[Bennn]

Well unfortunately our E91 touring seems to have died. We've owned it less than a month.

Before complete death the dials started having a mind of their own whilst driving and every light on the dash started flashing and flickering whilst driving.

I also had an electronic control systems warning on the Idrive.

I checked the battery which was fairly new and fully charged however it was damaged and was leaking battery acid so this was replaced with a new Bosch s5 and registered to the car.

The car unlocked today and I locked it again and then tried to unlock again and it's dead. I unlocked manually with the key in the lock and heard a lot of clicking from the rear (like a relay) and some electric hissing under the glove box.

I've called bmw and they confirmed that it's due a recall on the blower wiring but not on the battery cable which I suspect could be the issue here.

The only thing that makes me doubt this as I had no luck getting life out of it by wiggling the fuse box and the voltage across the battery is only 2.9v.

Any ideas? At the moment I'm think a box of matches might be the best bet for it!

Cheers Ben

[N5GKP]

Got the last 7 digits of the chassis number on this one?

[m3jala]

Originally Posted by Bennn

At the moment I'm think a box of matches might be the best bet for it!

You had a control system going based on the error no? While it likely won't be cheap, it's not like your rod bearings have gone and your motor is blown.

[Bennn]

Originally Posted by N5GKP

Got the last 7 digits of the chassis number on this one?

AE93002 Buddy!

[Bennn]

Originally Posted by m3jala

You had a control system going based on the error no? While it likely won't be cheap, it's not like your rod bearings have gone and your motor is blown.

Very true!

[wallsmk2]

If your new battery is at 2.9 volts it's likely unrecoverable and will probably always give you problems. So something isn't allowing the battery to charge or is draining the battery too fast. It could also be a bad battery. If it's going in for the recall and you can get enough juice in the battery to start it then just get them to sort. Electrical stuff I normally take straight to BMW to avoid chasing problems. You don't have to get the work done by them but at least you'll have an answer.

[Bennn]

Originally Posted by wallsmk2

If your new battery is at 2.9 volts it's likely unrecoverable and will probably always give you problems. So something isn't allowing the battery to charge or is draining the battery too fast. It could also be a bad battery. If it's going in for the recall and you can get enough juice in the battery to start it then just get them to sort. Electrical stuff I normally take straight to BMW to avoid chasing problems. You don't have to get the work done by them but at least you'll have an answer.

My experience is a decent specialist is usually a better bet but as its going to BMW I don't paying for them to diagnose. I'm going to see if I can charge the battery overnight, I still have the old, leaking one which I will use if the new one is knackered.

[Sensible_]

Well there car isn't dead at all. You just have power issues.

If a new battery has been drained that much then you must have a parasitic drain somewhere or a Control unit isn't going to sleep properly.

Is the car fitted with any aftermarket equipment?

[Bennn]

Originally Posted by Sensible_

Well there car isn't dead at all. You just have power issues.

If a new battery has been drained that much then you must have a parasitic drain somewhere or a Control unit isn't going to sleep properly.

Is the car fitted with any aftermarket equipment?

Well its dead because it won't start and I can't drive it but yes, I'm aware I have an electrical issue.

I've gathered that it will be a drain. I put the old battery in this morning and it fired up fine with no warning lights but have left it unplugged. The new one is charging in the house.

If I can get the new one fully charged I'll leave the old battery plugged into it and see if it happens again.

Might just get BMW to spend an hour diagnosing it and see what they say.

Its got pretty much every option but no aftermarket bits.

[Big13]

When you changed the battery did you have it coded

[Sensible_]

Is this a car with comfort access?

It's up to you with a bit of time and multimeter you can trace a drain.

What amps are being drawn?

After that you can look at pulling fuses to try to narrow a down a defective piece of equipment.

As stated, barriers must be resgistered and of you change battery type (e.g. agm) or ah, you need your CAS unit coded.

[Torgus]

Originally Posted by Sensible_

Is this a car with comfort access?

It's up to you with a bit of time and multimeter you can trace a drain.

What amps are being drawn?

After that you can look at pulling fuses to try to narrow a down a defective piece of equipment.

As stated, barriers must be resgistered and of you change battery type (e.g. agm) or ah, you need your CAS unit coded.

A very sensible post.

[therealdb1]

Originally Posted by wallsmk2

If it's going in for the recall

Do you think the recalls will ever happen?
My car was booked in for the beginning of May and cancelled by BMW the day before it was due to be done.
It is now October and the dealer is still refusing to accept bookings for the replacement parts to be fitted.

Back on topic, I have never known a 12 volt battery to recover from 2.9 volts. That's under half a volt per cell. You really need to check if you have excessive current draw somewhere and that the battery was ok in the first place.
Sometimes Bluetooth can kill a battery if it keeps trying to sync with other devices like your phone when you are not even in the car.

[ptpending]

you have old quite packed car so you may have many problems
1. battery cable outside, between rear right wheel arch and rear right door, you need to remove wheel and arch cover to check their connections to battery comparment
2. broken wires between body and rear trunk/boot door
3. dead bluetooth module, you may have old version which dies
4. clogged sunroof drains, in that case water goes to multiple electric modules and destroys them in: front left corner (frm, active steering ecu) front right (fuse box) rear left (top hifi amp), rear right( battery and comfort access and pdc module)
5. outside handles with comfort access, they are die and shortcircuit sometimes and battery drained very quickly
6. you have old car and ibs sensor also can die and drain battery
7. you may have idrive unit dying and eating battery

so if you saw some water in battery comparment then....

also you need to register battery replacement because you have packed car

p.s. positive side is that you car is pre-03/07 date and you do not have problems with fuse box positive cable connection because old fuse box have reliable bolt and nut connection

so you need to bring your car to quite exprieneced bmw shop and have them to check all these issues

[wallsmk2]

Originally Posted by therealdb1

Do you think the recalls will ever happen?

My repair was carried out within about 2 weeks of notifying them when it was in for other work. So perhaps they are prioritising cars which are with them anyway as they can probably hit inevitable recall targets more easily.

[Bennn]

Originally Posted by Big13

When you changed the battery did you have it coded

I coded it myself with Carly.

[Bennn]

Originally Posted by Sensible_

Is this a car with comfort access?

It's up to you with a bit of time and multimeter you can trace a drain.

What amps are being drawn?

After that you can look at pulling fuses to try to narrow a down a defective piece of equipment.

As stated, barriers must be resgistered and of you change battery type (e.g. agm) or ah, you need your CAS unit coded.

Yes it has comfort access, the drivers handle doesn't work so we don't use it a lot. Haven't worked out what AMPS have been drawn as I think I might possibly have identified the issue.

I did register the new battery using Carly.

[Bennn]

I *think* the issue could be the battery distribution box the other end.

I am able to tighten up the negative cable, but not the positive the bolt seems to be cross threaded, which I think was the case when the battery was replaced last time.

This means that the car slips in and out of being on or not and I think its probably gone dead, them come alive for a while as its been parked up and I haven't been aware and ran the battery flat.

Regardless I need a new board as I can't tighten the positive cable up, so figure its as good a place as any to start.

I'm assuming they aren't that difficult to replace?

[Bennn]

Originally Posted by ptpending

you have old quite packed car so you may have many problems
1. battery cable outside, between rear right wheel arch and rear right door, you need to remove wheel and arch cover to check their connections to battery comparment
2. broken wires between body and rear trunk/boot door
3. dead bluetooth module, you may have old version which dies
4. clogged sunroof drains, in that case water goes to multiple electric modules and destroys them in: front left corner (frm, active steering ecu) front right (fuse box) rear left (top hifi amp), rear right( battery and comfort access and pdc module)
5. outside handles with comfort access, they are die and shortcircuit sometimes and battery drained very quickly
6. you have old car and ibs sensor also can die and drain battery
7. you may have idrive unit dying and eating battery

so if you saw some water in battery comparment then....

also you need to register battery replacement because you have packed car

p.s. positive side is that you car is pre-03/07 date and you do not have problems with fuse box positive cable connection because old fuse box have reliable bolt and nut connection

so you need to bring your car to quite exprieneced bmw shop and have them to check all these issues

Thanks for the post. Mistakenly when looking for it I was impressed by all the options it has but unfortunately it sounds like its just more to go wrong!

Drivers side comfort access doesn't work but hasn't done so for several years looking at the old invoices etc and this is a recent issue.

I'm going to start with battery board, hopefully BMW have one in stock so I can change it before it goes into them.

[therealdb1]

Originally Posted by Bennn

Mistakenly when looking for it I was impressed by all the options it has but unfortunately it sounds like its just more to go wrong!

The number of times I have heard this over the years! Ooo you don't want that option it might go wrong!

The truth is that cars these days have 1000's of bits that can go wrong and for the best part they do not.

My first car was a 1967 Vauxhall Viva which did not have a radio, seat belts, any external mirrors, the heater never worked, you were lucky if the manual window winders lifted the glass all the way before they came adrift from the mechanism, you had to start braking the day before you wanted to stop because the non-servo drum brakes all around and crossply tyres were useless and unless you cleaned and gapped the contact breaker points every 200 miles and heated the spark plugs on a gas stove on winter mornings the bugger would not even start This was not exclusive to me and Vauxhall either I had friends with Fords and Austin/Morris cars that had similar issues.

Now drivers think it is the end of the world if they have to use the key to get in and they cannot wirelessly connect the car to their phone!

How expectations change!

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by m3jala

You had a control system going based on the error no? While it likely won't be cheap, it's not like your rod bearings have gone and your motor is blown.

From what I've read on the internet... BMW electrical problems are much worse

[Bennn]

Originally Posted by therealdb1

Now drivers think it is the end of the world if they have to use the key to get in and they cannot wirelessly connect the car to their phone!

How expectations change!

To be fair mate if I could get into the car, start it up and drive it I'd be happy!