Few days ago in the morning when I started my car it gave me a warning for "excess battery drain:??? Has anyone seen this? What can cause this?
The car started right away but the clock was reset. I wonder what caused this.

I did not have any lights running either..........

 

I'm seeing this problem intermittently as well. I'm not sure yet what causes it but in some cases, I can't use comfort access to unlock the car either. I can unlock it with the button on the fob and after that, CA works fine.

Basically, the car doesn't seem to want to wake up from sleep mode after it's been sitting for a while. I have to reset the clock (date is often okay but once it was off a day or so) which does tend to occur once you get the low battery warning.

Also, not sure if its related but often times in the morning I'll start the car and will get an active steering initializing message. During the initialization, the steering wheel is much harder to turn. After driving a few yards, everything is fine -- the steering goes back to normal and the message is cleared...

 

Have you guys checked your battery? Just to make sure its in good operating condition... hasnt gotten wet, isnt spilling out acid...

 

I have a feeling my battery isn't as strong as it once was but so far I've not had any problems starting. I only have 3000 miles over three months so I'm still thinking that something isn't always going to sleep...

 

No I have not but will soon.

Rudy, I can't comment on the Active steering since I don't have one........

 

Happened to me today in London (UK)

I'd been parked for about 45 minutes listening to the radio filling in time before a meeting. Locked the car and went away. Got back and only the front doors unlocked and 'ping' battery drain light illuminated and I had to set the clock. This happened a couple more times as I drove around town but after driving 4 hours back home tonight it seems OK again.

I think the battery in the E60 isn't man enough to run an accessories for any length of time before the current dips to a level to cause a warning. The car started fine and I have had this before, only when I've been outside playing with the iDrive or something similar without the engine running.

 

Highly unlikely but ..... what about leaving and i pod or i phone plugged in ? I know these cars are extemely vulnerable to battery drain due to the significant electrical requirements that the computers use. I have not had any problems post my day # 2 surprise of finding a dead car in my garage, the dealer attributed it to a long wait from purchase to delivery( went to Maui for 3 + weeks after buying it )
It was put in storage at the dealer and never charged ,so upon return they prepped it and during the orientation with my wife and I it virtually ran out of juice (doors open radio on etc etc ) Drove home ,took a few friends/family for some rides and parked it in the garage..... next day........Nada ! Flat bed back to the dealer.

I was seriously PO'd , after a new battery, 3 hours of testing, monitoring,reprogramming etc and I was back on the road( with a trunk load of free jackets,hats,key fobs wax etc + a tire and wheel insurance plan )

Knock on wood, 5,000 km later its brilliant !

Good Luck

 

I still suspect there's something else going on here that's either leading to battery drain or a simple software glitch. Today, I took a two hour trip, clearly enough time to charge the battery. I parked the car and had to get some stuff out of the trunk a couple of times after the car was parked. In other words, I parked the car, got some stuff out of the trunk, went inside a building, came back out about 20 or 30 minutes later, got some more stuff out of the trunk, went back to the building, came back out to get something else, etc.

Comfort access allowed me to open the trunk the first few times but after that, I had to use the fob to unlock the car since CA didn't work. I never saw a low battery message after getting in the car to move it, etc. but I did have to set the clock and active steering kept initializing each time I started the car.

I'm still trying to figure out the symptoms so I can help the dealer troubleshoot this. Right now, it's likely that I'll just confuse them (since I'm confused) and they'll likely give me the "unable to duplicate problem" response. A week ago, I wondered if there was some sort of drain from the USB hard drive but I completely unplugged it as a test and the situation still occurred...

 

Gee Rudy , back and forth to the trunk getting "more stuff" . I know we are all wondering what this all about ? Tell us you are not a drug dealer !!

Cheers

 

Has anyone checked the battery status, say after 1 hour of sitting off, after normal driving?
A simple miltimeter check using the amp mode will show if there is significant drain on the battery.
I would think that with everthing in sleep mode you would see less than .01 to .001 amp, if that.
If the discharge rate is measureable the info should help the dealer in trouble shooting.
Rudy sounds like he is on the right track by isolating seperate components and looking for a change.
The battery is definitely the weak link in the works, are there any SB out about factory batteries?
Good luck