Dead battery and fans..
 

I am having a problem with my '01 X5. It seems to drain the battery completely after approx. 4-5 days. Had it to the dealer and they say they replaced something in the door panels that was causing a parasitic drain, but it is still happening. I am also having 2 problems which may be related. The first is that they said my a/c aux. fan was not functioning correctly. I have noticed a fan on (in engine bay) when I shut the car off... but not too often. The second problem is that every once in a while my interior blower for the HVAC system goes from high to low really fast. Again, this doesn't happen all the time. I have read that the final stage resistor could be a problem of a battery drain. Could these items be related? Already blew 500 at the dealer and no luck.

As well, what is the deal with the sleep mode? I have not tested it but am going to tonight. I have not tested the sleep mode, but the car is draining approx .5 to .6 amps just upon arming and locking. How long should it take to enter into sleep? If it doesn't enter sleep, is that because there is a draw?

Thanks in advance.
Scott

Same problem - replaced battery and the AC works fine now - it even blows stronger and colder -Although, I do not know how to explain it. As of now, I think I have a problem with my ignition switch - sometimes my car does not turn/starts and sometimes I have to leave the key a few seconds then start. Repalce battery especially if older than 3-4 years - see what happens.

FSR might need to be replaced. Pick one up on eBay or at the dealer and use the DIY:

http://www.xoutpost.com/articles/x5/m...placement.html

It looks as if the car is NOT going into sleep mode... the shift light stays on. If I pull the FSR and alarm the car, if the FSR is the problem, will the car go into sleep mode?

It should if that is the problem. If you go as far as to pulling the FSR you might as well replace it. With an older FSR it's not a matter of if it will go bad so much as when it will go bad.

I did pull the FSR and the shift light remained on after over an hour. However, according to my dealer, early model X5s like mine (2001) the light does not go out. Is this correct?

Scott

It goes out on my '01.

Zulu, thanks for the help so far. So, I did some diagnostics on the car. I hooked up a multimeter and measured the amperage draw. Here is what I found:

As it sits, the car will sit around 600mA for around 20 minutes, then fall down to around 120-130mA (sleep mode). The shift light stays on. I started pulling fuses one by one. I pulled all the 5-30 amp fuses (glove box and rear) and only noticed up to a 20mA drop. When I pulled fuse 61 (the Main Fan), there was a 100mA drop.

Any ideas on what this represents? What is the main fan vs. Aux fan? I thought there was only 1 electric fan (the aux one) and the other was mechanical on the engine shaft. Could this be related to the FSR. By the way, the FSR was disconnected the entire time.

Any help is appreciated. I hope to be narrowing the problem down. I will let you know tomorrow if the shift light is off when the car sleeps and the main fax fuse is out. It is getting late!

Scott

"Main Fan" is a little cryptic. From what I see in the WDS this actually refers to what we normally call the aux cooling fan; The electric fan in front of the radiator. It may be that the controller for the fan has gone faulty and needs replaced.

I also I had the similar issue's, actually I just picked my X5 up this morning. The dealer installed a new battery for me and everything works fine now...