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Battery Being Drained
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Flashing lights and clicking are likely because the battery is low. Find out what is draining the battery and get that solved before you worry about anything else. There are quite a few threads on here about how to go about testing and what some of the common problems can be.
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1988 325is (purchased new) sold 2004 X5 3.0 2005 X3 2.5 2008 X5 3.0 (new to me) |
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Thanks - Is it possible for you to direct me to such threads?
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I'm not good with the search but if you can't find it with the search function here you can try doing it through Google.
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1988 325is (purchased new) sold 2004 X5 3.0 2005 X3 2.5 2008 X5 3.0 (new to me) |
#5
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BMW Vehicle Parasitic Draw Testing
When your car battery goes dead overnight, usually either the battery is at the end of its life span, or you left something on, such as a light. Occasionally something is drawing power that's not of your doing. This is a parasitic draw, and it can cause the same result as leaving the headlights on: a dead battery in the morning. 1. Remove the negative side battery cable from the negative battery terminal. 2. Connect the black wire to the com input on the multimeter and the red wire to the 10A or 20A input on the multimeter. The meter needs to be able to read at least a 2 or 3 amps for this test to work. Connecting the red wire to the mA input on the multimeter won't work and could damage the meter. 3. Attach a multimeter (set the dial on the multimeter to measure Amps as per multimeter’s instructions) between the negative cable and the negative battery post. Wait a few seconds to several minutes for the car to go into sleep mode - i.e. when you make the contact with the ammeter, the cars computer systems "wake up". After a bit of time they will go back to "sleep". 4. If the ammeter is reading over 25-50 milliamps, something is using too much battery power. 5. Go to the fuse panel(s) and remove fuses, one at a time. Pull the main fuses (higher amp ratings) last. Perform the same steps for relays found in the fuse panel. Sometimes relay contacts can fail to release causing a drain. Be sure to observe the ammeter after pulling each fuse or relay. 6. Watch for the ammeter to drop to acceptable drain. The fuse that reduces the drain is the draw. Consult the owners' manual or service manual to find what circuits are on that fuse. 7. Check each device (circuit) on that fuse. Stop each lamp, heater, etc. to find the drain. 8. Repeat steps 1 & 2 to test your repair. The ammeter will tell you the exact numbers. BMW Battery Draw Testing If your Shifter light is on, the car is definitely staying awake. Your Battery will go down within days. If the light is not on you can have a parasitic draw, while the car is in sleep mode. The only difference, is the second draw is from a module which can’t wake the system (not mission critical), and it will take a lot longer to discharge the battery. Shifter light NOT on: (battery fully charged) Find the ground cable on the battery, but do not disconnect. (the cable end connected to the body not the battery, is easier to handle.) Connect the Positive lead from the “Fluke” to the body of the car (good ground) Connect the Negative lead to the (brown) ground cable (you can puncture it) Make sure it’s easy to disconnect the (brown) cable from the body, but don’t take it off yet. Open the glove box and remove and disable the switch so the light will not turn on, locate the fuse box. Start the car and run at idle, turn EVERYTHING on, and activate all the components (sunroof, windows, a/c, lights …..) run 5 min. turn the car off and remove the key. Open all doors and trunk, and with a screw driver, close the door locks so the system thinks all doors and the trunk is closed. Now lock the vehicle with the remote. The “Fluke” must be set up to “A” not “mA” otherwise you will blow the fuse in the meter. Remove the nut from the ground cable and remove the cable from the stud. You meter will indicate around (300mA). Let the car go to sleep. (16 min) minimum, if this is not happening start over. After the sleep mode is on the draw should not be more then 50mA, if it’s more go to the glove box and start pulling fuses one by one and check the draw after each one, but do NOT re-install the fuse. Pull the fuse and leave it out There are some fuses under the right cover in the trunk. If you pull a fuse and car wakes up start over (next time ignore this fuse). If you pull a fuse and the draw drops to around 50mA, read the label on the fuse, you will know which circuit is faulty. Relay locked on - test Take out your infrared temp gun and measure each relay. The one that is hotter is "on". Simple!
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2005 X5 4.8IS The Blue ones are always FASTER.... Current Garage: 2005 X5 4.8is 2002 M5 TiSilver 2003 525iT 1998 528i Former Garage Stable Highlights 2004 325XiT Sport 1973 De Tomaso Pantera, L Model 1970 Dodge Challenger T/A 4 sp Alpine White 1970 Dodge Challenger T/A 4 sp GoManGo Green 1971 Dart Sport, “Dart Light” package 1969 Road Runner 383 1968 Ply Barracuda 340S FB Sea-foam Green |
#6
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One more time!
When your car battery goes dead overnight, usually either the battery is at the end of its life span, or you left something on, such as a light. Occasionally something is drawing power that's not of your doing. This is a parasitic draw, and it can cause the same result as leaving the headlights on: a dead battery in the morning.
1. Remove the negative side battery cable from the negative battery terminal. 2. Connect the black wire to the com input on the multimeter and the red wire to the 10A or 20A input on the multimeter. The meter needs to be able to read at least a 2 or 3 amps for this test to work. Connecting the red wire to the mA input on the multimeter won't work and could damage the meter. 3. Attach a multimeter (set the dial on the multimeter to measure Amps as per multimeter instructions) between the negative cable and the negative battery post. Wait a few seconds to several minutes for the car to go into sleep mode - i.e. when you make the contact with the ammeter, the cars computer systems "wake up". After a bit of time they will go back to "sleep". 4. If the ammeter is reading over 25-50 milliamps, something is using too much battery power. 5. Go to the fuse panel(s) and remove fuses, one at a time. Pull the main fuses (higher amp ratings) last. Perform the same steps for relays found in the fuse panel. Sometimes relay contacts can fail to release causing a drain. Be sure to observe the ammeter after pulling each fuse or relay. 6. Watch for the ammeter to drop to acceptable drain. The fuse that reduces the drain is the draw. Consult the owners' manual or service manual to find what circuits are on that fuse. 7. Check each device (circuit) on that fuse. Stop each lamp, heater, etc. to find the drain. 8. Repeat steps 1 & 2 to test your repair. The ammeter will tell you the exact numbers. Typical Charging system demands Equipment Electrical Draw Rear Window Defroster 25 amps High Blower 20 amps Headlamps (Low beam) 15 amps Windshield Wipers 6 amps Ignition 6 amps Brake Lights 5 amps TOTAL 77 amps A proper charging system and battery is required before any electrical tests are performed. Anytime battery voltage drops below 9.6v all kinds of random faults pop up. As these cars get older and especially on newer cars, the demand on battery capacity only gets more extreme. Average life span of a battery is 3 years. If you use a "battery tender/trickle charger" religiously, like every time a BMW is parked for more than 24 hours, you can get 5-8 years out of them! A few quick tests before you pull out/off any battery/alternator to determine battery/charging system failure. At this age and mileage, the Alt brushes wear out and give an intermittent to no charge swings making lots of issues as mentioned. Step 1. Remove and clean the posts at the battery and neg cable grounds. (Your vehicle has neg cables grounds in more places than the trunk. See frame rails grounds for example.) Remove and clean the positive jump point under the hood at the driver's side firewall. Remove and Clean the positive cable at the alternator (note: do this step while you have the battery disconnected) Test one: With a volt meter on the battery posts do the following tests: - Key off, read battery voltage - Idle read voltage - 1500 RPMs hold for 1 min and record highest and lowest voltage - 2500 RPMs see above Note: You are looking for ANY fluctuation that would indicate charge/no charge, Example volts read 13.7 then drop to 12.3 then up again. It will be normal to see 13.5 to 14.1 for example while running the tests. To make the test simple turn on a few high load accessories (headlamps, heater blower, seats, rear defroster) Last test Engine off, turn on headlamps on (key needs to be in Acc position 1) and turn on seat heater, blower on high and rear defroster) for 15 secs or so. Read battery voltage. If voltage is below 12.6, charge battery. If you have a less than a 15 amp charger, charge overnight and reread battery voltage. When cell walls collapse in a battery, the battery will hold only a surface charge then croak when you apply a load over 100 amps for 15 secs. Hence why you need a carbon pile tester to truly test a wet cell battery. Yes there are capacitor based testers that will get you into the 85% range of accuracy for those who follow the tester world. Note: If your battery has lots of white crud all around the posts, save yourself lots of pain and throw it away before you waste any more efforts... Report back! What you are doing here is to see if the battery and charging system are working properly without the proper tools like a carbon pile load tester. This type of tester allows you to properly load a battery and then the charging system to read true out puts rather than SWAG (scientific wild ass guesses) from internet postings. The tests I recommended will take a few mins and it will provide a lot better result than the local parts store's happy meter. Typical Charging system demands Equipment Electrical Draw Rear Window Defroster 25 amps High Blower 20 amps Headlamps (Low beam) 15 amps Windshield Wipers 6 amps Ignition 6 amps Brake Lights 5 amps TOTAL 77 amps See chart above for battery health results. Helpful?
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2005 X5 4.8IS The Blue ones are always FASTER.... Current Garage: 2005 X5 4.8is 2002 M5 TiSilver 2003 525iT 1998 528i Former Garage Stable Highlights 2004 325XiT Sport 1973 De Tomaso Pantera, L Model 1970 Dodge Challenger T/A 4 sp Alpine White 1970 Dodge Challenger T/A 4 sp GoManGo Green 1971 Dart Sport, “Dart Light” package 1969 Road Runner 383 1968 Ply Barracuda 340S FB Sea-foam Green |
#7
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Simplest first test is to pull the fuses for the NAV if you have it, the fuse for the stereo and the fuse for the bluetooth, if you have it. Also, the fuse for the FSR.
These are the usual culprits for parasitic drain. Put one fuse back in at a time and watch to see if the car goes to sleep after 15 minutes when you close it up. If it doesn't go to sleep you found your drain. Both times I had parasitic drain it occurred after an alternator failure. The telematic (bluetooth) unit would not go to sleep for some strange reason. Killing the power to it and then powering it back up "reset" it and it started going to sleep like it was supposed to. |
#8
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Good suggestions as you are right on the #1 issues. Add in aftermarket security systems, stereo components, goof ball wiring, etc.
I found one where the 33 ft of extra wiring was wrapped around the steering column acting like an electromagnetic field.
__________________
2005 X5 4.8IS The Blue ones are always FASTER.... Current Garage: 2005 X5 4.8is 2002 M5 TiSilver 2003 525iT 1998 528i Former Garage Stable Highlights 2004 325XiT Sport 1973 De Tomaso Pantera, L Model 1970 Dodge Challenger T/A 4 sp Alpine White 1970 Dodge Challenger T/A 4 sp GoManGo Green 1971 Dart Sport, “Dart Light” package 1969 Road Runner 383 1968 Ply Barracuda 340S FB Sea-foam Green |
#9
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Yeah, aftermarket wiring. It's amazing how easily idiots can screw up the wiring in a car. 33' of wire! WTF?
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#10
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I was amazed so I measure it afterwards to get the actual length.
__________________
2005 X5 4.8IS The Blue ones are always FASTER.... Current Garage: 2005 X5 4.8is 2002 M5 TiSilver 2003 525iT 1998 528i Former Garage Stable Highlights 2004 325XiT Sport 1973 De Tomaso Pantera, L Model 1970 Dodge Challenger T/A 4 sp Alpine White 1970 Dodge Challenger T/A 4 sp GoManGo Green 1971 Dart Sport, “Dart Light” package 1969 Road Runner 383 1968 Ply Barracuda 340S FB Sea-foam Green |
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