Learning by your mistakes
 

So, there I was, happliy washing my car with the tailgate up (with the cleaning stuff in the boot) for about 30 mins or so. Go to start the car and.....nothing. Battery dead as a doornail as a result of the interior lights draining the battery. Fortunately BMW assist turned up within 20 minutes and sorted it all out and did a full system check etc etc. Really great service. Somehow my key lost its code too so the alarm wouldnt work and the spare key was dead too (as it needs to be charged by using it!). So, a five minute trip to the dealer this morning and both keys are fine...........but a pretty stressful Sunday....why does it always happen with a car full of luggage and a tired wife and a grumpy toddler!

So the moral of the story is.....if you wash your car, keep the doors shut....d'oh!:tsk:

I suppose if you really want to get lots of water in your car while washing it you could always open the sunroof since that doesn't trigger the interior lights. Perhaps you could try that next time... GL!

Gee, why didnt i think of that......it was open whilst I was waxing it and vacuuming inside.

the interior lights drained the
entire battery that quickly? that
doesn't seem right. a few weekends
ago, while attempting the Sirius install,
i had the hatch open for hours and hours
and the X started right up afterwards.
what year is ur X5?

Just kidding with you, obviously... My '04 will automatically shut the interior lights after being on for 15 minutes to save the battery. You could also just press the master switch up by the mirror to shut them all off when the doors/boot are open as well. This is what I usually do.

i was thinking the same thing.
i just assumed he was using a
waterless cleaner.:confused:

Its an 02 car, the battery is fine - passed the battery test so its a bit of a mystery...could be the phone draining the battery over time but it does have the BMW software on it so should shut down when the car is off.....wil investigate....needless to say the phone is now unplugged before any more comedians offer me any more quality advice! :rofl:

Wasn't my second post quality advice?

Pure quality.

Hmmm...last week when I parked in our golf club p lot, I inadvertently failed to firmly close the upper rear hatch; it was very windy that day and when I came back to the X, 4 hrs later, to discover the rear hatch up/open. Oh, Crap, I thought. But, the upper rear hatch white lights were not "on", and when I sheepishly turned the key, it fired right up. Dunno...

I am still confused if those specific lights "stay on" indefinitely, but mine were off and the 4 1/4 yr old orig batt. worked fine. I would think your "30 mins" deal should not have fried the battery.
BR,md