E60 LCI says "High battery discharge". RESOLVED :)

[aoch88]

My first month of ownership has been fun until last weekend where I get "High battery discharge" when I start the car in the morning or after a few hours. The battery seems alright as a quick multi meter check shows the voltage is 12.xx volts. I hear about a few possible cause from my mechanic/google search:1. Bluetooth module2. IBS cable3. Comfort access (which I don't have in my car so we have to rule this out)I have no other electrical components hooked up, I don't play DVD's or CD's, no GPS in the car, absolutely nothing. The only thing I did was driving the car up Genting and it was rather cold that night (19C) and now i-drive is complaining. Anyone knows how to solve this issue? IBS cable also not cheap, RM1K+ :stupid:

 

[alxy]

Could also be alternator. Best get it looked at by a mech. Happened to me once. Everything seemed fine so left it for a while. Then iDrive started blinking on-off. Eventually whole car stalled. In the end, I ended up chaning battery, IBS AND alternator

 

[aoch88]

In my case the car started fine, iDrive works perfectly, nothing wrong with anything at all. It's just this annoying message every time I start the car now

 

[Herbert]

In my case the car started fine, iDrive works perfectly, nothing wrong with anything at all. It's just this annoying message every time I start the car now

Get a scanner and do a reset on the idrive. Sometimes it is just a computer glish.

 

[aoch88]

Get a scanner and do a reset on the idrive. Sometimes it is just a computer glish.

What happens is this error only comes up in the morning or after long hours leaving the car in sleep mode. Once the car is started and re-started again, the error does not appear. I brought over to MKT and he plugged in the OBD, no errors. He cleared everything for me, adviced me to switch off bluetooth and try again. This morning it happened again. Clock and mileage settings were resetted to zero but everything else is still there. It might be the IBS cable but because it's so expensive and not a 100% solution, I'm reluctant to change. The mechanic don't allow me to test it for even one day. Susah

 

[astroboy]

What does IBS cable do?! Seems like just a negative battery terminal cable.. what can be its complication?!

 

[aidilj]

hope these help

http://tis.spaghetticoder.org/s/view.pl?1/10/08/97

http://www.bmwland.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=121252

 

[astroboy]

Yikes, e90 has it too.. Hope it's a sealed type.. Sensitive electronic inside the cable which is vulnerable to battery acid vapor eh..

 

[aoch88]

hope these help

http://tis.spaghetticoder.org/s/view.pl?1/10/08/97

http://www.bmwland.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=121252

Thanks bro aidilj, it's really helpful and I think it might be the IBS after all because Genting is cold (same like the guy in BMWland forums) whereby the problem happens on cold weathers. It was very misty last weekend so maybe shit happened and IBS kong. I will give it a shot to see if it helps.

Yikes, e90 has it too.. Hope it's a sealed type.. Sensitive electronic inside the cable which is vulnerable to battery acid vapor eh..

BMW cars is supposed to be very intelligent and even battery also got sensor to tell the alternator how to charge it, lol. Unfortunately the bloody cable/sensor is not designed properly and this causes pain in the ass for owners like us

 

[astroboy]

BMW cars is supposed to be very intelligent and even battery also got sensor to tell the alternator how to charge it, lol. Unfortunately the bloody cable/sensor is not designed properly and this causes pain in the ass for owners like us

Look at it this way, we are all lab rats contributing loads of moolah to the future of automobile technology.. If not for the 50/50 weight distribution, there are many better ways to spend my money..:motz:

 

[pratt]

My first month of ownership has been fun until last weekend where I get "High battery discharge" when I start the car in the morning or after a few hours. The battery seems alright as a quick multi meter check shows the voltage is 12.xx volts. I hear about a few possible cause from my mechanic/google search:

1. Bluetooth module
2. IBS cable
3. Comfort access (which I don't have in my car so we have to rule this out)

I have no other electrical components hooked up, I don't play DVD's or CD's, no GPS in the car, absolutely nothing. The only thing I did was driving the car up Genting and it was rather cold that night (19C) and now i-drive is complaining. Anyone knows how to solve this issue? IBS cable also not cheap, RM1K+ :stupid:

By any chance you have netstar captor or any 3rd party alarm system installed in your car? It seems to point to some 3rd party accessories installed that's draining the battery.

 

[aoch88]

Look at it this way, we are all lab rats contributing loads of moolah to the future of automobile technology.. If not for the 50/50 weight distribution, there are many better ways to spend my money..:motz:

I believe so too except it's a bit too expensive sometimes, hahaha. At the same time, I don't intend to quit smoking because many people will go jobless and it will hurt the economy. Lol

 

[aoch88]

By any chance you have netstar captor or any 3rd party alarm system installed in your car? It seems to point to some 3rd party accessories installed that's draining the battery.

Thanks Pratt but everything is original, no 3rd party stuff installed including alarms yet I removed the cd changer tray now and will know if it helps tomorrow morning when I start the car.

 

[desbimmer]

So any updates on this??

 

[aoch88]

So any updates on this??

I tried turning off the bluetooth and it seems to help a bit but eventually I still get this error. I went to M-Roadster and they gave me a stupid solution, change alternator, battery and IBS cable. I will try some other workshops.

 

[astroboy]

I.. stupid solution, change alternator, battery and IBS cable....

Seriously, how difficult is it to check the condition of the alternator and battery? :stupid:

 

[aoch88]

Seriously, how difficult is it to check the condition of the alternator and battery? :stupid:

This guy simply whack only Base on the error message he suggest to replace all 3 items. If that is the case I also know how to become a mechanic, lol. If engine got error, replace whole engine? Hahaha. Anyway I just changed the IBS cable today so will wait tomorrow morning to see if it helps. I hope that's the culprit because if not, it'll be pain in the a$$ to troubleshoot and find out.

 

[aoch88]

Thank you everyone for the inputs and the culprit was indeed the IBS sensor cable. I've got it changed and now it's been 2 days, everything is fine and no more error message On top of that, mechanic also help to test the battery voltage during sleep and when car is running to ensure everything is fine.

 

[Herbert]

What's the price for IBS sensor cable?

 

[aoch88]

What's the price for IBS sensor cable?

It's actually the negative battery cable and costs RM830 (Bavarian Auto). BMW parts are just wonders, cable also RM800+

Btw Herbert, I can't seem to edit the topic? I thought of changing it to "RESOLVED" so other people can refer in future.