Re: E39 Electrical Problems

["J. Cash" <j.cash@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In response to:

 

Anyway, my father tried to start the vehicle and, of course, the battery
was dead.  He tried to jump the car, no luck.  So, he replaced the brand
new Sears Die Hard battery that I had put in before I left the States,
with a new Sears Die Hard.

 

HURRAY, the car started right up.  But now there are items that do not
function.  Currently, the radio, turn signal lights, high beam indicator
light, running light indicator light, the car door chime and more things
do not function.

 

I have checked the relevant fuses and they are good.  Any clue what was
blown (and hopefully not torched) and how to go about fixing the
problem?

 

Please advise.  I can only take so much of talking to myself while I
drive....

 

Chip

 

Depending on how the "jump start" was done there may have been damage to
some of the modules due to a power surge - but since the faults you
report are in functions that are in various modules I doubt they all
would have been damaged. It sounds more like there is a glitch on the K
buss which transmits digital messages between modules.

 

Try the following to reboot everything.

 

- -        Disconnect the battery cables.

- -        Short the ends of the cables together (away from the battery)

- -        While the cables are shorted turn on the ignition, light
switch, radio, etc. (of course nothing will happen but you are ensuring
that all power will be drained from any of these modules so they will
return to initial state).  Leave everything like this for about 5
minutes.

- -        Turn everything off, reconnect the battery cables and try
again.

 

If you still have the problems then you have some faults in the modules
that require one of the following done by BMW maintenance:

- -        reload software to specific module

- -        Replace modules.

 

 

 

Regarding the battery - it should not have gone flat in that time.  I
have left my 540 locked with the alarm set for over 4 weeks and had it
start right up.

 

When you put in that initial replacement battery are you sure you put a
"lead acid" battery in the car and not a "maintenance free" battery
which requires a higher charge rate than BMW cars provide. It does not
have to be a BMW battery, but it does have to be a standard "lead acid"
type battery. Yes I know BMW advertise their battery as being
maintenance free, but that is more an attempt to provide customer ease
of maintenance. All they do is put plastic labels over the cell caps
thus making it look like a maintenance free unit - since the battery
will probably last almost as long without checking water levels it is
not a major problem, but by calling it maintenance free it causes some
people to replace it with the wrong type in the future.

 

I looked up the Die Hard on the Sears site and it does not specify -
although the international version does look like it has access caps so
should be correct.

If so you might have another problem with the car that is causing it to
drain the battery. There are 2 known issues regarding proper "coding" of
the instrument cluster, or the "general module"  otherwise they can
cause the battery to be drained. There was also an issue with the audio
amp that might cause this.

 

You may want to have things checked if you continue to have battery low
voltage conditions.

 

Cheers

Jim Cash

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