e60 530i..."high rate of battery discharge"...any ideas?

[turboman786]

After a year of flawless and highly enjoyable ownership, my e60 530i (petrol) has got its first problem...

Fo a while now, first thing in the morning, the car shows a warning stating "high level of battery discharge". I ignored the warning for about two months, as the car started fine, and showed no problems.

However last week, one morning, the car was dead. I started it up using jump leads, and went to an autoelectrician who suggested that I should change the battery. The aternator was tested , and is charging fine.

I put a brand new Bosch silver battery in, and after a couple of days I didn't see the warning light, so assumed all was well..

However I am now seeing the warning a couple of time a day, only when started up.

Where do I start in getting this fixed? The alternator and battery are good, so presumably there is something draining the battery....but nothing obvious...

Has anyone else encountered this problem on an e60, and if so, what was the fix?

[turboman786]

Thanks for the replies...

The hedghog problem seems to be one relating to the e39......has anyone experienced it on the e60?

The heater has played up once or twice recently, but now works perfectly, so I certainly dont dismiss the possibility that this is the cause of the battery drain...

Anyone else had this problem on an e60?

Thanks!

[turboman786]

The heater just stopped working sometimes, ie blew no air...and then it worked intermittently...and now it works perfectly again

I am really reluctant to tae the car to BMW for them to diagnose, as they will relieve me of a good few hundred pounds and there is no guarantee that they will even find the cause....