Just my luck.. Car won't start.

[bmw5]

It seems the battery drain is quite common in BMWs.I read an article in BMW magazine of the M3 longtermer and has the same,the battery drains after a two day stop.One of the thoughts about this is the keyless go feature.Having the key in the pocket or nearby(for example your house) the car goes into standby mode as it detects your key.This requires energy and the car stays in standby mode for quite a while.If the battery goes into safe mode to secure the power for ignition you could loose all your settings in idrive.
That is at least what i read in this article.

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by LobsterX

I still dont think that locking or not locking your car should affect the battery at all. This is not a normal behavior.

You are correct that it shouldn't affect the battery and that it isn't normal. But that doesn't mean that some peoples' X5s do not behave in this manner.

[mtech8]

(With comfort access), after you put the car in park. Then press the "stop" button to turn off the engine. The electronics are still on in the car. You have to press the stop button a second time or lock the car so that the screen shows "BMW" then switches off.

I wonder if leaving it in the state where the electronics are still on is the culprit of the battery drain. Does anyone know if the electronics will turn itself off when the system detects that the key is no longer around?

[rh71]

Originally Posted by mtech8

(With comfort access), after you put the car in park. Then press the "stop" button to turn off the engine. The electronics are still on in the car. You have to press the stop button a second time or lock the car so that the screen shows "BMW" then switches off.

I wonder if leaving it in the state where the electronics are still on is the culprit of the battery drain. Does anyone know if the electronics will turn itself off when the system detects that the key is no longer around?

Have comfort access and never locked it one night. The idrive was off when I got back to the car the next morning and the battery was fine. I think there's some sort of timeout even if you never hit the stop buttonx2 or lock it. Did I mention I wish the alarm would also arm itself (without the doors locking)?

[LobsterX]

Originally Posted by Penguin

You are correct that it shouldn't affect the battery and that it isn't normal. But that doesn't mean that some peoples' X5s do not behave in this manner.

therefore...TO THE BAT CAVE!!! I mean, dealership!!!

[lakai]

Always locked. After it got jumped it showed a few errors like set time and TCS fault but it went away. Went for a trip to legoland and had no problems except when the valet pulled up the car for us at the hotel, there was a Dynamic drive system error. I turned off the engine waited a few seconds and started it again and it was gone. Do you guys think all these errors are problems that have yet come to pass ? Should take it in to get checked ?

[rh71]

^ absolutely. Why not get them fixed while still under warranty? Firmware updates do wonders, especially on the 07s with the original firmwares.

[lakai]

because they usually give me a old toyota camry as a loaner. hehe

[mikesparky]

I've had the exact same thing happen twice on my '07. Both times I had to call Roadside for a jump. After the second time I took the car to the dealership - they "claim" that I had a faulty battery cell so they just replaced my battery. So far I'm a month into the new battery and all is ok.