Glow Plug fuse X5 3.0d
 

Hi, I've got an 05 X5 3.0d M57N and I have an amount of white diesel smelling smoke each morning on start up. I've read a few threats that suggest it may be a glow plug issue. Before I start tracking the problem from the Pre heat relay to the plugs can anyone tell me if the curcuit has fuse protection up stream of the relay. I have no indication on the instrument cluster to tell me if the pre heat system is working. Its mid winter here and with temps near zero degrees (celcius) I have no indication if I have pre heat on start up. The manual tells me there should be a DDE light however I've never seen it despite the cold ambient temps so I suspect a glow plug related issue. Smoke clears after a very short time and I'm not using excessive oil. No smoke once she's warm.

Thanks

Glow plug fuse
 

Mate, from memory the glow plugs use approx 25 amps and are fused at the battery in the rear luggage area. Had recent start problems on my x5d, obd revealed 5 of the 6 glow plugs blown. Cost 55 ea to replace. There is a glow plug control module on the passenger side of the engine under the exhaust manifold. Check your battery and you will see a dedicated line to the glow plug control module, if you need a guy and are in melb I can put you onto a couple. We hooked an oscilloscope onto the ones we fixed and oddly they still pull power at low rpm and even to 2500 rpm when cold and also ongoing while warming up. We figured it was an emissions control issue. We initially had a cold start delay but even with 1 glow plug working we were starting it for years. I only started to look at the issue at as the wife was unhappy. It just wound over a bit more and the common rail high pressure got it started even in a Melbourne winter. As for the preheat to my knowledge it should only kick in at 3.5 deg celsius or below and it's not a dde light per the manual but the word preheat on the LCD screen across the base of the dash on mine. It goes out after a short while. This was what I discovered two weeks ago anyway for 800 large. Hope it helps you and this it how my x5 runs. I purchased it 9 months ld, it has 124k and has been relatively trouble free.

Glow Plug Fault E53
 

I've been told by my local garage (not BMW) that all 6 glow plugs are faulty? It starts up fine even at minus7, a bit grumbly and uneven for about 30 secs but then fine. I get the PRE-HEAT message but I thought that was the fuel heater rather than the glow plugs. To have all 6 out I'm sure it must be something common to them all, fuse or relay etc. Someone else mentioned to me it's probably the module on the side of the engine, for about £120.00, but he also said don't worry the engines designed to start at minus20 with NO glow plugs! Any ideas what it could be? Car starts fine but when I'm told something aint working, I want it fixed, sad I know! Cheers