The X is killing batteries Left and Right
 

Does anybody every recall a thread of familar with what may be going on.
Alt is putting out correct amps and volt...

Over the course of 3 months, with downtime during each incident, I have put in 2 brand new batteries only to have them go toast. The 1st time was after picking it up from the body shop *got keyed*, and noticed the presets were gone. The battery was not up to par since picking it up, so I suspect the shop may have cooked the battery out while charging....

Long story short. The new one went bad due to some weird issue *X shutdown on me*. Looks as if the battery just went flat during driving....and running the battery down, it either took a short, etc , but the battery was toast.

Couple week later. Same deal. Came back to a weak battery. Got a boost....with the same symptom, X just died, and the battery is toast....I suspect a short cell ??

These batteries are not cheap. HIGH END AGM.
I dunno. I may just go back to wet cell until I figure out what is the bug.

My indy suspects it's something else , and what is causing the battery issue is a secondary issue downstream from whatever the real issue is...

do a search for fsr . I don`t know if it is that or you may have already checked that out.

Changed out FSR a couple months back....that's was the 1st thing I did

are your voltage readings consistant? or are they all over the place when the car is running. did you check for a parasitic amperage draw when vehicle is sitting .

^That was my question. Maybe your voltage regulator is going out and is putting out 14+ only some of the time... or even most of the time, but not enough to keep the battery up to snuff.

Parasitic draw would also be worth looking into.

Did a P Draw test. .05 amps

This is where is get's weird....I had the battery on a battery tender since I've been monitoring the battery issues....

Rested overnight, battery read 12.77 at the posts.
All good.
Took it for a drive and then some about - 50-60 mile, with AC, audio, the works all on.
Came back to the car after a stop. 20-30 minutes.
I can't recall what the voltage was but I think it was about 12.2 with the MM.
It could have been a surface charge....

Boost it, take it for a brief spin. Turn off ignition. Click again, right after turning it off.
Get it towed back home. Take off the battery. Let it rest to get a proper diag.
Battery shot Again.....I'm too embarrassed to even post how much I spent on AGM's this past quarter...

NOW, I do think possibly it could be a loose positive connection, but it's weird. When I put the battery in, I was 100% it was tight.

When I took out the battery, noticed the + , I could move it a bit.
Clamped it as tight as I could, it would not bite to the point where it would not move.
I thought maybe the + clamp was worn (replaced new T nut) and maybe the metal on the clamp was ~compressed~ to the point the new T nut would not even get it tight.

Swung by my battery joint. Rep was kind enough to give me a loaner. Put the loaner in, and battery was snug as sh1t

Not planning to do any long distance driving or freeway driving, as having it shut down 2X in less than 2 months is quite a treat...

I can't explain the terminal tightness issue, cause I was 100% it was dead tight, and upon diag/testing, I could not get it tight...

^ just a question for ya when was the alt replaced?

Unlock the cluster (sorry I don't know the procedure but I know it's posted here somewhere) and monitor your voltage while driving. That's going to be the most sure-fire way of seeing what your alternator is doing at all times. Short of figuring out some way to mount your MM somewhere. But why do that when the cluster is there.

When my alternator was going I would get all sorts of lights including trans failsafe prof at times. It wasn't putting out 14+ all the time. Finally when it sh^t the bed the car died as you describe. I didn't kill any batteries though as I used a tender at all times to keep the battery from going completely flat.

I've had the tender on it for the past 4 weeks whenever I see the voltage drop past 12.7 after rest....


This recent one to recap :
overnight rest : 12.77 reading
50-60 Mile Drive
Battery is toast...

LOL. I feel like one of those what's broken with your X5 noob posters.
Have had it since '03. I've have it's up and down moments.
This is clearly a downer....well, replace the sunroof casettee in Spring was a downer as well.
Having it just completely die while driving is not a fun X-Perience at all

i`m thinking alternator or you have some badly corroded wiring in the charging system.

BTW, my Indy - former master tech asked if I saw anything on the cluster ever.....he said the system is super sensative and will light up the cluster with alt , if it sees alt issues. I've yet to see if the inet/interwebs agree with this statement

1st time I changed the alt was on it's 50 month of ownership....
That was a fun day., 95+ degree day, broken down due to it leaking the coolant out *water cooled*, waiting almost 4-5 hrs for a wrecker

Nope, will not say "alt" or anything specific to the alternator. The dash will light up like a Xmas tree though. The 4x4 trifecta, battery light, and all kinds of other lights can come on.

The system is really sensitive though.

I'm just thinking outloud....

Note. Connection was tight when I checked a week ago.
After getting back towed home on this recent one, + was tight but I could still ~move it~

If you read the OP, as crazy as it sounds, I replaced the T nut on it, and it would still not clamp tight-tight.
I thought it would was the clamp on the cable itself *compressed*, and not allowing full metal-metal contact.
Loaner Battery swapped and it's tight ! Go figure.

I do suspect that on 2X, it was not a good connection, and did start the car, somehow, the vehicle was running down the battery and it was not taking a charge even though there was a connection....
While stranded waiting for a tow....amp clamp was reading 45+ amps, etc.

It's a pretty straightforward system unless I am missing something.
Starter, Alt. Wiring to the Back to the Battery. Negative in the rear and that sums it up....

I'm stumped and mystified.
Regardless, don't plan to drive until I have a solid plan of action...
Me and my 12V blues

You're going to have to drive it to monitor that alternator. You could try having oreillys or autozone checking the alternator for you though I have not had good luck with the accuracy of their testing in regards to the alternator specifically.

I know you've already invested a fair bit in an effort to rectify this dilemma, but how about buying a new battery clamp so you have a good, solid connection? Loose contact with the battery terminals/posts is not a good thing. While in there, I would seriously check your earth contact too and any other connections in the system that are visible in the trunk/boot space. Have you checked connections to the alternator? Sounds to me like you have a faulty contact somewhere and you won't find it until you check for the obvious by pulling, prodding, wriggling and tightening. At least this won't deplete your wallet anymore....

The clamp is fine....I thought it was the clamp after putting a new T nut and then trying to tighten down on the posts, which got it tight but had some slight movement. So I said, I'm sh1t up a creek, it must be the clamp, metal compressed over the years....and the nut/clamp ain't biting into it.

I dumped a loaner battery in the car, just so I could at least move it, and it tighted up just fine...and both batteries *depleted and loaner* are from the same make...

Go figure

Removed negative cable and MM looks good from end2end

+1 on the alternator or voltage regulator. This passed weekend I killed one battery the same way. I noticed the voltage was fluctuating and I replaced only the brushes. I couldn't find a voltage regulator in the weekend. The brushes didn't fix the problem. I put a new battery in and the voltage was ok for the short test and then took it for a test drive and the battery light came on. I had no battery light on before the brushes were changed. I checked the voltage and it was 11.5 V. I am replacing the voltage regulator today if I find one locally? The new battery is still good.
So, my suspicion is that voltage regulator goes bad when brushes go short and no power from the alternator.

another question is the alternator getting saturated with oil?

Ahh. This is where I'm stumped.
On the most recent, battery tender on battery. Fully charged.
Rested overnight, read 12.7 on the MM in the morning.
After breakdown, it appeared the + has some play in it. Minor, as it was tight, but not tight enough that I could not make it move.

With the said, theoretically, it should have been charging the battery ? The connection was good enough to start the car..in the morning. Before even doing the disassemble process, a amp clamp on the P was showing 45 amps declining downward when I boosted the terminals up front to start the car. BUT, with the shot battery, I can only conclude the vehicle was running off the battery the whole entire time during the 50-60 mile drive...

sounds like alternator.

As suggested... you are going to have to monitor that alternator to narrow down your diagnosis.

Take a look here. My X was draining the battery, thought it was a draw but ended up being the alt. hope this helps. GL.

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...in-solved.html

Just a quick update. I just replaced the voltage regulator today and the alternator is back in business. Replacing only the brushes wasn't good enough in this instance. It seems like in some cases when the voltage regulator dies you can kill the battery with uncontrolled voltage/current.

^Glad you got it sorted. Yes, over voltage and under voltage can kill a battery for sure. Mine was swinging from 11.5v to 15.7v... no bueno.

I just put another alt. in there and called it a day. I've heard of varying success with new VR's only. Was a $240USD alt... though I see you are in the great white north so maybe a lot more up there? How much was the VR and brushes?

A rebuilt alternator is $500-600 here and the VR was $100 with overnight shipping. The brushes were only $10. Last week when I did the brishes only it took me more than half a day although I have done the VR on the other X5 a couple of years back... forgot how, getting old :(
Today, I was done in half an hour including the VR swap. I also did the 330xi last week but much easier job and brushes only fixed the problem.

^Wow. Huge difference in price. Well, glad you got it all figured out. A randomly dying X can be a massive headache.

Was you ALT light ever NOT on.
For the past 3 months, I have NEVER seen the bat. light on the cluster ever come up

The light on my X would flicker a bit but wouldn't stay lit and would go away. Try this, apply your parking brake, put her in drive and turn on all accessories, wipers, lights, heater, ect. Then with a multimeter, check voltage. If it's any under 13v, I would think its your alt if i'm not mistaken. That's how I found out it was my alt.

I had to step away from the problem child for a couple days but I'm back on the brainstorming.

Not doing any long driving , if not short driving until I have a clear plan....
Having it twice die out was not fun. I might have even have put her upforsale and the problem child stalled out on my on the freeway. Luckily it was local streets 2X.

I did monitor both V and A briefly while driving the car. Not via cluster unlock. I had my amp probe/mm connected while driving and did not see any anomolies.

Just thinking outloud but maybe when the Alt get's hot, then it starts acting up ?
I've been doing testing from cold/coldish starts......not really planning to drive.
Paid about $80 just in tolls on the last event, and another $20 tip to the driver.

My alternator was intermittent. Would be fine for a week... then act up, sometimes more, sometimes less. The key is being able to see the voltage output at the time of the problem. When it finally completely sh*t the bed it would never put out more than 11.5v. Before that I was usually able to rev the engine up a couple times quickly at the first sign of a problem and it would start outputting 14v+ for the rest of the day.

FWIW my alternator acted up more when it was cold than hot. Usually first start of the day.

Crystal -

Did you bat. light come up on the cluster.

The odd thing, since the beginning till now, I've never seen anything come up on the cluster at all....

With the said, I recall you Avin thread....so you must know....when I say it hurts the wallet burning up 2 Odyssey batteries

Sometimes I would get the battery light... others not. More often than not I would though (how I would determine when to break out the multimeter to make sure I could get the alt output up to 14+). Sometimes it would be just the batt light, sometimes the whole dash lit up like a Xmas tree. Sometimes trans failsafe prog... you get the gist.

Not getting the battery light on the dash with a low voltage situation would worry me though. It's only job is to tell you there's an issue with the charging system. :confused:

Burning up batteries is always frustrating... and the more expensive they are... the more frustrating it gets. I have one in my turbo car now that I think is toast from a deep discharge (have a drain from something). I drive the car once and month and sometimes don't pull the terminal off the battery thinking I'll drive it again soon. :dunno:

That's my next step of action

At this current time, alt is putting out juice.
It meters fine on V everytime I had a MM on it.
When I was waiting for a tow, I had the engine on just to see if the battery would charge after boosting it the 1st time. Amp clamp was reading 45 and declining..


As far as I know, the system should trigger a bat light on any faint anomalies on the cluster.

I actually thought it was fine and f1xed the 1st time around.....until this most recent 60 mile drive and the shot battery again. Most of our drives are is closer to 12 miles one way.