My 2005 525i grew a mind of its own. Any help?

dpcarson

OK, I have a 2005 525i that has never given me any trouble and I sing it's praises to everybody that always wants to ask me about maintenance. However, last night I went out to eat with the family and this thing literally grew a mind of it's own while we were in the restaurant. I came out and tried to start it and it would fire briefly but not run. Then the windshield wipers came on and would not go off. Then the cruise control malfunction light came on and the passenger air bag and passenger restraint malfunction light came on. After several tries it finally cranked up but all the malfunction lights were still on and the windshield wipers would still not turn off. I did not have any tools with me but luckily Kickback Jack's is across the street from Lowes so I drove across the street and figured I would try disconnecting the battery for a few minutes and see if everything would reset. When I hooked the negative cable back up it fired up and seemed to run fine the 20+ miles home. This morning when I go to head out to work for a while, the car cranks up fine, then about 1/4 mile down the road the passenger airbag and restraint light comes on again and I started hearing what sounded like a whistling noise. Even on flat road the rpm's are also inconsistent with 300 - 400 variation with the cruise control set at 60, and normally the gauge shows me at about 30mpg at that speed but this time it was only showing me at about 12 mpg. Then the flat tire warning light comes on and I know the tire is not flat.

So, other than demonic possession, anybody have any ideas? Thinking it may be time to sell it and get something else, but dang it has been an awful good car. 139k miles with nothing more than routine maintenance and a valve cover gasket.

elias

There's a good chance the problems will disappear after you install a new/pre-charged/fully-charged battery.