Dead battery
 

The week before last I bought a 1 owner 67k e53 3.0 L sports Package. Today I went in the morning to move it outside temperature was 35 degrees the car was cold dead. The car will not start. I tried to jump start the car and the result was the same. So I put it on the charger and the battery showed that it was totally discharged. Charged the battery and let the wife drive it for the day. Took it out tonight and all is good. I checked the voltage in the dash with the car running, light on and I got a reading of 12.9-13.00 V Drove the vehicle and the voltage was up to 13.2-13.3 V.

Do in need to worry about anything or is this the normal expected reading.

How old is the battery?

Also remember to run TEST 9 with the ignition in position 1 (engine NOT running) two-three hours after shutting down the engine so you can see what the battery's voltage is after the surface charge has depleted.

Running TEST 9 with the engine running is only showing the alternator and charging system....with the engine off...you see the battery's voltage.

So Battery is dead again today. Jump started the vehicle pulled the battery and getting charged. The battery was changed 11/25/2011,

Called the shop next to my House and he stated that I have to pay 55% of the price to get a new one. I think I am going this way I know I have a new battery and see if it will hold.

Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated.

From the pic your posted,your alternator isnt fully charging your battery!12.9 v even at idle is very low (I see 13.5v on mine and 13.7 thereon).
Still I have reason not to trust the OBD volt nr.9 volt display!Today ,it was showing 12,0 v,when I stopped engine ,yet when I checked the voltage in the engine compartment with my multimeter,it showed 12.32 v...which is quite a dfference.
There are a lot threads here on this subject but they are still not conclusive!Simplest way to check a battery voltage is with a cheap multimeter.Best way is to check the crank amps but this involves a more expensive conductance tester.
If you get hold of a multimeter ,first thing you should do is,disconnect battery from the car (remove terminal cables) ,fully charge it and check the voltage thereafter.Fully charged it should read 12,60 (make sure you take a reading after about 10 minutes of charging,thus allowing battery to settle).Check voltage again after about 3 hours and if battery has dropped to 12,4 or below ,then battery not holding charge and needs to be replaced.
If battery doesnt register a considerable drop ,then next thing you need to do is connect the + positive terminal and remove the - negative terminal.With your multimeter in the 10 amp section ,put the one prong in the battery - negative terminar and the other in the negative cable.Check the reading on your multimeter and it should be "0.00" ,,Anything over and you have a parasitic draw in the car,which you can find out (tediousy)by removing each fuse one by one until you find the one thats drawing amps (your multimeter will then show "0.00".
Additionaly,you can find someone with a battery conductance tester SOLAR BA5 100-1200 Cold Cranking Amps Electronic Battery Tester Brand New! | eBay
and check the crank amps.(this is a great way to check if battery has enough "juice" to start a car and easiest and quickest way to check a bad battery!I had batteries showing 13,0 volts but only 400 amp out of 900amp!

Hope it helps and let us know how you get on:thumbup:

OEM battery or Wally Mart MAXX battery?

What is the dead battery's voltage when running TEST 9 (or if you have a multimeter)?

My suggestion for replacement battery is either a 49/H8 or 95R/H9 battery class size. You can find lots of different battery brands...many made by the same manufacutrer...but what fits and usually has specs great enough to handle your vehicle is a battery in either of the 2 battery class size aforementioned.

Also...don't forget to vent the battery...or if having someone else install the battery...let them know there's a vent tube that must be connected to the battery when they install it.

The chart below gives yiu an idea of what specs to look for when searching for a replacement battery. You can go lead acid or AGM etc...but you can see what the average specs for the 49/H8 & 95R/H9 batterires shouldbe close to:

So here is the results:

Charged the battery got it back in the car and took it to an interstate battery shoip since it was an interstate battery. Still under warranty.
1- Battery tested all good.
2-Took the car to advanced Auto and they tested the battery and it is all good.

The guy at the intersate was thinking that something was draining the battery since the latch light for the tailgate was on and he had a hard time closing it.
I drive the car got home park it and shut it down and the guage was showing 12.1 V

All quiet and I hear a faint fan noise in the car. I thought I left teh heater on. Looked at it and it was off. Turn the key to position 1 without starting the car. Turn it off make sure the heater is off and still I hear fan. I locked the car and I still hear the fan. I get out of the car and go to the outside vents on the hood and I hear the fan running.
I have no clue what is going on.

Checked the car at 3:27 PM and the fan is off and the V through the dash OBD show battery at 11.7. I will keep on monitoring.

salnj, with a reading of 12.2v via OBC with car OFF, my 3.0d sometimes has problems starting, at 12.1v has major problems need to turn key to on then back to off then on again and works...

I get via the OBC test 9 car off & after sitting all nite:
12.2-12.3v

13.9-14.0v NO accessories on when driving

13.5-13.6V (with aircon on, radio on, high beams, biggest drop is caused when I switch on the fron fog lights )

unless you have a good mutlimeter dont bother with it , my mutlimeter was reading figures quite a bit higher than the OBC

PS that whirring noise unless it is a mssively loud noise of the main heater fan etc is the small fan behind the air con controls, its normal for it to spin until car sleeps, wait about 16mins (leave windows down and car in quiet location) you should here it stopped after 16mins

Finally narrowed it down I made sure yesterday that all doors and hatches are closed tight. Battery held charge overnight. Car started right up. The drain coming from a faulty rear top Hatch lock. I went to open it today and I realized even when you unlock it does not open it release the hatch but still semi locked. Pulling the top hatch you feel it is loose and can wiggle it but will not open. I had to keep on locking and unlocking till finally it opened. Closed it and tried to open it and the same thing happened. Attempted to adjust the side bumpers and no difference. Guess have get a new match module and get the faulty one replaced.

Thats good going, why dont you lube it a bit and see if it helps, does this issue mean the tailgate hatch lights always stayed on causing you drain?

if your hvac blower is still running...or turning on by itself when the ignition is off...this is a classic FSR/FSU issue that has been discussed ad nausium over the last decade across all the e46/e39/e53 forums.

The blower stopped after like 1/2 an hour. I will be monitoring it for the next couple of weeks and thinking of just replacing the fsu as a precaution.

Qsilver7 we are not talking about the small fan behind the air con controls are we?

What we are saying here is that the fan emits a faint whirring noise(only heard when we put our ear to the ac control panel)!
Are you saying that fan should be completely silent when ignition is turned off and not go off 16 mins later when car goes to sleep mode?Also,the fan shouldnt come back on as soon as car "car wakes up",like opening a door?
Mine goes comes on /off with car sleep mode.Also ,I do not have any amp draw when car is in sleep mode,except from monitor (inconsiderable 0.03 Milliamps )
If I had a bad FSR ,I would get a considerable amp draw even when car is in sleep mode!!

30 mins is too much ,almost twice as long as sleep mode´s 16 mins.That maybe your problem!
How loud is the fan ?Do you need to put your ear close to the air con control panel or can you hear it well from the drivers seat?

That is crazy car started this morning wife drove it to the gym 2 hours later battery dead at 7.5 v.
Talking it to my mechanic.

Omodos...I'm not sure everyone is on the same page. My comments above were about the HVAC blower since salnj mentioned he thought "the heater" was still on....which I interpreted as the blower that sends air thru all the air ducts...and is controlled/regulated by the FSR...which when it (the FSR) fails...can turn itself on and off or act erratically....whiich can drain the battery if it turns itself on while the vehicle is parked.

And it sounds like some are referring to the little sampling fan inside the IHKA control unit that comes on when the car AWAKES and turns off when the car goes to SLEEP. The sampling fan has a very small electrical draw and onlydraws cabin air into the IHKA so that it can regulate the set TEMP on the IHKA.

To clear it all out seems I have 2 issues.
1. The final stage unit. That is what my mechanic diagnosed and said to come back tomorrow and he will replace.
On my way home after I left the mechanic turned off the heater through the hvack control but the heater turn back on for several minuts before it shut itself down.

2- trunk upper hatch lock is sticking you need to push the button couple of times before it opens. Put lubricant on it lets see if that will help.

salnj and qsliver7 sorry I muddied the waters....salnj last post clarified all the queries I had...bad fsr means his heater blower(s) coming on willy nilly, and his trunk latch has a problem, both which maybe draining his battery

Replaced the FSU today at my mechanic. Heater works perfect and when i shut it down in shuts down, So far so good will see how it goes. He said that he is 100% sure that this was the issue. Also he mentioned to me that some bushing in the front end needs to be replaced.

very good

Replacing the FSU have solved battery drain and heater not shutting off. Hope that will be the end of it. The shifter red light in p is staying on. I don't think it is is an issue.

merry christmas to all, that light by grashift usually turns off after 16minutes...

on very early models of E53 the little light by the shifter does not turn off when the car goes to sleep - the wiring of that LED is different on early models, even though the listed dates did not match the actual cars of members on this forum (we had a sampling of members trying to verify that info). On later models (sometime after 09/2001?, if I am not mistaken), the light should turn off once the car is asleep.

as per previous reply, yes may well be the case......'most' people are saying the x5 sleeps after 16mins.....and yes for some that light near gear knobs never turns off....

16 minutes is a statement from BMW - the GM sends "go to sleep" signal 16 minutes after last monitored activity, then a special relay (closed circuit current cutout relay K72 in glove compartment area) cuts off power to the rest of the car. some of the modules drop off like dead flies right away, but some other modules have their own internal 1 minute timer, that starts their own count-down before dropping dead... so, 17 minutes is total time (as the WDS claims)... but for simplicity, it is agreed upon 16 minutes...

What is the longest time that you guys don't drive the car and the battery is still good?

Such as parking the X5 at airport for a 2-week vacation etc.

My Month and 1 Week vacation to Mexico. Got home started right up. That battery was later changed due to leaving my hazards on while I was rear ended.

In my office underground garage, 4 weeks. No issues started right up.

Was away 2weeks once but got someone to start x5 for me after week 1 so max 1 week, in hindsight starting it only aint such a good idea, shoul dhave asked them to drive it too

Mine stays on for about 20 mins..My Mechanic has me checking it to see if the car is not going to sleep...Soon I will put it to sleep for good