e90 dead to the world

[BMWBen]

Looks like I've got some kind of current drain issue on my e90. First showed itself when I was on the continent. Came back to car at the end of the day and it was completely dead. GOt it started with the help of Greenflag, was fine for the journey home, survived two nights and started fine in the mornings.

Now it's been in the car park for 5 days and it's completely dead again

I'm well out of warranty, and was wondering the best way to get this sorted. Main dealer? ($$) Will it be beyond a local garage or a general auto-electrician? Anything I can do myself to try and troubleshoot?

[clabcon]

Its probably not the alternator if you ran it after a jump start for a while. Something might be draining the permanent live. Have you got any retrofitted stereo, bluetooth or other accessory kits?

[BMWBen]

clabcon said:

Its probably not the alternator if you ran it after a jump start for a while. Something might be draining the permanent live. Have you got any retrofitted stereo, bluetooth or other accessory kits?

Nope, nothing aftermarket. Taken the fuse out of the nav system as it seems to be truly buggered. Thinking this is going to be expensive...

[waxaholic]

A fresh battery may solve your problems,i would look into that first.

[gizlaroc]

How old is it and if 5 years have you changed the original battery??
If not then I would do that before anything else.

[clabcon]

Or charge the battery outside the car and check the voltage across the terminals when fully charged to see if the some of the cells inside are dead/dying and then again after a few days to see how well the battery as a whole is holding charge. If its your daily driver, best bet would be to replace the battery, but make sure you have your radio/nav code before you do this!

[ghibbett]

waxaholic said:

A fresh battery may solve your problems,i would look into that first.

^^^This. I was amazed by the weird things that start playing up when a battery is on its last legs. One new battery later, and everything was fine.

[BMWBen]

ghibbett said:

waxaholic said:

A fresh battery may solve your problems,i would look into that first.

^^^This. I was amazed by the weird things that start playing up when a battery is on its last legs. One new battery later, and everything was fine.

The battery tested fine, but it does look like the original and so will be 6 years old this year...

Not convinced that a dud battery would cause my nav unit to keep crashing and freezing though, once the engine is running there should be plenty power!

[ghibbett]

Before I changed my (original) battery, I would occasionally get weird intermittent glitches such as the Stereo locking up, DSC warning light flickering or even once had all the dash lights go out whilst driving along. Since changing the battery 4 months ago it's been 100% fine.

[bluetone]

Check earthing straps for corrosion?

[Remagel2507]

Agree with the previous comments about getting the battery changed, someone I know didn't neglected to change the battery on their E92 and ended up with ELV problem , changing the battery solved this.

Also on some BMW's I think you may have to re set or re - intialise the battery sensor otherwise it will remain dead even with the new battery.

[ghibbett]

Did you sort it?

[BMWBen]

ghibbett said:

Did you sort it?

Pulled the fuses for the ccc unit - and battery drain has stopped.

So trying to source a new one from somewhere (hopefully 600 quid rather than the grand that BMW want). Will then have to sort fitting and programming,

Fingers crossed it will come in at 1k rather than 2k.

[BMWBen]

• Update*

Booked into Munich Legends tomorrow. £575+vat for the part + 1hrs labour.

Fingers crossed that will be that.