Dead battery - charged and now a dead cluster

[trapdoor]

My new (used) X3's battery went flat today! The battery must be stuffed, and I will get it replaced under warranty.

However, when trying to start the car (and finding the battery rapidly going flat on me) just got a load of loud clicking from the starter and the cluster lights flickering. I stopped trying to crank pertty rapidly and attached my batery booster to the jump connections under the bonnet.

Left for 10 mins and then switched on the ign. to Position 2 and all I got was the ABS lamp. No other lamps, no mileage display, no nav screen (though the radio was on) - the climate panel was working though.

Carnow seems to start ok, but is bereft of instrument displays. Not tried to drive it as I am going to take it to the dealer tomorrow.

Just wonder if anyone has any ideas, or perhaps someone has the TIS that has the info. Could it be a fuse?

Any suggestions appreciated.

[Thunder22]

did you check the fuse box?

[mane]

BMW Service has changed my battery four times now. But battery is not the actual problem, its the battery usage. If you have your keys inside the lock, it will start draining the battery. Eaven if you unlock the doors via remote, you can hear dvd-drive starting (along with computer and other stuff).

Battery usage is so big that when I turned ignition to first position and put the battery to charger, it consumed a lot more than the charger could charge.

ps. If you move your electric-seat too much before the car is on, it will not start .

[trapdoor]

Originally Posted by gresch

did you check the fuse box?

Yes, and no blown fises. BUT, the cluster came back up after fuse 43 (I think) was re-inserted.

BMW Assist came out and they say when the vehicle is 'asleep' it is still drawing too much current (.5 amps) - he made sure all the systems that could be switched off were off, and sat for 40 mins whilst the car shut down - it dropped to .2 amps then back up to .5 amps and stayed there.

BMW Guy reckons it could be the climate panel (which I have an issue with blanking out for 1 or 2 seconds when it's in use ) or the radio which sometimes doesn't 'boot up' - or they could be the symptoms of a much more complex and alarming problem!

Anyhow, it is now at the dealers and they have it until Saturday morning (if needed) and then I need it back as we are going away. Change all the electronic podules out for new bits is my favourite

[aaiv8tor]

Hi, New to the forum. Just thought I could add some insight to the Dead Battery problem! I wrote a letter to my salesman and also fowarded the letter to BMW Corp. This explains the problem so I will post a copy.

Hi Rui,

This is the fourth BMW I've owned. The list is a '84 533i, '91 525i, '99 328i and this '06 X3. They have all been wonderful cars with the exception of the '06 X3.

This is a synopsis of my experience with my 2006 X3:

Shortly after buying the X3 about ...3 months maybe... I started having problems with the battery going dead and the BlueTooth and Assist being intermittent. Over the coarse of the first year the battery went dead at least five times. The car stranded my wife several times Usually when I was out of town. She had friends jump her off to get home from work. At that time I wasn't really sure what the problem could be. As it progressed it became apparent this problem was not being caused by leaving things on.
I began talking to BMW of Macon to get the car in for service. I was told that loaner cars were all booked up 2 weeks out. A rental car was never mentioned. The traveling I do with my job and the loaner rental car problems made it difficult to get the car in for service. I decided to just have the car serviced at the one year oil change period as that was approaching.
I dropped the car off in May '07 for the yearly service along with a grocery list of the things that needed to be fixed. The main items were the dead battery and the BlueTooth and Assist. I believe they changed the battery at that time. I believe that the battery was damaged because of something draining the battery. I believe they changed the Telephone control unit (TCU) also. I was told that the phone I was using was not a BMW approved phone and that if I continued to use it BMW would not cover the TCU under warranty so I haven't used the BlueTooth since then even though that's why I got the Premium Package in the first place. I'm amazed that BMW is allowed to use the BlueTooth symbol. That symbol tells me that if my phone has that symbol then it is compatible with the car. I realize I may not have all the functions but to blame my phone for this problem does not say very much for the Technology in a $43,000 BMW.
I got the car back from service in June '07. About three weeks later the car dies again right before our vacation. Back to the shop in Macon. Luckily They were able to get a loaner after about a week in the shop so the vacation was not ruined. Still no mention of a rental car. The car was in the shop for about four weeks. They replaced the TCU again. They still had a drain on the battery. Trace Finally stumbled on to the fact that the car came from the factory without a specific wire from the radio to the TCU to make it go to sleep. The solution was to replace the radio with one designed to fix the same problem on the Z4. I got the car back at the end of July '07 and on September the 1st it died again and BMW Assist towed the car to Critz BMW of Savannah where it sits now. Still no loaner available for 2 weeks and no mention of a rental car.

Needless to say, but I've been very disappointed with the owner experience. I know this is not the norm from previous experience plus if it was BMW would be out of business.

Thanks Rui for all your help. I know if anyone can help, you can, as it always seems you go above and beyond for your customers.

Sincerely,



P.S. I have to say that I have lost all confidence in this car. I'm out of town a lot and will constantly be worried about my wife and if her 2006 BMW X3 is going to leave her stranded in a bad situation.



I have since learned that the warranty will cover reimbursement for a rental under certain conditions. I have the car back. The last time in the shop they could not find a battery draw, but they did change the battery. The car is now on battery #3 in 15 months. I expect the battery to die again. If that happens I will have to hold their feet to the fire. Anyway if anyone is having a battery problem maybe this will help in the diagnosis.

Don't get me wrong. I think the X3 is a great car. I'm just a little disapponted with this one. I would'nt park it at the airport and expect it to start when I returned.

aaiv8tor
2006 X3
gray/with black
premiun/sport

[NOVAX5]

get to the dealer and change your battery. it happened to me before. everything on the instrument cluster display went dead, abs on and the car started just fine. a friend of mine who is a mechanic but not a bmw mechanic didn't know what was wrong with it, it took him like 2 hours searching for blown fuse and lose connection. by that time, i had to go somewhere. i ran it to the dealer, they look at it and say. replace the battery. $300 later, everything is back to normal. what they did was replace the battery, reset the computer, reflash the software or something. problem sovled. your dying or dead battery could cause numerous electronics problems make you think that some modules are failing, but its actually not. well the dying battery may be caused by some electronics power drain make sure you know there is nothing is draining the battery.

[trapdoor]

Car was in for 3 weeks whilst I was on holiday. They replacedunder warranty:

• Sunroof Controller Module (said this was def. causing the drain)
• CID Radio
• Climate Rheostat (?)

However, I have been closely monitoring the battery voltage with an analyser, and after the car sitting for the weekend, the battery voltage was down to just over 11 volts!

The service department reckoned they had fully charged the battery, and the car is also charging it.

My battery has a little indicator window on it which should show green for a charged battery, black for a battery which needs charging, and yellow if the battery is buggered. Mine always shows black, which leads me to believe the battery is knackered. They don't seem to want to change the battery for some reason - presumably because it is an expensive item?

It will get booked back in next week. I still have a whole list of things that need sorting under warranty, including:

• Squeaky drivers window - it goes "eek, eek, eek..." when lowering or raising!
• Missing 'button' on the seatbelt which stops the buckle riding down to the floor (it needs a heat machine to install!)
• Climate display keeps flashing off for a second or so every once in a while - like a loose connection in the display

This car has been in the dealers more than on the road since I have owned it (about a month) - my other BMW's (E46 etc) have been superb. Hope this is just new owner teething problems and doesn't signify the car is a lemon.

I was also seriously narked that whilst it had Bluetooth, it didn't have Voice Control, even though the facility is built in to the Bluetooth module. Dealer wanted over 500 pounds off me to install the VR retrofit - so I used the i-bus interface and Navcoder and did it myself. All sooooooo annoying.