X-5 Battery Drain
 

I have a 2005 X-5, which has had a chronic problem with the battery discharging while parked in the parking garage where I keep it in NYC. I have had it to the dealer 3 times for this problem. They found a problem twice according to their diagnostics, and the third time replaced a part that they said was one of three potential, historical X-5 causes of battery drain (even though they found no actual problem this time). In other words, they have been EXTREMELY responsive in trying to correct the problem. After the third fix, I drove the SAV from NYC to Key West (with a trailer that it towed like a dream, BTW), and it ran PERFECTLY for months. I am now back in NYC, and after 4 days in the parking garage, the battery was STONE dead again!

I have to believe at this point that they are doing something in the garage. The guys are conscientous, so I don't think they are sitting in it and listening to the stereo... Is there anything that might cause this discharge in the way they park it? Would leaving the valet key in the ignition keep some computer system from going to sleep? Has anyone else encountered this problem?

General notes:
- The garage is underground, and never really gets below 60 degrees, so it's not too cold
- The vehicle in not equipped w/ stability control (not trying to level itself while parked)
- They keep the windows down, and keep the car unlocked (could that somehow affect security features?)

HELP!!!

Hey there-
Looks like a lot of people are having the same exact problem...

http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e53-forum/...t=dead+battery

JAndersonX5, I've had the same problem recently and I just replaced my battery and final stage resistor today but I don't think I fixed the problem. Is your orange shift indicator light still lit after 15 minutes? Something is draining the battery and the shift indicator still lit after 15 minutes is part of the problem. I have two other bimmers, and they go to "sleep" lights out after 15 minutes. My X5, stays "awake" (shifter light lit) all night long - that's the problem. I haven't found a resolution and I'm sure my new battery will be dead within a month! If you find a solution, please let me know. My car is garaged parked in Connecticut at a constant 55 degrees, so cold is not a factor!

If your light does not go out as it should and you cannot find the cause among the usual suspects you may need a dealer to test the vehicle as one or more electronic modules may be faulty. These are hard to diagnose without the proper equipment, expensive to purchase and, in many cases, need to be programmed to your vehicle. That is something that can only be accomplished using either the expensive OEM or aftermarket software/computer package.
GL.

Zulu95, thanks for the reply. Any idea on how long my new battery will last under this condition? If I get a couple of years, then who cares. but if I'm only going to get a week or two, then I do care. I'm day 5 on the new battery and all is well, but the shifter light still proudly glows it's orange color day and night!!!

I fought the same problem for a couple of months on my 2000 X5, it turned out to be the final stage resistor for the climate control. I was clued in here when a member mentioned a running fan with the key off, I heard the same thing one day. I bought the part on ebay for around $60 and followed instructions posted here, problem solved. During my troubleshooting I connected a multimeter between the positive terminal and battery cable and measured the amp draw after all the interior lights turned off. I compared that to my other cars and they were all about the same with the alarms and all, about .5 amps if I remember right. You might want to try that and see what you get. Good Luck!

.5 amps is above the .038 amps maximum required to allow the system to go into "sleep" mode.
msammy: If you keep the battery on a trickle charger then you should be OK. However, if a module is going bad it still could fail completly and at the worst possible time.

If your Shifter light is on, the car is definitely staying awake.
Your Battery will go down within days. If the light is not on
you can have a parasitic draw, while the car is in sleep mode.
The only difference, is the second draw is from a module
witch can’t wake the system (not mission critical), and it will
take a lot longer to discharge the battery.
If you want I can give you a procedure to narrow down the fault.
But you will need a good voltage meter (Fluke 83).

Steve

Thanks everyone for the replies and now I'm really nervous since we're away this weekend and we took the X5! I hope it continues to start so we can get back home Sunday. Anyway, I do have a Fluke at home - I'm not sure what model, but it's a high-end one. If you could send me the procedure, I'd love to give it a try. I have an electrical background, but I don't know alot about car electronics with all the modules, etc. By the way, I did change the final stage resistor on Monday, but it definitely was not the problem since the shifter light won't go out. My dealer charged me $115 for the part! After I heard that price, I decided to install myself and it was pretty easy.

Shifter light NOT on: (battery fully charged)
Find the ground cable on the battery, but do not disconnect.
(the cable end connected to the body not the battery, is easier to handle.)
Connect the Positive lead from the “Fluke” to the body of the car (good ground)
Connect the Negative lead to the (brown) ground cable (you can puncture it)
Make sure it’s easy to disconnect the (brown) cable from the body, but don’t
take it off yet.
Open the glove box and remove and disable the switch so the light will not turn on, locate the fuse box.
Start the car and run at idle, turn EVERYTHING on, and activate
all the components (sunroof, windows, a/c, lights …..) run 5 min.
turn the car off and remove the key. Open all doors and trunk, and with a screw driver,
close the door locks so the system thinks all doors and the trunk is closed.
Now lock the vehicle with the remote.
The “Fluke” must be set up to “A” not “mA” otherwise you will blow the
fuse in the meter. Remove the nut from the ground cable and remove the cable from the stud. You meter will indicate around (300mA).
Let the car go to sleep. (16 min) minimum, if this is not happening start over.
After the sleep mode is on the draw should not be more then 50mA, if it’s more
go to the glove box and start puling fuses one by one and check the draw after each one, but do NOT re-install the fuse. Pull the fuse and leave it out
There are some fuses under the right cover in the trunk. If you pull a fuse and car wakes up start over (next time ignore this fuse). If you pull a fuse and the draw drops to around 50mA, read the label on the fuse, you will know witch circuit is faulty.
Let me know the fuse # and I will look up the diagram to see what is on that circuit.

Steve

Steve, thanks for the detailed directions, I've reviewed them several times and fully understand what I need to do. Well, tonight I decided to get started only to find out my older Fluke has two of the three fuses blown. I loaned it to a friend about 6 months ago and he must have used it to test the output of his arc welder (I can't wait to call him tomorrow, I just hope I calm down by then). Anyway, it's going to take me a while to find replacement fuses for the Fluke (or just buy a new one if he damaged it).

In the mean time, in desparation, I pulled out every frigging fuse in both boxes - and the shift lever light still won't go out after 16 mins (I had to leave in fuse #12). My DSC/ABS/Brake lights on the dash are on when I start up - could this be the problem why the car won't sleep? These lights were on before I started due to a dead battery that I replaced last week. Again, the problem I'm trying to troubleshoot is the shift lever light never goes out no matter how long I park the car. Once I get the Fluke repaired, I'll hook up and start pulling fuses!

Steve, OK, I have good news, the car is going to sleep after all. I followed your instructions and connected my Fluke 83 to the negative battery cable as you described. I was a bit surprised to see 4.65Amp battery draw with the rear hatch open (wow!). I shut the hatch and it dropped to 3.85A, waited for the interior lights to go out, then observed 848mA draw (still too high). I waited 16 minutes, and sure enough, just 27mA as she went to "sleep" - ZZZZ. Well under the 50mA guideline. Surprisingly, the orange led on the shifter was still proudly glowing orange even when sleeping.:banghead: My conclusion is: the older X5 shifter led's stay on when sleeping, my 2007's go out after the 16 minute sleep time. Thanks for all of your help Steve, I now know my X5 is fine and the new battery will last for years and I'm not slowly draining as I suspected. Now I'm off to the dealer for reprogamming to get the DSC, Antilock & Brake lights to go out (recalibrate Antilock, etc). Thanks again Steve from Morristown BMW!!! Attached are a couple of photos of the multimeter reading and the orange shift light still aglow!

2002 X5 3.0si, Sport Premium, Titanium Silver, Grey Dakota, Cold Weather Package, Privacy Glass, Xenons, just a winter vehicle...
2007 550i, Sport Premium, Silver Grey Metallic, Grey Dakota, Navigation, Cold Weather Package, Comfort Access, Heated Rear Seats, HD Radio,
Xenons - in the garage for winter!
2007 X3 3.0i, Sport Premium, Monaco Blue, Grey Dakota, Navigation, Cold Weather Package, Privacy Glass, Xenons

Can't you just turn the wheel from left to right to make the DSC and ABS light to go out?
I did with mine yesterday after I replaced my battery and lights went out normally.

Nope, I tried that about 20 times and they're still on. Dealer says bring it in since the Antilock brake sensors need to be recalibrated after a battery change (another $100 bucks!).

Are you serious? This is brilliant German engineering? For what? BTW, what's FLUKE?
That's a lot of work to find the problem that should never have happened. BMtroubleU.
J

How long in winter?
 

My X5 won't start after 3 days of not being used outside in 30F weather. Is this normal? Or is my battery on its way out? Last inspection I had done was about 2 months ago and the battery checked out ok.

**Added note, battery isn't completely dead. Remote still works, electricals still come on. Clicking sound only**

I have the battery drain problem. Second new battery and charging at 14volts, so its definitely a drain problem.

I am now testing the fuses. Fuse 75, Satnav/radio, 5 amps is drawing nearly 1 amp when i switch off the car, is this normal? Does it take time to "shut down"?

My park light goes out after 20 mins, but then lights up again - it does not seem to stay off permanently? Would the satnav/radio cause this?

When the park light is on i am getting 1.7 amps being drawn, and when it goes out is going down to less than .5 amp but not for long.

update - i went back out to the car and observed that the P light had gone out and the amps on fuse 75 were zero. Then just as previous the P light came back on and sure enough the amps on fuse 75 went back up to nearly 1 amp.

I am hoping that i have found the problem. I have left fuse 75 out, and have now got a meter on the battery terminal - just waiting for it to go back into sleep mode....

fingers crossed...

I think I cracked it. The car went into sleep mode within 10 mins and has stayed in sleep mode. No P light. The amps at the battery remain a constant .04-.05 amps - that is normal?

Presumably it is the satnav that is causing the issue so i will try unplugging it.

Presumably I will need a new satnav unit? What are my options?

[QUOTE=msammy;266781]:banghead: My conclusion is: the older X5 shifter led's stay on when sleeping, my 2007's go out after the 16 minute sleep time.

Hi,
I'd need an update please...Did the orange shifter light stay on forever? And did your battery hold up or did it drain again like the others?
Thanks
(epic thread revivals are my thing...)

Mine wasn't the satnav in the boot, it was the head unit. I changed the head unit for a Pioneer multi media system with satnav, and all issues were resolved.

[QUOTE=Rockabilly Rebel;1136655]Wow, talk about an old thread! We still have our X5 after 15 years and yes, the orange shifter light stays on 24/7 even during sleep mode without any battery drain issues. It seems that some of the older X5's keep the shifter light on all the time for some reason without any problems.

[QUOTE=msammy;1136677]
Ok, thanks for the reply Dude! I'm very impressed that you still have your X5 after 15 years...Cool!:thumbup: