E70 Increased Battery Discharge while Stationary

[richmondguy]

To get back on topic (instead of comparing BMW to MB), I've had this fault 3x now with my '07 X5 4.8. Each time, I turned off the car, let it sit for a minute, restarted and the fault went away. No replacing the battery - yet.

[FreddyG]

I've had this happen too and they replaced the battery under warranty. I've read that lockinng the doors (even in your garage at nnight) helps the sensors/modules go to sleep sooner. I'm not sure if this is true or not, but the new battery is still holding up.

It ticks me off that I have to put a battery charger on it over night to protect the battery. That shouldn't happen on any car, much less one that costs as much as these do!

[ranchhand]

My problem was a dead cell in the battery - but it gets better.

Apparently I don't drive enough and BMW won't cover the battery.

I have only purchased four new BMWs in the last five years and drove all of them the same.

I deal with a lot of battery conditions from Golf carts to the marine
environment and a dead cell has always equated to a fault with the battery, not the usage.

The dealer made good as I will not purchase any more BMWs if I end up paying for this one.

I am disappointed with the quality in this 2010 X5 and will still need to reassess any additional purchases.

Also advised BMW NA of my intentions.

[js_avery]

I had to jump my x5 the day after I got it new. But like I said I changed the settings and it went away. I noticed I would go out in the garage after the car had been setting there for several hours and the headlights would be on.

[ard]

Originally Posted by ranchhand

Apparently I don't drive enough and BMW won't cover the battery.
.

That's interesting...

I see two criteria in the warranty:

"extended use with trips of less than 10 miles"

"no driving from several weeks"

Did they TELL you specifically how you failed these criteria? (Actually might I tactfully point out that the only way they would KNOW this is if you told them)

Pretty common issue with Porsches, as many sit for weeks on end as garage queens...they actually state that you must drive over 6k per year for warranty coverage on the work order when you get a new battery.

Sorry to hear, bummer they are being difficult- next time just tell em you drive at least 11 miles once a week!



A

[Weasel]

Originally Posted by ard

That's interesting...

I see two criteria in the warranty:

"extended use with trips of less than 10 miles"

"no driving from several weeks"

Did they TELL you specifically how you failed these criteria? (Actually might I tactfully point out that the only way they would KNOW this is if you told them)

Pretty common issue with Porsches, as many sit for weeks on end as garage queens...they actually state that you must drive over 6k per year for warranty coverage on the work order when you get a new battery.

Sorry to hear, bummer they are being difficult- next time just tell em you drive at least 11 miles once a week!



A

Actually there is a service function/test plan called "energy diagnosis" which tells all kind of stuff about the battery etc. It shows the battery charge status for the last week, parking profile for the last week, driving profile for the last week, sleep/draw profile for the last month, etc. So it will actually say how many trips are made within certain mileage ranges. This test plan is mandated to be run for any battery issue by BMWNA warranty dept. and they will not cover batteries that are failed due to nothing other than driving profile... So lying to them won't work, they see all the info stored in the vehicle.

[ard]

Originally Posted by Weasel

Actually there is a service function/test plan called "energy diagnosis" which tells all kind of stuff about the battery etc. It shows the battery charge status for the last week, parking profile for the last week, driving profile for the last week, sleep/draw profile for the last month, etc. So it will actually say how many trips are made within certain mileage ranges. This test plan is mandated to be run for any battery issue by BMWNA warranty dept. and they will not cover batteries that are failed due to nothing other than driving profile... So lying to them won't work, they see all the info stored in the vehicle.

Good to know...although I wouldn't lie, I'd just not say.

Does the stored driving profile match the criteria in the warranty statement?

My guess is the 'driving profile' software is not as nebulous as the language (I am quoting here):

"If your X5 xDrive35d is driven only for short
distances of less than 10 miles over a prolonged
period of time, without an occasional drive at
highway speeds, the engine’s charging system
will not maintain the battery. Insufficient use of
the vehicle could result in short term starting
problems and in the long term could damage the
battery."

It would be interesting to see how BMW applies their software derived rules to the language of the warranty.

Thanks W-

A

[Weasel]

It doesn't tell us what order the trips are in, just tells us how many trips in each mileage segment. If you want to sway it in your favor for warranty coverage on the battery just make a few higher mileage trips (15-20 miles) before you bring it in so they can't call it short trip death. But the higher mileage trips will put a better charge on your battery anyways so it might not act up after that anyways.

[ranchhand]

Agree to all of the above. I always have a lot of 6 to 12 mile trips. That is my pattern and has been for years - even before buying BMWs.

What their test ignores is a battery that develops a physical fault not due to usage which was my case.

It would also help if there was a low battery warning if their battery's fail that easy.

My sister drives so little that I bought her a battery charger since her battery is dead half of the time. Three years latter - same battery.

[RRE70]

I had the 'high discharge' warning for several times now in the past weeks, so I drove to my local BMW dealer and had an 'energie-diagnosis' done.
Results showed;

1) too many short drives (out of 209 drives in 35 days, 148 shorter than 5 kilometers)
2) a battery that was only charged to 44% (40-49% in the last 5 days)
3) 41827 hours of battery usage (seems a lot..??) range of charge was most of the time in the 60-80% range as it should be). Normally the battery is charged to 80%, rest is done by braking-energy (efficient dynamics)

The technicians told me that there was nothing wrong with alternator and or leaking currents, nor was there a problem with the (3 year old) battery. Their advise was to change my (2007 OEM lead/acid standard BMW-Varta (white housing)) battery to an AGM Varta (black housing) together with a software update (different charging protocol).

They also told me another interesting thing; the first range of AGM batteries (2008 series?) had a capacity (?) problem and almost all of them have been replaced or will be replaced in the near future (??)

I guess at my next service I will change my battery, but for now I will get my Ctek charger, as the guys told me that my driving-pattern is absolutely not sufficient for charging my battery enough...
In conclusion: BMW has only recently recognized that the capacity of their OEM batteries is not sufficient for the kind of heavy usage that the average X5 has nowadays......