I'm new here, so any help would be appreciated. I just got my 04 525i. When I got home, I shut the car off, got out and tried to lock the doors with the remote, nothing. I tried to pop the trunk...nothing. It was like the remote was broken. Then I tried to lock the doors using the key manually. I put the key in the lock and turned it. All the doors locked, but only stayed locked for about 2 seconds and then just unlocked themselves!! It was pretty weird. I went in the house and came out about 5 minutes later and tried and everything worked perfect...lock, unlock, trunk, alarm...everything.
The next time I started the car up, got out and tried to lock it I had the exact same problem, but waited a few minutes and everything worked fine. All the settings in IDrive are set and obviously everything works fine..after a few minutes of waiting... but I don't feel like going somewhere and have to stand outside of my car for 5 minutes until it's ready to let me lock it!! Thanks for any help, I know it sounds like a stupid problem, but I can't figure it out.

 

Sounds to me as a faulty driver's door switch or door switch wiring. The car thinks the driver's door is open. After being closed for a while, it settles and it - barely - makes contact. Just my guess.

 

Do you have your dome light on? Interior lights.... meaning they're set to turn on when you open the door... try turning it off completely and see if it helps.

 

I think I found out what the cause is. When I shut the engine off, there is a black box thing mounted near the top of the engine (it's on the right side of the engine as you're looking from the front of the car.) I don't know if it's part of the anti-theft or what, but it makes a humming noise for about 2 minutes and as soon as it stops humming, I can lock the doors and I can lock and unlock just like normal until I start the car up and when I shut it off, it's the same thing, wait about 2 minutes until the humming noise stops and the doors lock fine. It's still under warranty so I just have to find time to take it in.

 

Sounds like gremlins to me.

 

Yeah, I'll just take it in. It has to be something with the car going into sleep mode or part of the anti-theft. I've searched the forums and can't find this problem anywhere. Way too much electrical crap on the car. I just love the way it drives. I don't know why there has to be a "sleep mode" or have wipers that sense the rain (umm...I think I can turn my wipers on) just more stuff to break in the long run. I love the car, but this lock thing is pissing me off.

 

Actually I had the same issue on my e46 320i: the car doesn't want to lock, or doesn't want to unlock. Sometimes, when I was locking it, it was making tic-tac-tic-tac without stopping! Just the most annoying stuff ever! I was even scared that it gets into fire if it's doing it all night long... I've noticed that it was more frequent when it was raining... and then in dry conditions, nothing... don't know, it disappeared by itself!

 

I've been having this same problem for the longest time now. Incidentally, I'm bringing in my E60 tomorrow and getting it looked at. I will update if anything comes up.

 

I originally posted this and I have since got mine fixed under the warranty. It was the CAS module that needed replaced. At first they tried to tell me it was the key (I knew it wasn't) so I played along and dealt with the problem for two more weeks while they tried to go the cheap route on me and order a key. When the new key arrived...shocker...it didn't work either!!! That's when the fixed the module. It works fine now. Don't let them tell you it's the key, it is the CAS module and they ordered mine overnight. Good luck!