Sometimes I wonder how much progress we are really making with all this technology. I use to own a 1992 Ford Explorer with a bit less than 200,000 miles on the odometer. For the last couple of years of it's life, I drove it daily 1 mile to and from the local coffee shop on a daily basis, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Never more than a couple of miles.

In all that time I never had a battery discharge problem.

Now I have the Ultimate Driving Machine and I have to worry about making sure I either make long enough trips and/or put it on a battery charger.:dunno:

They should post this in the showroom, so buyers are informed:

"never tell you what we have already determined is 'too short' for driving distances"


Actually, post sale they are very clear -- anything that causes the battery to discharge is "too short."

Indeed.

And ask for a print out of the 'drive cycle diagnostics' on which they base their decision ...all of a sudden you'd think it was CIA source code.

Well the dealer stated the car will no longer "act up" for them. They still want to hold on to it to make sure its not going to happen again. They are removing the Napa battery that was installed for a 950 CCA oem battery and program.

Whats the battery discharge fix?


The only sure fix is to trade it in on a non-BMW.I'm not sure what brand my next vehicle will be, but I'm pretty sure I'm done with BMWs. Nice vehicles, but just not reliable enough. I'm 60 years old, and the only vehicle I've ever had that needed to be towed in all my years of driving was my 2004 Z-4. And I'm getting tired of Battery Discharge messages and wondering if the X-5 will start the next time.I had the X-5 on the CTEK charger Wednesday and it charged-up completely by Wednesday night. Took the charger off, and locked the vehicle Wednesday night. Got in it this morning to drive it and first thing that pops-up is the "Excessive Battery Discharge" message.

As I said, BMWs are nice vehicles, but if I want some "driving" excitement, no car comes close to my motorcycles in any case. So in the future, I think I'll get my thrills on the motorcycles, and buy something reliable for a car and SUV. Unreliable and sparse dealer network (e.g. none at all in Montana) is a bad mix if you use your vehicles for long vacation trips in the West.

I wouldn't say it is a complete fix, but a way to increase your chances of success is to buy a simpler model

When my E53 was done there was no way I was going to buy an E70. An X3 with 260 hp and a six speed manual handles and goes better than a 4.4 X5, with no transmission or electrical system worries. Ever.

Got the car back today ... I hope its fixed.
They changed the CAS module, gear selector, DME, a bunch of wires, another battery, etc...The report was about 3/4 inch thick! They also refunded my money for that battery I bought a month ago. All done under warranty! Whew ...
Fingers crossed

Funny..I always read these threads all the way through...trying to see if the symptoms match my driving behavior and distances. I've got a basically fully loaded 2007 4.8i and my commute to work (one way) is about 5 miles. Sometimes, I wont go anywhere but work and back for weeks on end. NEVER had an issue with the battery. I bought it CPO and looked at the maintenance records and nothing mentioned anything about the electronics nor the battery.

Left it sitting for 6-8 days twice since I've bought it (bought Jan 2011) while on vacation and also was fine when we got back.

Must be I've got a lucky one? Watch, when I try to go to work tomorrow, it's dead now that I said something...

Just to give everyone an update on my "battery discharge" issue,,this is the second time it has been in for a battery discharge issue. The first time,,,all they did was to charge up the battery and said that every thing checked out OK. Took it in again about 2 weeks ago,,,they decided to put in a new battery,,,they kept it overnight and guess what,,,still had the issue. They worked with BMW factory over the next few days and I got a call about 4 days ago saying that my vehicle when assembled had the wrong alternator put in,,,(????), I guess it's possible,,,,, so I will report back when the "original" alternator gets put in and see what happens.

On the flip side however,,,they gave me a new (2012) 750 Li to use as a loaner,,,so I really can't complain too much except that I want my own vehicle back!!!!