X5 Diesel Battery
 

Hi,
My brand new X5 Diesel 3.5 (2009) is 3 months old and the battery just died.
Has anyone had this problem ? I have driven the vehicle on one long trip over spring break ( 1,600 km) so the batter should have been fully charged up. My wife drives the kids to and from school the rest of the time...around 20 to 30 km a day. The car is at BMW now so they can figure out whats wrong. My past experience suggests the alternator is not operating properly...anyone has ideas, suggestions?
Jeff X5 Diesel

Do you lock the car at night or just put it in the garage unlocked? I've read about some issues people that don't lock the car while it's in the garage are having. Apparently something drains the battery while it sits there unlocked. Locking the vehicle must shut down whatever is draining the battery.

It is likely a draw caused by something electrical (a module or something) not going to sleep, or waking frequently.

These problems are becoming easier to diagnose these days as the newer vehicles are equipped with "energy diagnosis" that records all kinds or info including battery charge level, amount of draw and for how long when off, if something prevents "sleep mode" or wakes it frequently... and this test is required to be run by BMW warranty department for all battery claims. (on equipped vehicles obviously)

That's certainly true of my E70. Started locking the doors and the problems all disappeared.

The car is locked every night in the garage. Could it be that w specified all the options ( heated seats, nav, rear camera,heated steering, power memory seats, rear DVD) the works. But this should not be as BMW would cause designed for this ...thanks anyway. I will post what BMW says is the problem.

My diesel was towed out of my garage once for this reason and one week later went back to the dealer for another attempt at a fix. They just recharged and reprogrammed the first time, but put a new battery in the second. Car has been flawless for 5months and then 2 times battery problems. At least the 2nd time I was able to at least start the car to drive it to the dealer. Both times no electrical drains could be found. Sounds like this is a universal issue.

I also had my X towed to BMW once cause the battery was not properly charging. Apparently (I was not aware of this before) I was making too many short trips and my battery was not charging. By the time I found out about this it was too late. I didn't get that info until I back stateside and registered with BMW NA.

I keep a battery tender on mine when it's parked in my garage. I've never had any battery problems. I also drive mine on a lot of short trips as well...

Craig

Gee... when did we all buy an electric car? Charging the battery all the time is a ridiculous solution or expectation for such an expensive vehicle!

I agree, but don't want to be stranded...

I don't have to charge my Lexus and didn't have to charge my Infiniti SUV
that I had before the X5...

The dealer told me to keep a charger on my X5 when I took delivery...

Craig