesday 29th December 2015
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Came out this morning to find all the windows open and the car unlocked.

The fobs do nothing, buttons or in the ignition slot neither does the emergency key.

If I get in the car the alarm goes off, but not when I open the door when I get in so the proximity sensors?

The fobs are kept on a book shelf so they have not been pressed accidentally, from what I have found in searches this would not stop the fobs from working anyway.

The interior lights come on when I open a door and the indicators flash when the alarm sounds, only had the car since October, but not noticed any issues with electrics or the battery.

Any ideas?

I have recovery and they will take it down to a BMW specialist nearby so not the end of the world...

Toltec

Original Poster:

7,163 posts

224 months

Tuesday 29th December 2015
quotequote all
Boot is dry and we tried a booster pack on the battery to no effect, I'll mention the broken tail gate wiring to the garage, thanks.

Not at the garage yet as my road is not wide enough to get the low loader in front of the car, the electronic steering lock means there is no way to tow the car off the drive and on to the road. They ordered a car lifter, however it was not going to arrive until too late to get to the garage...

At least it didn't happen while I was at work, the interior would have got properly soaked if it had sat there all day.

Toltec

Original Poster:

7,163 posts

224 months

Wednesday 30th December 2015
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Defcon5 said:
Is the obd port cover still as it should be?
I did wonder if someone had tried to steal it, but it is an eight year old car so unlikely.

The other thing that occurred to me was a fault with a crash sensor? I think the car is supposed to unlock in the event of a crash, not sure about winding the windows down and disabling the key fobs though.

Main thing I want now is a smoking gun, without a definite fault found it will be difficult to have any trust in the car.

Toltec

Original Poster:

7,163 posts

224 months

Wednesday 30th December 2015
quotequote all
Garage has just called me, they cannot communicate with the cas module, not seen one go on a 5 series, but not uncommon on 1, 3 and MINIs apparently.

Given it is one of the few modules that remains powered without the ignition on I guess it makes sense it could die sat on the drive. Why it unlocked the car and dropped the windows as it went is anybody's guess.

I'll post up as and when it is fixed or other faults are found.




Toltec

Original Poster:

7,163 posts

224 months

Monday 4th January 2016
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Dead CAS module confirmed, replaced and re-coded and it is all working again.

A bit scary that the car can not only strand you but leave itself leave itself so vulnerable to theft, vandalism and the weather.

Probably very rare, however from now on I'll always park up with an eye to how the car can be recovered. No idea if my insurance would pay up if the interior is destroyed by rain or criminal damage due to the windows being open.

Edited by Toltec on Monday 4th January 19:30

Toltec

Original Poster:

7,163 posts

224 months

Tuesday 5th January 2016
quotequote all
Picked it up this morning and after six miles the over temp warning comes up...

Fortunately only about 100 metres from work so I limped it into the car park.

Bl**dy cars

Toltec

Original Poster:

7,163 posts

224 months

Wednesday 6th January 2016
quotequote all
home said:
this was my first thought, that someone's tried nicking it.

Is the keyhole on the driver's door unmolested? If it's an LCI there is a free software update for it and a few other recalls "quality enhancements".
The keyhole is fine and it is an LCI so I'll get the software checked, can be done from the key I am told.

Garage has confirmed a dead water pump, I assume it could have been on the way out for a while and the engine management has just been demanding higher and higher output? Hopefully completely coincidental to the CAS dying.

It has done 97K so I was fully expecting to have some maintenance to cover, I would not be surprised if there are some suspension bushes that need attention for instance. I'll be a bit twitchy if I get any more module failures though. At least the previous owner had the fuel pumps, coils and injectors replaced as well as a decoke.

Toltec

Original Poster:

7,163 posts

224 months

Wednesday 6th January 2016
quotequote all
It turns out that the breakdown guy that checked the car out originally put a fuse back in the wrong slot...

Rather annoying, especially that I didn't think of it, but much cheaper than replacing the water pump!

Took the garage a while to find it as there isn't a specific pump fuse it is labelled as an ecu one.

Toltec

Original Poster:

7,163 posts

224 months

Wednesday 6th January 2016
quotequote all
rsbmw said:
Surprised it ran at all with no ECU fuse!
It's one of several marked as engine management I believe, which made finding it tricky, quite pleased the garage realised there was something odd going on rather just going ahead and swapping out the pump.




Edited by Toltec on Wednesday 6th January 16:20

Toltec

Original Poster:

7,163 posts

224 months

Friday 8th January 2016
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home said:
relocating the OBD port also helps
Good call, I see there are some online guides. I'll also investigate port locks.

The CAS is new and the latest software is on it, will double check at a dealer shortly.

Toltec

Original Poster:

7,163 posts

224 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2016
quotequote all
Well despite being told the latest software meant it could not be nicked by coding a new key the car is gone. Disappeared off the drive in the half hour between me leaving for work (I walk) and my wife going out. She thought I had just taken it to work and only realised when I called her on the way home at five.

I can only assume the original incident was someone trying to nick it and they came back once they had a software update on their kit too!