Since I bought my car I have experienced intermittent 'high battery drain' warnings from idrive.

I just had the car in my local dealer for this and an ac fault.

They have no idea about the "high battery drain". I showed them some of the information posted on this forum about this as a known fault and they service manager said the following:

1. The software in the UK is completely different to the USA so the fixes and references for the various CIPS do not correlate.

2. According to the BMW NA data on the forum, this fault was only present on the N52 engines and was cured by CIP 19.01.

3. I have CIP 20+, which was updated when my aux input was installed (bit suspicious about this cause if the software is completely different why does the reference for the latest version look the same as in the US / rest of the world).

4. BMW UK have never listed a software problem for 'high battery drain' for my model, which he said has completely different software to the 520d etc...

He has logged a puma case with BMW UK and his only other suggestion was to leave the car with them overnight to see if anything is waking up (apparently the car is entering sleepmode correctly or at least it did when they tested it today).

It would be REALLY helpful if anyone in the UK could advise me if they have experienced this problem, on what model and if they have had it resolved.

Thanks guys

 

I doubt they will write 2 completely different sets of software updates for different countries. Sure, there are country-specific fixes and details, but the software should be mostly the same.

 

My car E61 530d conked out yesterday too , had to be taken to the dealer with an escort from the bmw customer service touring. see my thread http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=24985

 

Thanks - but your problems seem unrelated.

Sounds to me like your idrive control module has given up - the service rep I spoke to today said he had needed to replace several.

In terms of the battery - they shouldn't eat them unless there is a problem. In fact mine seems fine which is why I suspect my problem is just software related.

 

My battery on the 535d gave up yesterday. I'd done a 100 miles journey on the Saturday morning then left the car until 5pm Sunday --- totally flat. I had CIP 20.0 (?) installed 3 weeks ago. No previous battery issues since the car was new in May 05.

 

I have a 2004 530i and a week after having my AUX input installed and updating to CIP 20.02 I started getting the High Battery Drain warnings too. I think the country specific software is BS too.

Although... BMW did design a car where all the electrical components are linked together, which is quite possibly the single "MOST" retarded thing I've ever heard, so maybe they do have difference software for different countries, who knows.

 

I had high battery drain on mine to. But after they updated to cip 20xx and change battery it?s gone now.

 

Interesting - they changed the battery as well

Perhaps it was actually a battery fault then - but every battery I have had that failed dies pretty quickly - mines been bonging and starting fine for months.

I'll have to ring the dealer later and see how my puma case is doing.

They reckon the next step is to let my car sleep overnight at the dealers whilst connected to the diagnostics, so that they can see if it is waking up in the night.

You couldn't make this stuff up !

I was pretty amazed when one of my e46 diesels kept starting in 'safe mode', but the idea of my e60 having bad dreams is a bit much.

 

The dealer just called me back , they are going to upgrade the software see how it goes. They recon something in mine is waking up during the night ??

 

I hope it works for you.

Did you have the 'high battery drain' warning when the car conked ?

Interesting that they are going to upgrade your software. When they are telling me there is no battery related software problems on the 530d in the UK.

Perhaps I need to wait until my car dies like yours which knowing my luck will happen on the way to centerparcs next week