M57D30-T2

so two mornings ago i was woken up by the sound of my alarm,(first time i ever heard it). went out to turn it off and the car didn't respond to the key when i pressed the open button, so i tried to start the car and discovered the battery was completely flat, now this is the 3rd battery that went into the car and this one lasted about a year.

so i swapped the battery for the battery in my other car which is of the same specs, and this morning the exact same thing happened again, alarm and dead battery. so i know its the car not the batteries(4 of them in 6 years).does anyone know whats causing this over night drain? the second time it happened in 2008 i had driven 40 miles and stopped in a shop to come out to a flat battery. but the alternator is fine as its worked for too years since.

under neath the battery this morning i noticed alot of dampness and moisture, from reading a little on the internet it seams the ibs lead does not like moisture, however it first failed in 2008 and then 2009 and now at the end of 2010 so why does it take a year for the ibs lead to mess up the charging of the batteries?

i hear you have to get the charging recycles reset by the dealer, i didn't do that the last time so as of now i seem to need another new battery, and an ibs lead, and a trip to the stealer-ship to get the charging cycles reset, which wont come cheap as im in Ireland, that still rises another question, where the hell did the water come from? my car was laying parked up for about 3-4 weeks until Tuesday because of the snow in Ireland, so i guess that parked period has trigger'd off these problems again.has any had similar problems? have you diagnosed the drain?


just a little pic of my car as this is my first post i think.

M57D30-T2

anyone?

cerosMC

Hi,
I'm having the same kind of troubles.
I know by expereince that batteries dislike the cold far more than any moisture.
As you live in Ireland did you notice, during the past 6 years, that the troubles occur when the weather is cold?

tosh0_11

I'm having battery problems as well.

I bought a trickle charger last month and everything seems OK since

YeeeHaa

I'm in Ireland too and had to hook the battery up twice to charge it as twice it didn't have enough power to start a cold engine: - 9 degrees.

M57D30-T2

traced the problem to dampness in the ibs lead, got it replaced today by my local bmw specialist independent mechanic, only problem is he charged me 240 for what seems like 20 minutes work, he disconnected the negative lead and just bolted on the new one, which is sealed for moisture, does anyone know how much the updated ibs leads cost?, as i have a feeling he charged me alot. It's not like im new to him either, must have left the guts of 3000 euro with him this year on my 5series alone, expensive car to keep on the road