2002 BMW X5: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Mar 31, 2021 · Electrical, Lights · 230,000 miles · TN · fire

Car was parked. I tried to unlock my car with the key fob and nothing happened. I unlocked the door with the key and after getting in the central locking system would not work. After researching the problem I found that the gmiii controls the central locking as well as other items like the windshield wipers, interior lights, sun roof, and rear upper and lower hatch. I orders a new one and when I took the old one out to replace it I found that it had caught on fire and blew fuse 14. It appears a thyristor or tiac got to hot and set the board and case on fire. I had smelt a plastic smell earlier while driving so it may have been burning before I parked. I am attaching photos.

Filed Mar 29, 2020 · Electrical, Lights · 150,000 miles · WI · fire

The dashboard went dark, only gauge that worked was the tachometer which I couldnt see because I had no dashboard lights. Stopped vehicle and took the keys out couldnt turn my lights off had no turn signals,the 3rd brake light was on all night long killing the battery I tried every fuse. Also my headlights wouldnt turn off the lighting controls were useless, and just kept smelling an electronic burning smell. I managed to disconnect all the lights except the 3rd brake light. Couldnt disconnect the battery because the lift gate to get into the back wouldn't work and the center console hazards stuck on and door locks didn't work I had to remove the glove box and all the paneling and track down the smell. Turns out the problem with this vehicle is that the rain manages to work itself down the inside of the a frame on both driver and passenger sides of the vehicle on driver side it destroys the obd module but on the passenger side it trickles directly into the lcm lighting control module which completely takes your eyes off the road when you cant see the dashboard your headlights start strobing on and off and then half get stuck on and half just dont work but when you spend the hours getting to the lcm to find out it has melted right into the side of your vehicle and you can tell it was on fire !! And this has happened to numerous people on the bmw forums im just happy my 3 year old son wasn't with me. And the real kicker is that I have no vehicle now and it cost 600$ for a new lcm that has to be programmed to your vehicle which will cost another 300$ when I could have hurt someone else or myself when you cant see but you can smell somethings burning its a hazard to everyone on and off the road .

Filed Feb 2, 2015 · Engine · 50,775 miles · MA

I replaced the oil separator at bmw dealership 1/10/08 because oil was becoming polluted with water even after I explained to dealership previous times the oil looked milky when I did a dipstick check. The dealer told me the part failed before it caused extensive damage and a condition known as hydrolock, which could cause engine to seize. Last week in very cold weather conditions,1/13,2015 my cars cabin filled with black smoke. I pulled over and found the engine spoiled with smoking oil, I took it to an independent repair shop and it was the oil separator again. The part is also known as the crankcase vent valve I had it changed/repaired, it is expensive and can cause serious vehicle damage and accidents. I think for this to happen twice points to a dangerous vulnerable part. This time my car could have easily caught on fire, thankfully I was close to the repair shop.incidently they had three bmw's aside from mine with the same problem. Also the two separate incidents were repaired with cold weather/insulated kits. I could not even open my drivers side door window to get air it was inoperable when the cabin filled with smoke which was almost instantaneous.

Filed Nov 27, 2012 · Body, Engine · 153,000 miles · CA · fire

As my wife and I driving to her md appointment on 11/26/12. I've noticed gas smell inside the car,and car suddenly losing power, when I've step on the gas pedal. It's like gaining power to go and suddenly loses power. I was kind of confused what happened . We were on the road right behind the intersection. We had to stop for the red light,when I've tried to go, the car was not moving like it should. We made it to the other side of the intersection, which there is denny's restaurant parking lot. By the time I've pulled over to see what is going on,we were still in the car. All of the sudden there was a loud sound, like explosion under the hood of the car and fire started.thanks god, we got out of the car just in time. The fire was burning out of control. Couple of passerby had fire extinguishers in their cars,tried to put the fire out, while I was on the 911 call,but no luck. In just a less than a minute the whole car was engulfed in flames. It took fire dept like 20-30 minutes to put the fire out,and my car just melted front of my eyes.

Filed Jan 15, 2012 · Engine · 98,000 miles · MA

In january of 2010 during a cold weather spell, I started my car and started driving slowly. After about 5 minutes I noticed smoke coming from engine compartment and from exhaust pipes. I stopped the vehicle and had it towed to a certified mechanic. He diagnosed the issue as a failure of the separation valve that caused the increase pressure under the valve cover. Fortunately, I was able to avoid extensive damage and my bill was "only" around $350 (plus towing). I did my research and found that bmw had known about that problem all along and did nothing. There was a tsb issued for canadian market but no recall was issued. Later models of x5 were equipped with updated valve, it appears that many owners had their engines completely destroyed and the company did nothing to help them. I'm enjoying driving my x5 but believe that the company should have rectified the problem earlier and should have compensated the owners for out-of-pocket expenses for the problem that was well known one.

Filed Jul 7, 2010 · Engine · 80,750 miles · MA · fire

My son was driving my 2002 bmw x5 SUV for approximately 30 minutes (mostly highway) when the "fail safe" light came on. He began to pull into the breakdown lane when the car stalled and "system failure" light came on. When he got out of the car, there were flames shooting out from beneath the engine on the passenger side. He and his fiance quickly ran down the road and the car was fully engulfed in flames with black smoke filling the sky within moments. The car is totaled with all windows melted as well as the entire engine compartment. Both front tires exploded. I have gone online and there are many x5's that have spontaneously caught on fire for no apparent reason.

Filed Feb 3, 2010 · Engine · 40,000 miles · IL

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 bmw x5. The contact stated that while driving at 45 MPH when slowing down he noticed that there was smoke coming from underneath the hood. He then turned off the engine and he raised the hood and there was oil all over the engine and the valve cover gasket was blown. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where they diagnosed it. They stated that it was the oil pump , cyclone separator that had failed. The vehicle was currently being repaired at the time of the complaint at the owners expense. The failure and current mileage was 40000.