X-5 Battery Drain

[msammy]

Steve, thanks for the detailed directions, I've reviewed them several times and fully understand what I need to do. Well, tonight I decided to get started only to find out my older Fluke has two of the three fuses blown. I loaned it to a friend about 6 months ago and he must have used it to test the output of his arc welder (I can't wait to call him tomorrow, I just hope I calm down by then). Anyway, it's going to take me a while to find replacement fuses for the Fluke (or just buy a new one if he damaged it).

In the mean time, in desparation, I pulled out every frigging fuse in both boxes - and the shift lever light still won't go out after 16 mins (I had to leave in fuse #12). My DSC/ABS/Brake lights on the dash are on when I start up - could this be the problem why the car won't sleep? These lights were on before I started due to a dead battery that I replaced last week. Again, the problem I'm trying to troubleshoot is the shift lever light never goes out no matter how long I park the car. Once I get the Fluke repaired, I'll hook up and start pulling fuses!

[msammy]

Steve, OK, I have good news, the car is going to sleep after all. I followed your instructions and connected my Fluke 83 to the negative battery cable as you described. I was a bit surprised to see 4.65Amp battery draw with the rear hatch open (wow!). I shut the hatch and it dropped to 3.85A, waited for the interior lights to go out, then observed 848mA draw (still too high). I waited 16 minutes, and sure enough, just 27mA as she went to "sleep" - ZZZZ. Well under the 50mA guideline. Surprisingly, the orange led on the shifter was still proudly glowing orange even when sleeping. My conclusion is: the older X5 shifter led's stay on when sleeping, my 2007's go out after the 16 minute sleep time. Thanks for all of your help Steve, I now know my X5 is fine and the new battery will last for years and I'm not slowly draining as I suspected. Now I'm off to the dealer for reprogamming to get the DSC, Antilock & Brake lights to go out (recalibrate Antilock, etc). Thanks again Steve from Morristown BMW!!! Attached are a couple of photos of the multimeter reading and the orange shift light still aglow!

2002 X5 3.0si, Sport Premium, Titanium Silver, Grey Dakota, Cold Weather Package, Privacy Glass, Xenons, just a winter vehicle...
2007 550i, Sport Premium, Silver Grey Metallic, Grey Dakota, Navigation, Cold Weather Package, Comfort Access, Heated Rear Seats, HD Radio,
Xenons - in the garage for winter!
2007 X3 3.0i, Sport Premium, Monaco Blue, Grey Dakota, Navigation, Cold Weather Package, Privacy Glass, Xenons

[Hal88]

Can't you just turn the wheel from left to right to make the DSC and ABS light to go out?
I did with mine yesterday after I replaced my battery and lights went out normally.

[msammy]

Originally Posted by Hal88

Can't you just turn the wheel from left to right to make the DSC and ABS light to go out?
I did with mine yesterday after I replaced my battery and lights went out normally.

Nope, I tried that about 20 times and they're still on. Dealer says bring it in since the Antilock brake sensors need to be recalibrated after a battery change (another $100 bucks!).

[Bmwtvboy]

Are you serious? This is brilliant German engineering? For what? BTW, what's FLUKE?
That's a lot of work to find the problem that should never have happened. BMtroubleU.
J

[johnlacson]

My X5 won't start after 3 days of not being used outside in 30F weather. Is this normal? Or is my battery on its way out? Last inspection I had done was about 2 months ago and the battery checked out ok.

**Added note, battery isn't completely dead. Remote still works, electricals still come on. Clicking sound only**

[Dickster]

I have the battery drain problem. Second new battery and charging at 14volts, so its definitely a drain problem.

I am now testing the fuses. Fuse 75, Satnav/radio, 5 amps is drawing nearly 1 amp when i switch off the car, is this normal? Does it take time to "shut down"?

My park light goes out after 20 mins, but then lights up again - it does not seem to stay off permanently? Would the satnav/radio cause this?

When the park light is on i am getting 1.7 amps being drawn, and when it goes out is going down to less than .5 amp but not for long.

[Dickster]

update - i went back out to the car and observed that the P light had gone out and the amps on fuse 75 were zero. Then just as previous the P light came back on and sure enough the amps on fuse 75 went back up to nearly 1 amp.

I am hoping that i have found the problem. I have left fuse 75 out, and have now got a meter on the battery terminal - just waiting for it to go back into sleep mode....

fingers crossed...

[Dickster]

I think I cracked it. The car went into sleep mode within 10 mins and has stayed in sleep mode. No P light. The amps at the battery remain a constant .04-.05 amps - that is normal?

Presumably it is the satnav that is causing the issue so i will try unplugging it.

[Dickster]

Presumably I will need a new satnav unit? What are my options?