Huge battery draw!
 

So the dash lights up like Christmas with the core problem being the car going into limp mode. Its a 2002. I believe everything is evolving from the 7 amp pull I am getting when the car is off. So when I pulled the servotronic fuse it dropped to 4 amps, then the alarm went off and would not stop. I really have no clue what I am doing but I feel if I can get this battery drain figured out things may get a little easier :) I did get an obd2 bluetooth reader any suggestions on apps that would help me with the start of my journey? Thanks all!

Start with the FSU it's the main cause of key off current parasite drain


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Although this is a help forum for owners of BMW E53 X5, I think the best advice that you will receive is to take it to a Tech that knows what they are doing. 99.9 % of the people on this forum are NOT a professional auto mechanics. More Cliff Claven on here than at a bar called Cheers.

:rofl:
:bustingup
:popcorn:

+1 on the advice from upallnight....Everybody on this forum wants to fix it themselves and many do...If it's an easy thing, give it a try...But if it's more complex, like this one, it's time to find a non-dealer BMW specialist and make friends with him/her

What's so complex?
If you're willing to learn and spend the time, you can fix it.
Locate the draw first. Check all fuses for draw.
Remove the FSU like Andrew said, see what happens.
You will fix it if you're willing to put effort into this.
Get inpa, ista, bmw scanner and scan all modules for errors.
Forget about obdii scanner, likely will be totally useless

Cliff #87 here.

Regarding the alarm, I think I've noticed that having a really low battery voltage will set it off. So getting it on a charger that at least holds system voltage at 13+V will eliminate that as a possible cause of the alarm, also making it more fun to find the actual problem.

Beyond that, in case you are not aware, these cars go into a "sleep mode" 16 minutes after key out and doors closed (locked too?). So if you measure a high current, and wait long enough, you may notice it dropping after 16 minutes.

And yes, pulling fuses while monitoring current (clamp meter would be best for this) would be a pretty safe and quick way to isolate the problem. You'd want to trick the trunk, door, and hood-open sensors into thinking they are all closed of course.

Good luck.

100% agree.

Thank you all for the replies. I was really excited cause the fsu I thought might be it but it was not. It looked good and leaving it unplugged I still was drawing 10 amps. So I did unplug all the fuses and nothing, so now I really have no idea. Could it be the alternator, even though I dont see how? Could it be a bad ground wire, but to pull that much current seams strange? At this point Cliff Clavens are more then welcome as this is kicking my but. Oh the two error codes from auto zone were p1892 & p0741. I got lots of good Karma to the Cliff or Cliffs that can figure this out :)

'How many people on this forum got INPA to run? I thought so. Talk is always cheap, especially behind a keyboard.

When all the Cliff Cavens have you chasing down the problem, I will chime in as to what I think is your problem.