New member - Battery drain / Not holding charge/ Not charging

[thejonross]

G'morning all,

I'm a member over at E46fanatics. I have my 325xi as well as an E53 X5 we picked up back in December. I've decided that it's finally time to join the Xoutpost party! I'm not really a fan of "help me out" first posts, but I'm having some issues and the wife is getting irritated.

I'm having a starting issue with our 2005 X5. (M54B30, 160,000 Miles, Automatic w/step)

The car is having starting issues, directly caused by a low battery charge. Lets say I jumped it this morning (which I did) and my wife and son take it to the gym, it will restart and get them home as well as restart throughout the day just fine. Additionally, the car will start perfectly the morning after a day of in-town driving, but only once. I started the car before I left, but then it wouldn't start when my wife went to leave 30 minutes later.

The starter doesn't struggle when it does start and no issues arise when driving. I have only seen the battery light during the pre-start dash test, and never once while driving.

I took the car to O'riely's to have them test the battery / alternator (as I couldnt find my multimeter), their tester was on the fritz, but the salesman said the battery reported good but needed a charge. We cranked the car and he tested alternator voltage (which I confirmed via the OBC self-test). The alternator voltage was slightly low at around 13.0V rather than the nominal 13.5-14.2...ish. However, this should still be enough to charge up a 12V battery, albeit more slowly than with the alternator at nominal output.

My three hypotheses are thus:
Bad battery - although it tests good, and is about 3 to 4 years old, might not be holding a propper charge.
Bad alternator - possible because I have a power steering system leak and there is ATF sludge on the alternator, but output seems ok with no issues while driving.
Current draw/drain - something may be staying on/ coming on and pulling the power/grounding out.

The car does enter sleep mode fine and the FSR/FSU is not making any alarming noises while running, nor turning back on after shutdown as it did when it when out in the 325. I have considered the BMW Assist/TCU module, glovebox light, sludge on alternator grounding out the generator.

I'm sorry for the long post, but I wanted to be as thorough as possible. Any ideas or confirmations about what is most likely happening?

Thanks again everybody.

[SlickGT1]

Welcome, and good first post.

First things to check.

Do you have the BMW phone thing in the center arm rest. If you do, that has a tendency to chafe the wires and cause all sorts of shit with charging.

160k miles the brushes on the alternator might be done. I have a 4.8 and removing my alternator, and swapping out the voltage regulator was cake. Not sure about yours. Your voltage isn't that low though.

If you could get to someone with NCS expert, or DIS, you can scan the car to tell you what faults the computers have been recording. NCS will actually tell you if you hit under-voltage or over-voltage and when it happened.

But in the end, I have a feeling it is your battery not holding charge.

[thejonross]

Hey Slick, thanks for the reply!

I don't have the phone cradle, but thanks for the suggestion. I will look into getting the computer read.

My hope, understandably, is that the battery is the culprit. The battery is a Walmart Everstart, which carries a 3 year warranty. I'll take a look at it tonight and see if it is still in the warranty period.

[SlickGT1]

You know what. Search for Qsilvers post about the batteries that are acceptable by these X5s. They are very power hungry cars. An improper battery will not last as long as they are supposed to, and actually never charge properly because of that as well.

My feeling that your battery is dead, has now been re-enforced.

[Zulu95]

Charge is low for a modern alternator. I would take it to another parts place and have them test the charging system/battery again. Once you have a full report (with no "on the fritz" equipment readings) proceed from there.

[Elvis 3.0]

Here is what Slick was mentioning....


http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...ns-list-5.html

Thanks to X5 Meister // Flipper33 // and QSilver7

(be careful to leave all doors open including tailgate so that you don't lock yourself out and have proper access to battery in back when replacing)

[pgage]

I am experiencing a near identical situation to the original post. I was finding my battery dead during the winter if I was gone for a week and figured it was time for a new one anyway, so got the middle priced Autozone one about 2 weeks ago. Then yesterday after a morning of stopping and starting the car from garage-sale-ing the x5 would start without a jump, but then it would run perfectly (making me thing it wasn't the alternator.) Since then the battery won't keep a charge even with a slow charger on it overnight, but the lights/alarm/gate all work - just not enough power to start the thing without a jump.

So tomorrow I have to start troubleshooting this thing. Looks like I need to start with a trip back to autozone and get some readings.

As a side note - is there a way to turn off the climate control? When I am trying to minimize battery drain it is frustrating to hear the fan running and the gps screen start up. Not helping!

[TerminatorX5]

Denis is right on the money - the first culprit is the battery... not all batteries are created equal, since it is a box filled with chemicals, the purity of the ingridients really matters... most proper size batteries will last you a year or two... better batteries will last 3-4 years... excellent batteries can pull a 10 year streak, as the OE batteries made somewhere in europe...

the secondary culprit, that will enhance the problems with the battery, is the worn alternator/voltage regulator... since the voltage output is compromized, even the best of the batteries will remain undercharged, which will significantly cut its usable life...

start with the battery, with a good warranty, this will buy you time to contemplate repair/replace of the alternator...

[jgold47]

Battery. But something else is strange....batteries tend to be year vs mileage wear. So an >8 year old car on its 3rd battery seems a bit much. Not a huge stretch, but still. OEM batteries have been reported to last 6-7 years. Make sure it's the right battery too, it's easy to get the wrong one.

Maybe something funky with the voltage regulator.

BMW + electrical problem = new battery first. Then start to panic.

[Qsilver7]

Originally Posted by pgage

As a side note - is there a way to turn off the climate control? When I am trying to minimize battery drain it is frustrating to hear the fan running and the gps screen start up. Not helping!

I'm going to assume that you have the (auto) IHKA instead of the (manual) IHKR control unit.

The auto IHKA control unit can be turned off...but since it is an "auto" climate control system...it usually turns itself on with each start up but for a few exceptions.

You can turn the system completely off by pressing & holding the "-" fan speed button down until there is only 1 dash left, then lift your finger and press the button one more time. This will turn the system completely off...all LEDs and lights will shut down in the IHKA.

If you return to the car and restart before 16 minutes pass...the system will remain off. If you come back to the vehicle and the car has gone into sleep mode (after 16 minutes)...then the HVAC system will turn itself back on upon restart...but the fan speed will be at the lowest setting (only 1 "-" will appear in the display). If you still want the system off...then press the button once, and the system shuts down again. If you want to go back into auto mode, then press the "AUTO" button once ("auto" will appear in the fan speed display...and the green LED will illuminate on the AUTO button) and the system is back into FULL auto mode.

Remember, you have two auto features...air distribution & fan speed. The AUTO button lets you select auto air distribution & fan speed...but if you press either the "-" or "+" fan speed buttons...the system will go into MANUAL fan speed mode (air distribution can still remain in auto mode). The word "auto" will disappear from the fan speed display when in manual mode. To return to "auto" fan speed operation...press the AUTO button until you see "auto" appear in the fan speed display.

BTW, this is all explained in the owners manual....see last paragraph under AIR SUPPLY:

If you have aftermarket hardware/software...I believe you may be able to go in and change a setting to cancel this "always on" feature. Those that have this set-up may be able to confirm if this is true or not.