Help....Battery Drained?

Johnny chimpo · Post by **Johnny chimpo** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 10:40 am

Hi all, hope someone can help with a fault that im having with my new to me X5.

Only picked the car up on Saturday and all seemed well....

We used the car on Saturday and all was well, actually used it a few times over the course of the day and never had a problem.

The car was left sitting from about 6pm on Saturday night until about 2pm Sunday afternoon when my wife went out to use it.

She unlocked it and got in, but it wouldnt start. From how she described it, when she tried to start it all the lights and gauges were going really dim and nothing was working.

A mechanic neighbour popped over and diagnosed the fault as being the battery, which he has taken away and put on charge overnight. He has since tested the battery at his work and confirmed that the battery is really strong and holding charge etc as it should.

So my question is, what else would be the likely cause of the battery drain in the space of less than 24 hours?

Is the FSR a likely cause of the problem and if so how do can it be tested?

Or is there something else more likely to be causing the drain on the battery?

The biggest problem I have is that I am away with work all week and wont be able to look at it until Friday at the earliest. Not good when your pregnant wife is at home unable to get the car to start.... and to top it all off the boiler in the house has packed in aswell.......arrrrggggghhhhhh nitemare!!!!!

Oh meant to say car is a 2005 X5 3.0D Sport with full comms pack.... not sure if you need to know that, but its maybe worthwile knowing if its gona help diagnose a likely cause for the fault!

If anyone can advise on what to check or how to check it then it really would be appreciated.

Cheers all....

thedweeb · Post by **thedweeb** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 11:00 am

Yes the FSR can cause this to happen. It can bring the fan on when the car is switched off... Not too sure how to test tho other than turn the car off and sit in it for a while to see if the fan comes on.Other things to check are Phone kits, alarms etc..
Dweeb

Johnny chimpo · Post by **Johnny chimpo** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 3:06 pm

Cheers thedweeb, would have tried this myself tonight, but stuck in europe and not back until Friday morning...

On the plus side my dad will be up at the house tomorrow waiting for the Sky engineer to come and realign our dish so he's gona have a go at sitting in the car and seeing if the FSR keeps the fan running.

Other thing I have found as a possibility is the starter motor drawing too much, so hopefully get that checked...

Nothing takes the shine off a new car purchase like a fault within 24 hours of getting it!

Lee_thefirst · Post by **Lee_thefirst** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 5:19 pm

Once the battery was charged again did the car start up?

Johnny chimpo · Post by **Johnny chimpo** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 5:25 pm

They managed to start the car using jump leads. My mechanic neighbour is coming over tonight to refit the battery and have a look and see if he can find anything obvious that would be draining the battery.

So its not yet been started off the charged battery, but im pretty sure it will start up once the battery is back in it tonight.

Sorry if my answer is vague, its just all 2nd hand information that im getting cos im not there!

Johnny chimpo · Post by **Johnny chimpo** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:23 pm

Well the latest update is that the battery was refitted earlier tonight and all appears to be well.... hopefully its just been a one off... Having spoken to my wife she said our mechanic neighbour (who has been an amazing help in my abscence) tested the car after it had gone to sleep and there was nothing draining the system.

Just hope its one of these things that doesnt happen again. My wife did say she spent 5mins trying to setup her phone via the bluetooth before trying to start the car and thats when all the problems began.

Would those 5 mins of trying to setup her phone without having started the car since the previous day be enough drain the battery to the extent that it wouldnt start the car and cause all the systems to drain 1 by 1?

Im thinking about replacing the battery and the FSR as a precaution, after all the battery is possibly the original and would be coming up for 7 years old. So hopefully replacing that and the FSR will prevent any other potential battery drain faults.

Last question.... whats the best suggestion for a battery, bosch silver or genuine bmw and any idea of cost and also cost of a FSR?

cheers again...

thedweeb · Post by **thedweeb** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 11:16 pm

Glad to here you got it going, Your right it really takes the shine off when things go wrong not to mention after owning it for 24hrs.
Not sure on the battery as I've not had to buy one yet. The FSR you can pick up off ebay for Â£40 as I did,and fit yourself aslong as you dont mind being upside down in the drivers foot well .lol
Dweeb

Lee_thefirst · Post by **Lee_thefirst** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 11:32 pm

I went for Bosch Silver three weeks ago... Â£92
FSR two months ago.... Â£45 part one hours labour. BMW specialist garage not required for this job.

Johnny chimpo · Post by **Johnny chimpo** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 8:06 am

Cheers guys, decided to definately order the FSR and battery and then I can rule them out for definate if the fault continues.

Does anyone know the part number for the FSR (05 3.0d Sport) and what model of bosch silver does everyone use?

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Help....Battery Drained?

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