sixcard

My opinion ? we have many members jumping into this issue of battery drain by suggesting a new battery and/or alternator solution.

Perhaps it may require a new battery or alternator fix, but lots of money might be saved by considering what BMW calls the ?unfavorable driving profile.?

Here are a couple quotes from one of my repair invoices: ?Customer states at initial startup in morning intermittently clock, date and time, mileage, mpg, speed all go to zero and active steering is disabled.?

Then below, ?Cause: Kombi fault at A559 terminal 30G-F switched off due to UNFAVORABLE DRIVING PROFILE.? My emphasis.

What this means, I was told, is that my E60 must be driven often enough, fast enough and/or long enough to charge the battery enough to replenish the drain that occurs while the car is idle.

I am convinced this is the official BMW position on this issue. And their recommended solution is to use some kind of float/trickle charger to keep the battery charged if you continue to encounter this scenario.

Phantom Mark

Its a strange one indeed, I was getting quick regular resets on mine, not had one for nearly 3 weeks now, touch wood, makes it super hard to justify a new battery atm !

westcoast550

My wife's 650 has this same problem , or I should say , she has the same problem. As realtor in a small geography she does very little long driving , I bought a trickle charger and use it on her car every few weeks and the problem has been solved................

inthe604

Yep,

I had this problem about a month into owning my 535i, (but in my situation, dynamic stability control was failing). I was told the same thing by BMW but since I'm driving the car more often now...I haven't had the problem since.

romansg

I have experienced this problem with my 07 550i; however, my daily 40 mile commute to work should be sufficient to maintain a charge. Moreover, following a recent 6 hr highway drive into the rockies, I found the battery drain and clock reset issue present the following morning. If a six hour drive isn't adequate to fully charge the battery, a trickle charger is a weak solution. My understanding of the high battery drain issue is that either an electronic component (CAS, MPM or TCU) is preventing "sleep mode" from occuring or the intellegent battery sensor has failed. If I'm going to drive a car that needs to be plugged in every night it had better be electric or -50 out.

unknown

you need a new battery... its starting to go.

romansg

Back in the shop again, checked battery and the deal says it's strong but discovered a failed CAS unit (haven't asked if it's a door handle set or the trunk/boot lockmechanism). The part is ordered from Germany, we'll see if that resolves the issue.

mikeg3tsguap

keep us updated

jes0331

I had the same occurence. After driving INFREQUENTLY for several weeks, followed by driving NONE for several weeks, I had clock and preferences resetting every time I started the car. Bottom line... the battery was not weak enough to prevent starting, but the starter drain was sufficient to cause electricals to reset. I purchased and installed a Battery Tender Plus and usually hook it up overnight once or twice a month - just to make sure the battery is kept at or near full charge. Since I started doing this ALL electrical wierdness has disappeared.

I fear that many newer model BMW battery failures are due to allowing the battery to slowly drain and remain at a marginal level. In a weakened state like that, they will fail quicker and more abruptly. ANd weakened/damaged batteries will often not return to full charge no matter how long you drive. Automotive batteries, unlike marine deep-cycle batteries cannot tolerate being repeatedly deep-drained and recharged. I believe BMW has a car that has such a high electrical system drain that only frequent and sustained driving will return/maintain the battery at full charge. Perhaps BMW should consider equipping them with marine type batteries that are more tolerant of this usage pattern.

I certainly do not like having to plug a $60K car into a battery tender regularly, but if thats what it takes to keep the battery in good shape and eliminate the odd electrical behavior, I'll do it.

lee1224

I used to have this problem all the time, I was told that I did not drive the car hard enough and long enough. My commute from work to home is about 1 mile. I had this problem for over a year. About 3 month ago, the dealer updated the software for jerk tranny. After the software update I have not had any battery drains. I am sure that the software update must have corrected something. It was a pain in the ass that i had to plug in a triggle charger every other day.