Orange light on gearshift & battery drain issues...
 

I saw this thread regarding battery drain and if your X is going into sleep mode.

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...ery-drain.html

One of the posters says one way to tell if your X is going into sleep mode is by the orange light on the gearshift. They say it should turn off and stay off approximately 15 minutes after you turn of the engine. For reference, it would be the orange light next to the "P" for park if your X is parked and turned off.

Can anyone tell me if their light goes off after 15 minutes or so and stays off or if their light is on 45+ minutes after they have parked the car? Mine seems to stay on (locked or unlocked). As far as I know, I have not experienced any battery drain issues. I just replaced my battery, but it was at least 3 years old at minimum. Just trying to see if this holds any water.

Mine stay on and have no issue about battery drain.

FSETH, I have a 2002 and the orange LED is always on. Your car enters proper sleep mode when there is less than 50mA draw on the battery after 16 minutes. Here's a thread with the procedure for testing and photos of my multi-meter showing my X5 going into sleep mode with just 27mA draw at rest. Follow the thread down to about the 8th post or so with the multimeter photos.

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...ery-drain.html

If you're not having battery problems, chances are, your car is entering sleep mode OK with the orange indicator lit as is mine. :thumbup:

search for one of my posts, i have documented from BMW that the gear indicator in some X5's does not go out, this is normal.

Thanks guys. I was hoping there wasn't any issue with the light staying on.

Actually, I believe it is a strong indicator of an X5 that is about to explode. I think you should send the X5 to me for proper and safe disposal. :yikes:

:bustingup This entering "sleep" mode thing really makes you think that the X5 is alive

Thanks for this, I was looking for the same thing.

its wierd, it stays on for my x5 but for the 330i it goes off after I lock the car.

Same here, my X5 stays on all the time, and our X3 and 550i go off after 16 mins. Very weird. :dunno: