E61 530d Electric Issues
 

Hello guys, newbie here.

I have a 2005 E61 530d Automatic and some strange issues recently made me lose it, I had the car for 7 years now and besides a turbo rebuild I had no problems with it. So maybe you can give me a few pointers:

1. Sudden battery discharge, overnight, new battery, I am on my 3rd 100Ah Varta now. Only happens in winter, no problems in the summer.
2. When it finally starts, I get a lot of error messages and I completely lose powersteering (servotronic failure, transission failure, abs/dsc failure, batteru high discharge rate) If I stop and start again, they all go away, everything turns back to normal.

Tester showed "high voltage/overcharge" at some point, it seems to be random, nothing else. Now I am waiting for another new battery, which is really crazy.

3. Autolevelling is not working, sensors are ok and in place, though the headlights are retrofits with dynamic xenon (insurance error after a fender bender) and the car was not originally equipped with Dynamic Xenon, just regular Xenon Lights. How can I get the autolevelling to work again? I don't care for the dynamic feature, just the autolevelling.

4. Remote function of the key doesn't work anymore, I can't open/close the car via remote, I am guessing the diversity antenna died from water leaks? are there any fuses related to this?

A few pics with my car :)

Have you checked the alternator (voltage regulator to be exact) since you said you had a high voltage error.

it was fine when they checked it, I guess it could be an intermittent fault so I might just order that relay anyway.

I don't understand why this always happens in the winter, if the regulator were to be faulty, shouldn't it cause this all year around?

Yes it would get to that point but at this point it can't be a battery issue. More strain on the battery during the cold months requiring the alternator to work more which will give you the intermittent fault. I would test the alternator and replace the regulator and see what you get.

I also read something a couple years back about something else that can cause the issue in your ecu box. I'd have to look it up to see if your symptoms match.

Thank you, if you can do that it would be great! never heard of that ecu issue you're mentioning.

this morning the car started after a quite cold night, but after 10-15 minutes of running (I left it in the parking lot with engine running), I turned the car off but when I wanted to start it up again, after one minute or so, no luck, battery dead, I had to jump start it. Nobody seems to get to the bottom of this.

alternator works perfectly (14.8 if I recall correctly), they just changed my battery a second time, under warranty, if the alternator is not working properly you loose the warranty in my country...

So this morning the car started (roughly and with white smoke), after a few minutes, when I turned on the lights (i don't know if it's related), the following errors popped up, CCC turned off, servotronic failure, lost steering, dsc, transmission fault etc.(video 1) Turned off the car and tried to turn on again but the car was completely dead, didn't start whatsoever (video 2).

In the meantime, I have disconnected the IBS sensor from the trunk, I've read it can cause issues like battery drain etc.

Have you tried disconnecting the IBS from the negative terminal to see if it is not the IBS? did you register the new battery once you put it in. Another thing you can check is your spare tire area to see if you see water spots. If the module gets wet then you will get the issues you are having. Do you have comfort access option in your car. One of the handle carriers could be bad if you do causing the car to wake during the night. I am still looking for the post I saw a few years back.

so I think I'm closing in to the issue. It's not the IBS, nor the Alternator etc.

I got a new battery, performed a parasitic draw test, car closed, measured for one hour, after every module should have gone to sleep.

the draw was huge, 5-6-7 Amps AND every 2 minutes or so, there was a spike up to 10Amps accompanied by some sort of sound, a deep click, like a relay trying to close something in the doors area, so I am guessing a central locking fault, car trying to close a door already closed.

Ok, so I removed fuses 11 and 17 from the glove box, Central Locking System and joy oh joy, the draw is now down to only 0.06Amps, which is perfectly normal.

So it is a central locking issue, but I really have no idea where to go from here... basically with the fuses on, it would discharge the battery over night, fuses off, everything is good.

now, what could it be? also the remote control on the key does not work, I have to open/close the car directly from the handle, so it might be related.

I don't know if I have comfort access option, the VIN is CR14142.

Thanks again for your trouble.

Ok. I'm forgetting your car is an E61. Have you looked at the loom in your tailgate. Wires can be broken causing the high drain which is a common problem with your car. You stated your remote does not work. If you google E61 tailgate wire repair you will see info on it. Hope this helps

After some research I think you might be right, actually I am 99% sure of this.

Thing is, the latch for the glass part of the tailgate also doesn't work, and I hear it's a pain to open it manually. And it needs to be opened to access the loom and all that, so it's gonna be a pain and I really am clumsy enough to know not to mess around there.

I am trying to find a garage that knows what to do, preferably one that has done it before.