nateBelow0

I came out to my 2004 545i after work and as soon as I sat down I notice a horrible smell. It smelled like burnt plastic or maybe burning wires. I looked around, nothing looked out of place. Started up the car and backed out. A few seconds later, it hit me, my iDrive screen was black. Nothing. The smell was also so strong that I could barely take it. Had to drive home with the windows down. When I got home I popped the trunk and the smell was even stronger.

Everything else seemed absolutely fine. All of the gauges on the dash worked. Heated seats, Heat blower and Cig Lighter all worked. Of course no radio or cd changer.

The only other thing I noticed was, when I first started driving there was a message on my dash that had a phone icon, the word "s.o.s." and a slash through both of them.

The last time I drove it was earlier at lunch. I went for about a 25 minute drive and everything worked fine.

Any ideas what may have happened? My car is no longer under warranty. How screwed am I?


NB

turboawd

did you check under your spare tire to see if the smell is even stronger there? there are some electronics there that have been known to get wet and fry.

nateBelow0

Yep, I did and the smell was stronger. Now that you mention it. Last week when it rained, i accidentally took a nap on my key and popped my trunk. When I came out, my trunk was soaked.

How bad could this be?

turboawd

thats not good. did you take out the spare to see how much water is under there? or to see if something is obviously fried?

nateBelow0

I just did. Yea it's wet under there. In some of the grooves, there's still a little standing water. I stuck my finger in the water and it smells like the burnt smell I described. It's dark out, so I can't really tell if anything is visibly fried. I'm looking for a flashlight now. Yikes!

Edit: for iPhone #fail

Howitzer

oh man.... what a nightmare.

PraiseTheLowered

insurance claim, this isnt going to be cheap

Rudy

It's likely that the MPM (micro power module) got fried. I don't know what they cost but it's possible that's all you'll need to replace. Do a search for MPM or micro power and see what you learn...

nateBelow0

I think that's what it is. After reading your post, I did a search and somebody else had the same exact symptoms. It was the MPM. They said the part is cheap and it's something you can do yourself. According to them the part was around $150. For BMW to do it, it would run about $1100. Something about that doesn't seem right to me. I wonder if something has to be reprogrammed. Why would the dealership charge that much on labor for such a cheap part that could easily be replaced? Anyway, I'm going to look into it some more tomorrow. Thanks to all of you for helping me pinpoint the problem.

nateBelow0

Wow! I'm glad my car didn't catch on fire. I'm guessing this is the MPM?