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Help! 05 545i electrical craziness

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Old 03-04-2012, 09:46 AM
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Driving my car and all of the sudden I got the following errors:
Dynamic steering ( lost power steering)
ABS warning ( lost ABS, scary)
iDrive screen went blank
Basically the car threw every error code at me possible.

I parked the car and it would not start. I purchases a battery from o'reillys and my car started right up. I had an Dynamic iDrive error but it went away after the second restart. Drove around for about 1 day when I was on the highway and my car went crazy all over again. Got it towed to my Indy shop but they are not open on Sundays. Could a faulty alternator be the cause? Please help!
Old 03-04-2012, 11:08 AM
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My Ride: 2004 545i 6 speed, Silver Gray A08, Gray leather Mods: Hard-Wired Passport 9500ix LIVE , K&N Air + RPi Scoop, Mtech V2.1 AE, ACS pedals+Ebrake, flip up front plate, OEM 172's, Custom M Kit, M3 shift knob, Eisemann Race Exhaust 2005 X5 3.0 (the nightmare) 1998 528i SOLD @ 173K
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Sounds like the alternator to me....
Old 03-04-2012, 02:35 PM
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Too bad you're not with the car now, as you could probably go into the hidden menu (instructions available using Search) and bring up the voltage display. This would give you the state of the battery, and then after starting, the state of the charging system.
Old 03-04-2012, 04:59 PM
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Check your passenger floor in the front and also your trunk for water... if its not your battery or alternator i would bet there is water.
Old 03-04-2012, 08:11 PM
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Originally Posted by jaycal3
Check your passenger floor in the front and also your trunk for water... if its not your battery or alternator i would bet there is water.
+1 there you go, this summed up my response. good luck
Old 03-05-2012, 06:53 AM
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Did you have your new battery programmed?
Old 03-05-2012, 07:10 AM
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Exact same thing my '04 545 went through. I changed my battery late last year but still experienced these problems. Finally got the car checked out by the dealer... bad alternator.

Like the other members mentioned, check for water. Then check the battery. If it's not the battery, check the alternator.

Good luck.
Old 03-05-2012, 12:49 PM
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+1 on alternator. If everything was peachy after the battery was installed, and then freaked out after using it for a while, I would think it would be a shot alternator.
Old 03-05-2012, 03:09 PM
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Originally Posted by Bklyn545i
Did you have your new battery programmed?
:thumbsdown: No. This. Needs. To. Stop.
Old 03-05-2012, 03:21 PM
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Thanks for the input. Turns out I had a bad alternator. Should have my car back tomorrow and will let you know how it runs. If you own a E60 with around 70k I would get your alternator checked. It is not a lot of fun on the HWY when it goes out!
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