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

Sometimes, parts are just faulty. Is the vehicle equipped with Comfort Access? Although I've had no problems with our 325i (with the option), the dealer claims that their CA-equipped cars tend to run low on battery and discharge.

I had to get a tender installed on mine as well. No more problems.

Sorry but what is a battery tender and how does one obtain one? By the way, my car is now at BMW and word is that they have to change the alternator and have to get t from Germany. I thought the cars were made in the States !

My 35d has Comfort Access and to date has had no problems. One thing to remember with this system is when shutting down hit the "Start/Stop" button twice to completely shut down the car. This is not mentioned in the manual or by the dealer rep when I took delivery.

Great. I thought holding down until even the BMW logo goes off in the lcd panel is sufficient to shut down.So, I will step on the brake, hit the start stop button once, then hit the button again ..wont that start the car again?

I was worried about the Comfort Access completely shutting down the car if I just hit the button once. I did the same thing (restarting the car with foot on the brake) until I learned to keep my foot off the brake pedal. Do not touch the brake pedal during shutdown and hit the button twice and the car will completely shut down.

Thanks. Will try it !

Jeffrey, it keeps the battery charged and keeps it on a float charge. When the battery needs to be charged it comes on and shuts off when it's charged.

Batterytender.com - Home of All Your Charging Needs

Craig

Thanks for the info. I will inform all of you what BMW does to rectify the problem. I cant believe that BMW could make a design error with something as basic as the battery especially when they are the pioneers of electronics in cars.
I will try the method of shutting down the engine by pressing the switch twice which sounds logical for the comfort package.

The BMW dealer should also have a battery tender for sale in the parts dept. I think the car will shut down in 15-20 minutes even if you don't hit the button twice. I always push it twice when I leave my car.

Please let us know what the dealer says...

Craig

Your kidding right? You are suggesting the only way the battery will stay charged is if you plug the car in every night? I thought we had it bad enough what with having to plug in during the winter in some parts of Canada. There has to be something wrong with the X5's that are experiencing dead batteries.

Thats exactly what my sentiments are ! I will report the findings of BMW when I receive them. I will not accept that driving for short trips will not enable the battery to be fully charged. This will mean that X5s in Hong Kong and Singapore will all have battery problems ! I really hope that it is the alternator (they are air freighting one in from Germany) as the X5 35d is really quite superb in all other areas...fantastic acceleration and incredible economy in a BMW !

I agree. I have an april 07 X5 and I have never had any battery problem in over 2 years of driving.

6 Months so far on my X5 4.8 with every option, and no battery problems yet. If you have comfort access, push the "start-stop" button once and then touch the outer handle to lock the car. This will shut off everything.
I have not had any problems with my car batteries other than leaving a light on overnight in the Lexus RX400h and the battery died (Jump Started and fine since then) and my GMC Denali battery died after I left the car in accessory mode for about 2 hours (Jump started and fine since then).