E53 2005 battery drain

[StewieG]

Hi All,

Hope you guys are well. I just went to start my car yesterday for work and the battery was dead. I charged it. Drive it to work fine. No issues. Finished work a out 6 hours later drove it home and again this morning a dead battery. Key fob won't open door so had to open manually.

Now I had the AA come out and test battery and said it was fine. As he was leaving he pointed out to me with his device thing around the earth wife that there was a 3 amp drain on the battery. I've established that the car wasn't in sleep mode yet but 3 amps seems to be a lot and he explained this could be the cause of the battery drain. Also id like to point out that after being completely dead, when he put his power pack onto the battery the first thing that came on was the webasto or fan. I can't tell difference. I think it was the webasto cz it was coming from the silver box in my engine bay but could have been the fan.

I've read about fsr unit draining batteries as a common problem on these cars. How can I check if the fsr unit is finished. Is there any tell tale signs?

Thanks in advance.

Stew

[graemeX5]

Hi

The battery drain does seem high iifc there was a post on it but I also remember the FSR hedgehog can drain the battery and I have a link to help check that

http://xdrivers.co.uk/forum/https://xdr ... 091#p36091

This battery drain thread look like it could help identify the problem

http://xdrivers.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=2329.15

Hth

[StewieG]

Just charged battery and then turned car off. Fan is behaving as it should. Any other suggestion on drain?

[X5Sport]

3A is a lot.  It should be well under 100mA when asleep.

Does the car go to 'sleep' at all, or is it being kept awake?

Sometimes the only way to find the issue is to start pulling fuses until the draw disappears and that will identify the responsible circuit.  Ideally you want the car to go to sleep before you start, but if it won't then it's a fiddly job.

If there is a tracking device fitted that has a separate battery, has that gone faulty?

Did the AA guy find any fault codes, or didn't he look that far?

Richard

[StewieG]

She does goto sleep. No extra devices fitted. AA guy did his check before it went into sleep mode.

After 16 mins my gear selector light goes off. Only light flashing is red immo light under rear view centre mirror.

Any idea what fuse to start pulling. I presume I have to fully charge it again. Then pull the fuses one by one to check.

[X5Sport]

If you have access to a multimeter then see post #2 here for one method of checking the current draw on the car.

The car does need to be asleep for this to be accurate though.  If this shows a reading of more than 100mA then it may well be just a case of pulling a fuse, checking and putting it back.  Fiddly and time consuming, and if you wake the car up then you need to start again once the car is once more asleep.

If you have access to a GT1 system it can also read current draw.

It just might also be a knackered battery, although the AA said it was OK.  It takes a while to fully charge a dead battery and then do a drop test on it to see how well it holds a charge.

My E46 with a similar capacity battery takes getting on for 24 hours to fully recharge.

Richard

[StewieG]

So heres an Update from my weekend checks.....

I got hold of a draper test kit with spike end and earth wire. I sat in car and clicked the key fob twice to lock the car but disarm the alarm. I then proceeded to wait for it to go into "sleep" mode. The gear selector light went out, the nav disc light went out and so did the rear window lock button on my drivers door control panel.

I then proceeded to check fuses in front by earthing the wire on the seat runner and touching the spike against each fuse, 1 by 1 located in glove box.

The results surprised me. Of 57 fuses used, 25 were still taking power from the battery in sleep mode. I discounted the alarm and immobiliser fuses from this already. That was my first test.

An hour later I started my second test with same variables as test one, waiting for car to power down and did fuse checks again but this time as i got half way through, the car woke up itself. I heard the webasto going from under the bonnet and the nav disc in the back spinning. I know it was the webasto because I popped the bonnet and had a listen and when I touched the webasto it was vibrating/buzzing like it was on.

Now im no leccy but I know the car shouldnt be powering up randomly. Also is it normal for as many as 25 fuses to be givng a current in sleep mode?

As a side note I didnt hear any odd behaviour from interior fan blowing randomly like it was on. This seems to rule out the FSR in my initial findings but if anyone else knows better your feedback is welcome.

Any ideas? I'm stuck......

Help plz

[Horizon]

I would try the same with the multiplugs pulled from the Webasco heater, just I case it is the PCB on the heater that is waking the car up

[X5Sport]

That grounding test is not really going to help you as it may be that the module for which fuse you just pulled uses a 'ground switch' to power down by breaking the earth side.  The live side will still be live.  Grounding that circuit could cause a power up and wakes the car.

The only real way to do it is to break the main power at the battery and monitor the current draw as each fuse is pulled.  I know it's a mark one s.o.b. job to do, but without the BMW test kit the dealers have it is probably the only way to do this. 

Sorry  :'(

Richard

[graemeX5]

I'm no expert and it may sound a bit stupid, but if your webasto is starting up, is it worth checking that your auxiliary heater /  webasto settings are all off and not due to come on at a specific time in the morning.

iirc I think you can set it to come on and warm the car which you are unaware of and so draining the battery ?

[StewieG]

[quote="graemeX5"]
I'm no expert and it may sound a bit stupid, but if your webasto is starting up, is it worth checking that your auxiliary heater /  webasto settings are all off and not due to come on at a specific time in the morning.

iirc I think you can set it to come on and warm the car which you are unaware of and so draining the battery ?
[/quote]

Webasto Aux settings are accessed via menu in navigation screen. If thats correct I did check these and theres no time/date set, its just blank with dashes (--/--/--).

[StewieG]

[quote="X5Sport"]
That grounding test is not really going to help you as it may be that the module for which fuse you just pulled uses a 'ground switch' to power down by breaking the earth side.  The live side will still be live.  Grounding that circuit could cause a power up and wakes the car.

The only real way to do it is to break the main power at the battery and monitor the current draw as each fuse is pulled.  I know it's a mark one s.o.b. job to do, but without the BMW test kit the dealers have it is probably the only way to do this. 

Sorry  :'(

Richard
[/quote]

Hi Rich,

Thank you all for your feedback. I will purchase a Multimeter but just require a few clarifications. Firstly I understand I have to set it to 10A. I get confused as to where the leads will go into the Multimeter. As I seen it, theres a red (+) and a black (-). Now looking at the multimeter 1 end each of the black and red go into the multimeter inself. In a previous read post it says to earth the black cable against the body of the car and connect the red cable to the battery to make it part of the circuit. is my understanding correct?

If you could just dumb down the process it would help me alot.

Please be patient with me as im no electrician. I can barely wire a plug : p

[StewieG]

Is this exactly what I need to do?

http://xdrivers.co.uk/forum/https://xdr ... 918#p41918

[X5Sport]

Yes, that's the one.

The 10A (or higher) initial range is to avoid the meter getting zapped should the car 'awake' at the wrong moment as you gently remove the battery negative lead from the circuit.

You might want a second body (person) watching the back of the vehicle ready to pull the meter off - which will disconnect the car anyway - if anything looks unhappy

To give some idea of the challenge that these cars give to anyone trying to find ghost issues in the wiring, the X6 draws 60A in 'radio ready' mode (Key in Pos 1).  Hence me being careful when I play with the electrics.

If your budget can stretch to it, get an 'Auto Ranging' meter which should self protect (by changing the meter range to a much higher setting to avoid damage) in the event of the car waking, or make up a power lead with a fuse in it so the fuse goes, not the meter.

And just one warning note - the 'live' (Red) side of the battery has an explosive disconnect so beware.  It is incredibly unlikely to fire, but be aware of it being there.  It won't hurt you, but might make you jump if it triggers.  And you'll need a new connection end too...

You should be fine.......it's fiddly and time consuming but take it steady and you'll hopefully find the answer as to the source of the leak.

Richard

[StewieG]

So Ive just removed fuse 48 which is for the fan. Im going to leavie it over night for a few days without driving it to see of the battery dies or not.

Again I noticed the webasto kicking in so that will be my next port of call should the battery not drain in the next few days.