XSeries-forum

Hello all, well have had laboured starts since nov and went out got myself a ctek charger that I whack on once a week to keep myself going...

CHECKS I HAVE DONE:
Battery I have is a bosch S5  830cca and 100ah
Had that load tested at 3 places all come back as ok
Volatage on the battery after a full charge is 13.33V then after 6 hours was 12.94v
So battery checks out

CHarging system well if I check with multimeter via the jump points get a slightly different readout than checking the OBC cluster reading no.9 :
DAY1 Volts readings VIA jump points & after full recharge:
9.4V lowest reading whilst cranking crank
14.33V when started and idling

DAY2 Volts via OBC and after full recharge:
9.6V lowest reading whilst cranking
13.9V-14.0V when started and idling

Anything else I should check? do the cranking volts tlook low? heard glow plugs rarely an issue on these and even if bad car will start .....ANY ideas much appreciated....thanks

A multimeter will very often show different to the car.  The figures are OK except for the crank.

This could well be a starter motor issue.  The battery looks fine as you say.  E53s fitted with Magneti-Marelli starters have a known issue with the starter drawing too much current.  Your only option if this is the case is to replace it.

You need to get a specialist to put a current clamp by the battery and then see how much the starter is drawing.  It should be around 180-220A on a cold engine, and should not never exceed the battery rating of 830A.

Several people on here have had this.

The Glowplugs only come on for a few seconds before cranking.

Richard

cheers richard appreciate speedy reply, yes have been fishing around on site regarding this,  but where did you get that 700-750amp draw on startup figure? the posts I found mentioned the draw on start should not exceeding 180-190amps? i guess if I find magnetti marelli pic for sale online shold have rating or power consumption badged on it...that way I can know...thanks again

Hmmm just checked some pics and spec on ebay and the starter has 2.2KW stamped on it? so is this the max draw it can take? bit confused now.....

[quote="omodos"]
cheers richard appreciate speedy reply, yes have been fishing around on site regarding this,  but where did you get that 700-750amp draw on startup figure? the posts I found mentioned the draw on start should not exceeding 180-190amps? i guess if I find magnetti marelli pic for sale online shold have rating or power consumption badged on it...that way I can know...thanks again
[/quote]

It was an off the cuff remark from a BMW tech.  I've not got the actual test figures.  When mine went it was drawing in excess of 900A.

[quote="omodos"]
Hmmm just checked some pics and spec on ebay and the starter has 2.2KW stamped on it? so is this the max draw it can take? bit confused now.....
[/quote]

That's approx 184A - well in your range as above.  That would be it's 'nominal' rating for what it should draw.

To covert W to A just divide by the voltage.  2200/12 = 183.333A.

Perhaps that Tech was telling me the max they ever expect to see when starting.  It's only an instantaneous figure rather than a continuous rating and the instantaneous figure is usually much higher just to get the initial motion in the armature and engine and once both are moving it drops right back to 184A?

I'll do some digging....

EDIT:  M57N engine should draw around 220A max.

Richard

X5Sport thanks for feedback, Ok well amp testing with an amp clamp around the battery cable (amp setitng set to 400A) and starting the engine the reading hit 392amps for a split second then meter showed 0L - and back down to normal....i guess 0L meant overload? I should have set meter to 1000a

Dunno need to figure this out as been going on for a couple of months now......could the starter be drawing way too much current as mentioned by some

On my meter 0L defo means overload.  The initial moment will be high, and then settles as you saw.

It took my Dealer 5 attempts to spot the starter as the culprit.  2003/4 cars seem to be the ones most affected.

thanks again, and apologies for the stupid query on what the 2.2kw mean's , brain freeze...it was watts power not amps current....yup 0L reading that I got on the amp clamp must mean reading exceeded the 400amp limit whilst I started...either way 400amp draw is too high going by general forums online as a rule of thumb the draw should be in 200 250 max......by the way did you have similar starting issues?

Mine was very sluggish to turn over and would cause the clock and other functions to reset as the battery volts were being dragged right down.  Mine was drawing over 900A which the battery could not cope with as it's max cranking current was 830A.

Thanks again Richard, am gonna see if i can get hold of a clamp amp again and see how far over the 400amps X5 is pulling at startup....gonna set the meter to 1000amps...I dont get the same symptoms as you with the clock etc BUT when temps dipped out here starting to real sluggish and even now there seems to be hestitation when starting...thanks again