Mr.PC

Here?s my first significant problem with my year-old (Sep. 2005 build) 530xiT: Two days ago I take it to a dealer in NY City for an annual ?low mileage? (12,000!) oil change and NY state inspection. I pick it up at the end of the day shortly before close, and head across town for dinner and theater. A few blocks from the dealer I notice a ? inch high triangle (with what is probably an exclamation point inside) in the orange display directly in front of me. There was probably a warning on startup but they go away so quickly I didn?t see it, at least not this time. I drill through I-drive and find that the warning is ?increased battery discharge.? I figure they played the radio while changing the oil, and that it wasn?t an urgent problem since there are no bells, blinking lights, or insistent warnings ? except that triangle. I leave the car with the key in an attended garage, come back a few hours later, it starts fine though the triangle is still there, drive to my home garage which is also attended (this is NYC after all) and leave the car with they key in it. Next morning it starts again fine. I?m driving out to Connecticut so I decide, just to be safe, to leave the car running while I load up the car. I drive an hour on the highway to CT, and when I get there, THIS IS THE FIRST TIME SINCE I PICKED UP THE CAR THE DAY BEFORE THAT I HAD TO REMOVE THE FOB FROM THE STEERING WHEEL. And it won?t come out. (This car has the Start button.) Fortunately, a) I?m in a reasonably safe place, b) it?s broad daylight, and c) I have another key/fob/remote so I can lock the car. I come out a couple of hours later and the car starts fine again, AND THE BATTERY WARNING IS GONE. I figure, fine, one problem got sorted out in one hour of highway driving and now all I have to do is get the key out of the steering column. I call BMW Assist for fun and they say all they can do is tow the car, which is silly since it?s running. So I go to the nearest dealer, BMW of Greenwich, only 15 minutes away. I pull into the service bay and shut down the car. I tell them I have just this one simple problem: the remote won?t come out of the ignition. They get in, can?t get it out, try to start the car and NOW IT WON?T START ? for the first time since this saga began. The SA diagnoses the problem as a fried CAS module, which will take a few days, and of course they?ll give me a loaner in the meantime. So considering how bad this could have been miraculously the car decided to die in the dealer?s lot (this is not the dealer that did the oil change).
To the extent there is a question in here, it is: what could someone doing just an oil change and an NYS inspection do to fry the CAS module? I?ve read the thread on this and the pdfs Rudy posted. I?m thinking a wrench inadvertently causing a short or some such. The SA in Greenwich ? again not the dealer that did the oil change ? can?t think of anything except coincidence. I don?t believe in those, at least not on these facts (perfectly running car when it goes in, weird symptoms and eventually unconsciousness when it comes out). The car did have the SZL (steering angle sensor) replaced in August (BMWNA is now admitting to a recall in the U.S. on this one) but because of that, they did not have to open up the steering wheel this time. There have been no mods whatever to the car.???????