[E60] Engine Temperature Dials + Battery Issue (Help)
 

Hey guys well I have gotten myself into a pickle here. About two days ago, my cd changer started to cycle through the Cd's every time I open the car door (initial entry.) The Fan would also not blow past its' halfway point.

After research it ended up being because of a low battery charge. Last night my car gave me a Low Battery Charge Warning. My main issue/problem that scares me is that the little white dashes on the tachometer that indicate the engine temperature have stopped moving. They do work as I tested them through the Cluster Test in OBC. Hidden OBC menu shows when the car is cold the Rev limit is 6350 but the dashes (only 3 of them showing car is fully warm) are at like ~7000.

Every time i start the car, even if the engine is cold I have 3 white dashes/ticks indicating the engine is fully warmed up, even when it is not. What could be the issue?

Things i have tried:
1) recode the Kombi/Mask/Cas ecu's to their original default settings
2) Bought a charger and started charging the battery.
3) Pulled and reinstalled the Instrument Cluster Fuse

None of these things seemed to help, as the lines still are always at 3 dashes. Before it used to be like 8-9 of them during a cold start and they would gradually decrease.

PS: One thing to note, After I had bought the charger, and after a few hours of charging, I get into the car to try and read some errors with INPA and a "Low Baterry Charge Warning" comes up? so the battery was not charged? Im beginning to worry that this might be an alternator issue or IBS or possibly a bad battery? I replaced the battery a few months ago.

I am so worried, please help me guys, any input at ALL would be appreciated.

Car is currently charging with the car charger, I do not know what to do :bye:

(Car is a 2005 525i (M54)
No Navi (M-ask 2)

How old is the battery?

What is the voltage at the battery?

What does the hidden obd menu tell you the voltage is?

I would unplug the battery and let it charge... let the car think about this for a while :-) PEnding the battery is newish and good still.

Battery is a few months old (registered through Inpa)

Voltage through OBC while car is off = 11.8-12.4 Car ON: 13.8-14.1

I have been charging the battery for about 4 hours and then I went into the car opened the door for 3 minutes and the "Low battery warning" came on. Seems like the battery did not charge?

Cd changer keeps cycling when I enter the car.
and my main concern in the "White dashes around the tacho which indiciate an approximate engine temp. They are stuck at the 3 dash mark (showing car is fully warm even during a cold start). I do not know what to do. I also receieved an "SoS Call failure error" What the heck is going on.

It may be a bad IBS cable, a problem that plagued early E60's. If it's bad it could keep your car from going to sleep, meaning your battery will be constantly draining. If you're using a trickle charger to charge the battery it may only be keeping up with the drain. You could try disconnecting it to see if your problems go away. I believe it's fine to drive with the cable disconnected. Did you replace the battery with an identically spec'd replacement? If not, you need to do more than simply register the battery, you'll need to code your car with the new specs. Speaking of which, you mentioned that you recoded several modules back to their default settings which implies that you may have coded them earlier to enable certain hidden features. Any chance you screwed something up in the process?

I replaced the battery with this one.

Buy AutoCraft Gold Battery, Group Size 95R, 950 CCA 95R/H9 at Advance Auto Parts

I got a replacement battery at Advanced Auto Parts today and when I put it in, the Cd Changer stopped cycling, and the rev counter dashes were back to normal. I guess it was a bad battery cell. Now my only concern is that hopefully nothing is wrong with the car and that the car does not discharge it. I will keep you updated. Thank you!

Anything I should look out for with this new battery or any signs of something drawing too much energy?

I registered the battery with DIS as well.

Make sure you have the vent tube hooked up to the battery or the H gas will build up in the trunk.

Yep tube is hooked up.

Hey guys so after the car has had the new battery in it for the day, I check the voltage and it dropped from 12.5 to 11.8 overnight. Something is eating the battery alive. Looks like the car is going to sleep based by the orange LED being OFF by the shifter, but something else is keeping it alive/eating the battery. The CD changer started cycling again. Where should I start looking, what should I do ? Please help.

Put an amp meter on the battery, how much is it draining with everything off?

Start pulling fuses until the load drops.

Alternatively, pull the fuses for the radio, hvac, lights, and other non-essential to driving stuff and take a voltage reading over the same time period - eventually, by process of elimination, you can figure out what is causing the sleepy-electricity-load...

That is what I am going to do next. Does the car have to be in sleep mode when I do the Amp test or just ignition off and all accessories off? What should be a good load? .50 milli amps?

That battery has 110 amp hours. So it will drain @ 10 amps for 11 hours.. or 5 for 22, etc..
You dropped 0.7 volts overnight, lets call it 12 hours. This is roughly 6% of the battery's capacity.
So over 12 hours you lost 6%, or 6.6 amps. This means you were losing 0.55 amps per hour.

So, long answer to this:
start with a high setting in your meter and go down. I bet you'll have to get it down around 50 milli to see what is causing it. Then start pulling fuses until you see the load drop off...

See here for some background:
How do i know it is in sleep mode? E60 - Bimmerfest - BMW Forums

Fill in some gaps here if you want:
How to Find and Stop Car Battery Drains – DIY Car Battery Drain - Popular Mechanics

Oh - and yes, I would wait until it is in sleep mode when the light goes off.

But.... will it goto sleep with the hood open?

Thanks, .55 amps is not that bad i think. I will carry out the draw test once I get home. I will keep the trunk and door open in order to get access to the glove box fuses and trunk fuses, and keep the hood for last since you question whether it will go to sleep or not.

I also have a picture of DIS showing me errors when the car had the battery before this new replacement (when it was dying/died). Maybe this can help in pinpointing anything.

http://postimg.org/image/i80pa0hh1/

This is stressful for me and I am no where near experienced to diagnose this type of issue, sorry for bugging and thanks for the support!

http://s18.postimg.org/oyh6jg4mx/20130527_160441.jpg
image ru

Dunno - just changing the battery could throw a few faults I think.

Did you clear them all? Anything now?

I will check once I get home if it is not too late, I do not want to connect the car to the battery for too long because it seems to keep killing it. Will let you know when i can, Thanks!

You can open the truck and take a screw driver and release the switch to make the car think it is closed. Can you do the same with the hood?

Hey guys, so a little update.

The car is still eating the new battery. I checked with a multimeter and the amp draw was spiking and not stable . anywhre from 2-5 Amps which is terrible. I heard a relay clicking in the glovebox and when it clicked the amp's increased. I also unplugged the IBS cable, no change.

DIS also does not throw any obvious errors just under/overvoltage and shorts to battery when I disconnect/reconnect it.

I think I might have found my problem though. When the engine is off and car is in sleep mode (orange led near shifter is off) There is a buzzing noise under the hood. After close inspection, It is coming from the ICV (Idle Air Control Valve) When I unplug it, the buzzing stops, it also stops after I remove the corresponding fuse, and the amps drop to .08-1.4 after that. The DISA Valve also has a ticking noise at random times, but after removal of it, The flap is sturdy and works fine.

My questions now is, What are symptoms of a bad ICV? Why won't it stop buzzing, could it be electrical and where would I start looking, replacing relays or what?

Also, when I say the car goes to sleep, the orange led next to shifter goes off, but the Green led on the door panel for Window lock stays on and never seems to shut off. (Not sure if that's how it's supposed to be or something else is causing this)

Someone please help me on this. I am not sure whether the ICV needs replacement or its an electrical issue/relay that's preventing it from shutting down/buzzing.

Thank you so much.

This is the ICV that is buzzing.
http://thumbs1.ebaystatic.com/d/l225...bY9sBbdnvA.jpg

I dont think the ICV is supposed to be alive when the engine isnt running...

Where are you located? Maybe swap it out with someone elses and see?

After a while when my 04 goes to sleep, I hear a motor noise from under the hood.. Don't know what it is, but if I push the unlock button I hear it again and again... Never investigated.. Maybe it is ICV closing or doing something? I cant imagine why.

Check out this thread, btw;
https://5series.net/forums/e60-discu...-video-125992/

Hey Mike, yeah I've seen that thread, the guy ultimately had a faulty IBS cable, I unplugged mine as well, there was no change and the car noticed that the cable was unplugged, so I am pretty sure it works fine.

When I remove the fuse for DME the ICV stops and the amp draw drops as well, so it is what's causing the battery drain I'm sure. The window (Green led) also does not shut off thus not letting the car go into sleep fully even though the shifter light does go off. I am located in CT and my problem is that I do not know anybody from here or someone that is very good with a BMW that could offer help on the side.

I asked the dealer for some info and one of the tech's told me to check my E-Box (DME ECU) the dme relay could be bad or the dme itself could be malfunctioning due to corrosion or a loose connection because after all, this did start happening after a 2 day rainfall in my state. I am at a loss of ideas from here on.... Will check the DME relay but not sure that will help.

I once parked for 2 days on a slight inclined parking lot, nose pointing downwards.
The first day, it rained all day. The 2nd night, I got a call in my hotel room from a hotel guy that my alarm was going off/chirping every once in a while.

I went down, unlocked the car, and noticed the interior lights came on dim. I started the car and it started VERY sluggish due to battery being nearly dead.

I drove it for 30 minutes, shut it off and it cranked back up fine. Never had the issue since (2 years ago).

I assumed something got wet that shouldn't and it drained the battery.. since then, the car has been outside in the rain a hundred times with no ill effects.

In researching that issue, I do recall the DME relay being a possible issue. That it says on or off or flutters... and drains battery.

You probably need to dig into the service manual and/or trial and error replacing at this point... I am afraid even taking it to a dealer will result in A) new BMW battery B) IBS cable C) ECU/DME D) associated relays.. and $2500 later you still have same issue.

Yeah I will open up the DME box and start pulling relays/fuses to see what controls/shuts off what. When i spoke to the dealer he wanted to inspect the car first and quoted me ~400$ which is crazy for them to tell me what is wrong, and like you said, he suspects a defective DME.... Terrible.

Hopefully this gets fixed, it is literally eating alive my battery. Drawing ~5-7 amps with car off, what the heck.

Edit: Is there a resonable service manual floating around somewhere on the net, or do I need to go out and purchase a Bentley Manual because the user manual I have does not contain any info on things like this. Thanks!

Hey guys, so as i said before my problem seems to be the ICV buzzing that's killing the battery. My conclusion is this.

I checked out the DME box and found the DME relay. I unplug the relay, the buzzing stops, plug it back in, the relay clicks once, and the buzzing continues.

Now my question is:

Is this a faulty ICV or a faulty relay?

What is a definite way to check/tell? (symptoms)
I opened up the relay, it looked brand new inside. I do not think it is my IBS cable although I have no way of telling if it is bad, unless there is a diagnostic for it to check.

Any thoughts? thank you

(here is my relay)
http://s10.postimg.org/h2tbd8vt5/20130530_210320.jpg

Is there another relay the same p/n in there that you can swap with?

Unfortunately no, it is the only blue relay I have with those type prongs. I do have 3 green ones not sure what they control. Some click some don't when I reinster them. I need to know if its the ICV or the relay arghhh

The service manual says... If the IBS detects a parasitic draw, it stores a fault... but you are saying there are no faults now?

It does this every 2 hours when the car is asleep - have you let it go overnight again since you cleared the codes? And no codes reappear? That makes me wonder why it isnt detecting the draw and logging a fault.

I think the DME relay either works or doesnt. It is energizing the ICV - I think there is another signal to tell it to be on or off....

There is a chance the ISV is dirty and sticking, and it keeps trying to move but it cannot. I would think it would eventually stop trying, but I'm no expert on them.
How about pulling the ISV, seeing if its dirty, and giving it a good cleaning with throttle body/control valve cleaner?

I have not let it sit overnight because it heavily drains the batt, and I most likely won't be getting another replacement because it is costly. I will try and take out the ICV and see if the car falls asleep without it.

I too think that something else is not letting the car sleep/turn off the ICV. (The DME ecu was also hot to the touch when I disconnected it, so it seems as if the DME is constantly on for the past 2-3 days until I take off the battery clamps)

What kind of faults should I be looking out for from the IBS? in the DME module? There were some faults but nothing that mentioned the IBS.

What programming have you done on the car? You mentioned you reset stuff in your initial post..

Any custom or aftermarket audio/video/wiring/lights?

Did you buy it from NYC after hurricane sandy? Has it ever been underwater?

Sunroof drains clear? Has the inside of the car ever smelled of mold/musty/water?

Nothing major, just coding. Things such as Mp3, aux, windows, DRL, and other settings some of which did not do anything/work so I coded them back to original settings. I recoded the car last night to default and nothing changed in terms of it going to sleep or not. I was also getting SOS call malfunction after messing with he Telefon menu in INPA (Something to do with E-call on/off and transport mode on/off. I then coded the vehicle FA +TELD (TO disable the SOS message)

Last night I removed the +TELD and reset the TCUM module and the SOS/bluetooth works so I will not be messing with that anytime again.

I do have an HID kit for the fogs. It has been giving me problems since day one. I think the ballasts are cheap/not working properly.

The first time I installed the HID kit and turned it on, my Instrument cluster/kombi froze. Dials would not move and dash lights were on such as MIL, airbag, abs things like that. I had to remove the instrument cluster fuse for it to reset, this has happened 2-3 times until I purchased the error cancelers. I put the cancelers in, it seems to not lock up the cluster but the lights do flicker when car is stationary, for example at the traffic light, or in front of the garage door.

I will refrain from using the fogs because it might have shorted/caused some error, but the error does not reappear or show up when I read for them.

Trunk is super dry, no water there, checked the spare wheel for water (MPM) that was dry. TCUM/AMP is dry. Only time i smelled some sort of water/must was during winter when the floor mats were wet from slush and or water ingress from the shoes. Other that than, no water was in the car. I also have the AUX cable that hangs from the glove compartment, not sure if that can short circuit something, maybe I should get a cap on it or something to close it off when not in use.

PS: Last night after I let the car sit for 1 hour with the battery on, car locked. I come back to check on it, the shifter orange led is OFF, car was sleeping I assume, BUT when I put my ear to the kidney grille, I hear the constant buzz/humm of the ICV valve and an occasional DISA click. So my assumption is that the car IS falling asleep, but the ICV will not turn off and it is draining battery overnight. Relay seems fine I think, I have no way of testing it.

The green LED on the window does not go off, I do not know if it should or not so I manually turned it off via the button.

Is there something in INPA i could have reset/adapted/clicked within the DME that is causing it to act up now and mess with components such as the DISA/ICV?

(Sorry for the wall of text =/)

So I took out the ICV cleaned it out, it had a light coat of dust on it. Cleaned the throttle body, cleaned the DISA. Put it all back in, car seems to run the same, and the ICV still does not shut off. I think this could be a bad DME or bad IBS cable? Hope it is not a DME. Any other suggestions?

*Can you buy a used DME and program it to a car yourself or do you need the dealer?

I have an update guys. So I left the battery overnight with the DME disconnected (Fuse) and the next morning I get a new error message (Car on a lift image) High Battery Drain/Increased Battery Discharge.
I was actually relieved because maybe this would show me what is causing the drain. I immediately connect the car to DIS to check the errors and this is what it gives me, i am not fully understanding this, could you guys help out?

http://s12.postimg.org/8yupqid1p/20130602_151842.jpg

http://s14.postimg.org/4v1u0ozhd/20130602_151851.jpg

http://s13.postimg.org/g0k8pmdsn/20130602_152034.jpg

http://s14.postimg.org/l3mnnwxpd/20130602_152201.jpg

http://s7.postimg.org/wbzlu8hxn/20130602_152312.jpg

http://s21.postimg.org/608p9aevr/20130602_152320.jpg

http://s17.postimg.org/uqtp9ttjj/20130602_152409.jpg

Whew. I dunno....
You might try unplugging your aftermarket lights - all of them.. and see what happens. Weird things can happen with anything electrical in these cars...

I don't think it is the DME if it was unpowered all night.

Did you have the ISV disconnected overnight too? Or did it shut off when you pulled the fuse for the DME?

Do you have anything wired to the 30 term?

At this point, if I was you, I would replace the ISV as a long shot...then probably end up at the dealer with my tail between my legs.

Unplugged the HID kit and put my stock halogens on, nothing else connected to the 30 term that is aftermarket. Still the same issue. I made an appointment with the dealer, I cannot take it anymore as I have tried everything to diagnose it within my capability. Will see the dealer tomorrow and hope I won't get drained like my battery. Thanks for the help guys!

Hey guys so after 2 days of leaving my car at the dealer, they said it is possible that the SGM/SIM Airbag Gateway Module is bad. They want to replace it, and quoted me $1,900.. that is a lot of money for me so I am now looking to fix this on my own. I do not believe them because the SGM ecu does not seem to give me any kind of error. no Airbag light, no errors in DIS.

My problem is K-CAN communication. Seems there is a short, loose connection, or a bad ecu somewhere along this K-CAN. I do not have any experience working/understanding how this K-CAN works. Is there a way for me to check this K-CAN connection using a multimeter, what can I do?

I also have a screen of the errors related to K-CAN:

http://s4.postimg.org/vjmrpqf19/20130605_224944.jpg