Parasitic drain possible alternator while sleeping?

[Leslie]

Glow plug controller may well be faulty but as others have said its a very common issue and I seriously doubt it has anything to do with your battery drain ,changing it without the plugs seems a waste of time as they will almost certainly be faulty too . After its fitted Id expect them to be coming back saying x amount of plugs are shot !
Drivers front caliper seems to be a common issue as well , I swapped mine out as one of the pistons was dragging heating the disc , wheel was always quick to go black with brake dust compared to other wheel ,got one of ebay twin piston one 25 quid ! bargain and its been fine but just got lucky there .
Unfortunately Bmw can only work with the codes that show up to start with and at their extortionate labour rate it quickly becomes uneconomic to repair .....

[Straycat_67]

Glow plug controller may well be faulty but as others have said its a very common issue and I seriously doubt it has anything to do with your battery drain ,changing it without the plugs seems a waste of time as they will almost certainly be faulty too . After its fitted Id expect them to be coming back saying x amount of plugs are shot !
Drivers front caliper seems to be a common issue as well , I swapped mine out as one of the pistons was dragging heating the disc , wheel was always quick to go black with brake dust compared to other wheel ,got one of ebay twin piston one 25 quid ! bargain and its been fine but just got lucky there .
Unfortunately Bmw can only work with the codes that show up to start with and at their extortionate labour rate it quickly becomes uneconomic to repair .....

This is a worry, you suggesting you doubt the parasitic drain is highly unlikely cause by a glow plug module! I am 100% going to make sure they reset the code and see if it comes back, as mentioned, never had any starting issues re GP's.

I am really really urred to keep throwing the ridiculous £118/hr to the main dealer! Just gutted I have zero mechanically knowledge!

More and more thinking I should pay the 1hr diagnostics and run.... there is a BMW indy in Manchester (BMTECH), spoken on phone but no experience with him, might go there, i just don't know what to do from here on.

Caliper I'm not so worried about, plenty of garages open can replace inc the indy one I mentioned.

Any ideas what to do from here re the drain dillema? Like I've mentioned it seemed to have disappeared just prior to taking it to main dealer. Do I sit it out and hope it does not come back?? I have just purchased a lithium jump booster btw (just in case).

[henrym3]

I’m not familiar with e70 diesels, can you not just disable the glow plug controller ( unplug/ fuse) for a few days to eliminate it as the source of the drain. This weather the engine will start easily without it. I know you won’t regenerate but if it’s faulty your not regenerating anyway. If the drain happens again then it’s not the controller although it needs doing sooner rather than later. None of these jobs are beyond a competent indie and certainly don’t warrant £118 ph of a dealer. That £100 plus for the diagnostics would have bought you a decent scan tool like Foxwell 520 that you could plug in every day of the week if you wanted. Just an opinion.

[Greydog]

Plus 1 with Henry on buying your own decent diagnostic tool even if you are paying someone else to do the work.

[Leslie]

If your tail pipes are shiny clean inside the car is still regenning so id check that ,I wouldn't go disconnecting glow plug controller if the pipes are clean as the Dpf will soon block and then you will have far bigger issues plus it's very hard to access on these cars so if in there you would just change it out. As bmw said it needs doing assuming its not an old code ,as it happens I had this code too but when i went to get it cleared it stayed away suggesting it was just an old code and my tailpipes were always clean.

The glowplug controller should never have power to it anyway when the car is off as far as I know as there would be no need unless the engine is turning over and these cars will always start down to minus temp even without it that's the benefit of modern common rail injection though you will get a bit of vibration for a few secs after a cold start .

As for where you go now I'm not sure, was it the actual lead from the alternator was disconnected but everything else is still live ? If so then it does point to the alternator but these are complex cars . The intelligent battery senor was still connected so I guess we car rule that out . The flat battery is not a common issue on here and as you have a jump pack now its not so critical so id be tempted to source a secondhand alternator as I'm sure there are plenty about so shouldn't cost that much and get it fitted when lockdown eases a bit. I would NOT try to get your own refurbed as like I said before seen 2 people at work do that and both cars suffered same flat battery after refurb again and then you could never be sure if it was still the alternator .

Even if it doesn't sort it you shouldn't be out a lot of money and far cheaper than letting bmw have a look so not much to lose . Bmw only usually fix cars under warranty where the huge cost doesn't get passed onto the customer so as long as its fixed everybody is happy and to be fair to them they have found a fault and as they would say it needs fixed before they can progress ! Its just fault finding at their prices will soon outweigh the value of the car !

[Straycat_67]

Update:

After phone calls with the main dealer I have collected the car and will be continuing the fix finding with a local top notch indie garage (Baymow) that are now back open, unfortunately they can't collect my car until next Tuesday.

The main dealer wanted to spend more time investigating around the glow plug module and cables etc.... Summed up by telling me it could be another £200 if just a harness cable or up to £900 approx if it's the GP module and Glow plug replacements!! This on top of ANOTHER hour of diagnostics @ £118! Was no guarantee of fixing my parasitic drain!

I have attached 2 documents containing their report to date along with potential future costings to fix, was not willing to follow through with them, spent the 1hr diagnostics of £118.

FYI: They also quoted £1,155 just to replace a front O/S caliper, new front discs and pads!!! Indie quoted me circa £500 - 550 (genuine parts)!!

[X5Sport]

That looks like the GPCU may indeed be dodgy, but their prices are ridiculous.

Pagid (OEM) discs are £96 each
Pad wear sensor = £12.25
Pagid (OEM) Front pads = £63 a set (4)
Remanu OSF caliper = £103.30 plus £35 surcharge refunded when old part returned.
Pagid DOT4 brake fluid = £5.78/ltr (you’ll need a couple)

Time to do the job = about 3 hours.

Prices from Carparts4less for a 40d X6 (same running gear on the E70).

They’ll also need 2 bolts that hold the OSF caliper to the car. These are single use and done up VERY tight. You don’t have to replace them, but the general advice is you should. They must have Threadlock Blue on them when out back in.

GPCU is about £80 with each plug around £15 (x6) and changed as a set (plugs & GPCU) because failed plugs will fail the GPCU.

Main Dealers really do take the p*ss but they prey on the unwary or unwilling.

[Leslie]

Costs soon mount up at dealers so best going elsewhere.

[Straycat_67]

Costs soon mount up at dealers so best going elsewhere.

100% agree, but was super difficult while Covid19!

But luckly been able to find a decent indie garage that specialise in ONLY BMW's 8 miles from who will collect the car next Tuesday and touch wood deal with it all in a professional reliable manner without ripping the pants off me!