Complete power off for cleaning interior?

[pcrispy]

I've searched quite a bit and either I'm searching the wrong stuff in the manual and online, or I'm overlooking this. Is there a way to completely power down the car in order to clean the interior without triggering every computerized function to kick on? I tried keeping the key in the house but regardless if you push this or that then boom it kicks on something which then reacts via the NAV, AC, etc for stuff getting pushed. I just picked up a 2016 750i this weekend and while the dealer had it cleaned well, there are some streaks and stuff on the interior screens and buttons that I want to get cleaned better.

[AlteBMW]

Originally Posted by pcrispy

I've searched quite a bit and either I'm searching the wrong stuff in the manual and online, or I'm overlooking this. Is there a way to completely power down the car in order to clean the interior without triggering every computerized function to kick on? I tried keeping the key in the house but regardless if you push this or that then boom it kicks on something which then reacts via the NAV, AC, etc for stuff getting pushed. I just picked up a 2016 750i this weekend and while the dealer had it cleaned well, there are some streaks and stuff on the interior screens and buttons that I want to get cleaned better.

I suspect your key is not far enough away even when in the house.

[pcrispy]

Originally Posted by AlteBMW

I suspect your key is not far enough away even when in the house.

Interesting. So it should be completely off then? If so, I can take the key inside and put it in a safe, wrap it in aluminum foil, etc. I'll give that a try tonight.

[pcrispy]

Originally Posted by pcrispy

Interesting. So it should be completely off then? If so, I can take the key inside and put it in a safe, wrap it in aluminum foil, etc. I'll give that a try tonight.

Originally Posted by pcrispy

Interesting. So it should be completely off then? If so, I can take the key inside and put it in a safe, wrap it in aluminum foil, etc. I'll give that a try tonight.

Well nevermind. That didn't work. I wrapped the key fob in 3 layers of aluminum foil and put it inside a large fire safe (concrete and steel) inside the house. So apparently it doesn't have anything to do with the fob.

[Cruzdog954]

Put the key far away. Touch and hold the radio volume to turn everything completely off

[pcrispy]

Originally Posted by Cruzdog954

Put the key far away. Touch and hold the radio volume to turn everything completely off

Tried that, including wrapping the key in foil and placing it in a fire safe. The radio button "shuts it down" but everything fires back up immediately once you push any buttons.

[Wills2]

Originally Posted by pcrispy

Tried that, including wrapping the key in foil and placing it in a fire safe. The radio button "shuts it down" but everything fires back up immediately once you push any buttons.

Agreed I just ignore what's going on (everything kicking off on the dash) and continue to clean the dash and the buttons.

[Qsilver7]

Not sure if this will work or not because I only have a 2013 F series...so my iDrive may not work the same since its an older version...but I thought I read somewhere that the new iDrive can be shut down by moving the iDrive contoller knob forward (hold it there for a second or more) then turn it to make a selection that allows you to power down the car. Or it may have been to press the OPTION button and you get a screen that says shut car off.

Again, I have no verification of this because I have an older version of iDrive. It does work...please post back if you get a screen that allows you to select some type of powering down feature.

EDIT. Found a video on YouTube & took 2 screen shots. The first is the driver pressing the OPTION button on a G chassis 5 series...which brings up a screen (2nd pic) that shows a selection to turn off the car:

[roho3323]

I-drive menu: vehicle settings/doors and locks/ then select "turn car off when door open"

[pcrispy]

Originally Posted by roho3323

I-drive menu: vehicle settings/doors and locks/ then select "turn car off when door open"

I've already got the option turned on to turn off the car when you open the door, and I've also done the iDrive menu that does the "car shutdown". The problem is that while these things, similar to the other ways of shutting down the car, turn the car "off", the electronics instantly fire up as soon as you push a button on the iDrive, steering wheel or HVAC. The best result I've found was to keep the key inside the house, get into the car and shut the door, then remote lock the car using my phone app. That disabled some of the buttons, but not everything. It works well enough for cleaning, it just seems like there should be some sort of option to make it be completely powered down aside from pulling a battery cable.

[Qsilver7]

Originally Posted by pcrispy

The best result I've found was to keep the key inside the house, get into the car and shut the door, then remote lock the car using my phone app. That disabled some of the buttons, but not everything. ...

I would think that would activate the interior motion sensor? If you do this (remote lock the car using your phone app) and you see that the little red (clown nose) below the interior rear view mirror is blinking...then you have approx 20 seconds before any movement inside the cabin is picked up and the alarm will go off.

There's a delay of approx 20 seconds after locking the vehicle with the remote or manually locking the driver's door from the exterior lock cylinder...that allows the IMS (interior motion sensor) & Tilt sensors to set-up.

[pcrispy]

Originally Posted by Qsilver7

I would think that would activate the interior motion sensor? If you do this (remote lock the car using your phone app) and you see that the little red (clown nose) below the interior rear view mirror is blinking...then you have approx 20 seconds before any movement inside the cabin is picked up and the alarm will go off.

There's a delay of approx 20 seconds after locking the vehicle with the remote or manually locking the driver's door from the exterior lock cylinder...that allows the IMS (interior motion sensor) & Tilt sensors to set-up.

So then we are back to basically no options to truly turn things off.... so just be careful while cleaning and pushing random buttons. haha

[sfmizyed]

This makes it difficult to take our car to the local car wash since those guys just wipe everything down quickly and not being careful with what they touch.

I just got my 2016 740 last month...it’s fully loaded with lots of buttons....buttons that love being pushed and moved! I love my new car, but dread the idea of taking it to a car wash!

[Wills2]

Originally Posted by pcrispy

So then we are back to basically no options to truly turn things off.... so just be careful while cleaning and pushing random buttons. haha

Yep it cannot be done, but it's a non issue really as you can't break anything and takes 30 seconds to reset if stuff has changed.

The metal buttons do show up every mark though so I tend to find I'm cleaning them more often.