How to find battery drain??

King · #1 11-27-2006, 01:06 PM

Every winter my X5 seems to mysteriously die. I went to start it in the morning and nothing...not even a click! Last year I replaced the battery, so it's only a year old. Truck was even parked in the garage and still won't start. I charged the battery overnight and it started right off the bat!

It's got to be a battery drain somewhere, but where the heck do I even start to troubleshoot something like that?? I have a feeling it's the damn trunk latch, although I never got the warning in the dash!

This is really driving my mad. Several times I get ready to go to work in the morning and the damn thing won't start!

WolfX5 · #2 11-27-2006, 02:02 PM

This was a good thread started by Driver8 who had a similar problem.

Hope it's helpful...

http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e53-forum/...ighlight=sleep

BigBob · #3 11-27-2006, 10:36 PM

The same thing happened to me......And I took it today to the bmw dealer today to get a new battery thinking that the battery was bad since it seemed like it wasent holding a charge (Still have the same battery since 01'). They first told me the battery was fine, it could of been from a light being left on or a draw on the battery from something else. Then they said that the battery wasent holding a charge after testing it a few times. (They said that it would be charged from the drive there, but after testing it a few times, a bad battery wouldent hold a charge as good from having a bad cell) They then said said they ran a 'draw' test, (im guessing they test the voltage output from the battery to different parts/acc.) and told me the problem was the fan and it needed to be replaced and would cost $900. I asked him why they couldent just fix what was wrong electronically with the fan and not replace the whole thing. He said it was the internals of the motor and the motor is what was expensive and the rest of it is cheap cause its just plastic.

I am going to another dealer/repair shop to see what they say because their explanation dident sound right. What do you guys think about this?

WolfX5 · #4 11-28-2006, 01:14 PM

Bob, if you got 5 years out of your OEM battery I say you're one of the lucky few. If it's not dead now, it will be soon as it looks like it's already discharged on you several times now. Therefore since you're going to need a new battery anyway, I recommend you spring for the new battery now and see if that solves your problem before droppping a G on a some mysteriously malfunctioning fan.

My 2 cents...as always, good luck!

BigBob · #5 11-28-2006, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WolfX5

Bob, if you got 5 years out of your OEM battery I say you're one of the lucky few. If it's not dead now, it will be soon as it looks like it's already discharged on you several times now. Therefore since you're going to need a new battery anyway, I recommend you spring for the new battery now and see if that solves your problem before droppping a G on a some mysteriously malfunctioning fan.

yea I can understand the battery not holding a charge for being that old, I went to the dealer to get a new one. But at first they told me it was fine so they said they would check to see if there was a draw and then found the 'fan' problem. Im pretty sure the fan works fine because i never had a service light come on or any overheating problems....I guess by what they told me, the internals failed to where it draws power after the car is shut off???