That's what happened to me. Twice. It doesn't actually kill the telematic unit, but it does something to it so it doesn't go to sleep. If you pull the fuse for it and that solves your parasitic drain, then you've identified it. In my case, the first time I put the fuse back in and the telematic worked fine and stopped not going to sleep. The second time I said screw it an pulled the telematic as I wasn't using the blue tooth anyway.

Yeah, ditto. Exactly the same but I just replaced the TCU with a used fleaBay unit. My 2004 was that year the Bluetooth hands free part of that module was not operational, only BMW Assist. I'm not sure BMW Assist even exists anymore.

$40 for the TCU out of a 2006 and fully functioning factory bluetooth. A little dated now but voice command, phonebook, steering wheel control and help features working perfectly.

Is that just a plug and play replacement ?

Yep, actually about a 5 minute swap. I did go in with BMW Scanner 1.4 and clear out the previous pairings but all in all in 30 minutes, I was all in.

Awesome! Thanks! :beerchug:

Old unit was a Bosch but not sure which model.
About 1 to 1.5 months ago I replaced it with a Bosch AL9413X.
Do all e53 x5s have that you unit? If so I may just pull the fuse n charge it up to see if that's the culprit b4 pulling the alternator again

If your voltage measurements are right you have a problem with the battery not being charged and maybe more. You should really get it checked properly.

I went thru with this issue on my 2001 X5. The issues was the terminal behind the starter. Yes, the starter, not the alternator or battery. The starter terminal was getting hot due to not making good contact due to corrosion.

Before disconnecting anything, if you have a VOM, measure voltage drop from alternator to B+. When I had my issue, it was 0.94V drop. Fixed it by cleaning the eyelets behind the starter. Good luck.


here is the thread: https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...ing-issue.html