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2005 530d Touring Electrical Troubles

882 views 5 replies 2 participants last post by  muppetdodger 
#1 ·
This has been a bit of a developing saga!

A few weeks ago I started getting a warning saying 'high rate of discharge' on the dash. Also the car seemed to be a bit heavier to start. Then my integrated bluetooth system packed up - and from what I can tell the car thinks there is no bluetooth module installed. Then this morning the idrive screen and the radio stopped working - no music and nothing visible on the screen.

I had a look in the boot at the battery this morning, and the battery is a genuine BMW replacement and it has a sticker on it saying Sept 2009, so it's not that old. It has a charge indicator on top of it which is showing that the battery hasnt got enough charge, but it isnt showuing that the battery needs replacement.

So then I thought, maybe the alternator is packing up. Is this possible, and if so would it cause things to stop working due to lack of battery power. Not sure.

I'm getting someone in to check the charge off the alternator, but does anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks for your help in advance!
 
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#2 ·
2006 E60 530D Battery problems

Hi

I think I have similar problems. About 3 months ago Woods in Salisbury had to change the battery (about £250 inc labour) - this was the first new battery so was not too surprised at that but the complexity of the energy management system seems incredible.

Problem now seems to be happening again - the clock needed resetting which is a sight of low battery charge. Service Dept say that the energy management system shuts down various sub-systems in some sort of priority order to protect the ability to restart engine,

The car does mainly short journeys - this does not help but apparently it continually self monitors and if it does not go into sleep mode this causes a battery drain. Note that if you don't leave it locked it wont go into this sleep mode and battery will be discharged.

Latest report is that battery has 96% CCA capacity but is in urgent need of recharge - 5 days previously I had driven to Bath and back (130+ miles). Doesn't sound quite right!

Any ideas?
 
#3 ·
Yeah, I got an auto electrician in, as the battery was saying low on charge, but not dud (and it was only 18 months old) and we found that the alternator was only charging intermittently, meaning the battery was never fully charged. We are fitting a new alternator on thursday so we will then try to get some of the electrical problems ironed out.
 
#4 ·
That's interesting! do you have an E60 or an earlier model?

Would be interested to hear how you get om with the change and if problem is then solved?

Had a very similar problem with my boat electrics a couple of months ago. Partial charging only of all three batteries. Turned out to be the alternator control box needing a new fuse (15p). That was after changing all three batteries which got knackered.

I dont know about BMW alternators but we have people round here who refurbish marine ones at a lower cost than a complete new one.
 
#6 ·
Well, it wasnt the alternator, but at least I have a new one now! Finally took the car down to Paddock Garage near Sidmouth and received superb service at a reasonable price and solved all my problems!

The charging fault was a bit of a red herring. Car was set for a 110 amp battery, but last owner replaced battery with 90 amp battery. This was fine until the 90 amp battery got a bit older and started losing some of its virility. So cure was to re program the car with 90 amp setting and this has cured that problem.

Suspension warning light, about which I was very concerned about the potential cost, turned out to be faulty wiring to the right rear sensor cured with a re wiring kit from the local stealer.

Bluetooth failure - rebooted the bluetooth module and it worked for 2 mins then packed up again. Decided to remove the module and we replaced it with a Dension system with bluetooth and ipod/usb/aux connectivity running through the i drive. Great system and much improved from the original system in the car.

Paddock also did a full software upgrade which took about 16 hours and improved all the cars systems especially the speed of i drive operation.

Finally, as I was already in fairly deep decided to do and autologic remap. This was the most astonishing part. Post remap the car is awesomely fast ( I reckon it would keep pace with my partners RX8 which is saying something) has tremendous torque, leading to a much smoother drive and potentially better economy (once the joy of driving a car with amazing pace has wor off)

All in all, I feel like I have a new car and I cant recommend Paddock highly enough. Top job!!
 
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