rusteee

Was it the panel itself or the the fan running on? I've had the big fuse pulled out to the fan, but have not left it with the panel disconnected yet.

So, many fuses pulled and it is still draining, went from 12.8V to 11.5v in a day and a half. I've eliminated the phone, radio system (all of it), after market amp, heater fan, any lights.. I'm really not too sure what else to check. Anyone have any out of the box ideas?

Do the trouble shooting first as they are not cheap, mind you your car might have a smaller battery. Yea cheers for the suggestions, I'm doing them one by one, currently have the Fuse 56 pulled to see if that makes any difference. If not, will try the heater. Yea that current was a bit high, but as you say, I'm not going to worry about that as thats no where near enough to flatten a battery in a few days and the car usually gets used once a week atleast. Will update with findings.

I tested it a couple of times and it sat from 0.2 to 0.08 amps which really should not drain an 850cca battery in a couple of days. It must have something intermitent as the battery was still fine when I checked it yesterday, but this afternoon was flat.

Its not the hedgehog. I have no issues at all with the aircon/fan/heating, and pulling the fuse makes no difference nor could I get trace current while car is asleep. I'm guessing it could be something to do with the radio/phone as I noticed this time that the in car phone had not turned off. Will try again in the weekend

Back to the drawing board... I F***en hate this car sometimes. New $400 battery sitting at 10.6v today, so obviously still something draining it? Anything I could pick up on the meter was very negligible, maybe something intermittent? running out of ideas

Yea just to update. I could not find anything that was draining the battery. Much to my skepticism, went and forked out for a new 850cca battery on Sunday. The new battery still sits at around 12.1volt, and up to 13.7v when car is running. Will check it again tommorow as it will have been sitting for a couple of days, and see what its down to.

Sweet, cheers for that, will rip into it and see whats up

Does anyone know at what RPM the alternator kicks in, if it does drop off? Battery was fully charged as of yesterday sitting at 12.8v. Started the beast and it went to 14.1v idling cold at about 800 rpm. Took it for about a 20 minute drive, then checked the reading whilst the car was still running at idle, it was sitting at 12.9v, so I turned the lights on and it dropped to 12.5v idling at 450-500 rpm. Might try hook up the bluetooth obd and see if I can get live readings while driving around.

that was one of my suspects, but the heater controls are all working perfectly fine, will check anyway. I think it is definetly a drain issue as the battery was very dead, usually it will still sit a good 10 or 11v even with a dying battery, but cant hold the crank current. If it comes down to it, I will buy another battery and see how it goes but would rather do some testing first. Cheers for the advise

That will be one of the first things I check, it appears to all be off but you never know. Will do the load testing on it this weekend and see whats up

I don't think this is the case, as it would have been noticable unless it died instantly.

Indeed, thats how those little jump start packs work too by boosting the surface voltage, but usually, like when the old battery started to die you would notice the starter hemorrhage when starting or would struggle, always started though. When I put this one in, there was an instant difference in cranking speed, and hadn't changed even when last started Saturday arvo. So something has happened since turning it off, and leaving it sit, as Prior to Saturdays drive it sat for over a week with no issues. I'm pretty confident that the battery is not the problem, but I might borrow my mates battery discharge tester and check it just to be safe.

Yea, I'm aware 6 hours is no where near enough to charge (sparky), but the car sits outside un garaged in a west Auckland suburb, not prepared to leave it overnight with the boot open and extension lead hanging out in there haha, so connected it back up just to be safe. Its been charging all day today and still charging now as only 3 quarters according to the charger. As you say, I would like to give it a good 24 hours. Might have to do the tedious task of waiting each tim e and current check one by one.... I would have thought if the battery was faulty/dropped a cell it would immediately be noticable or the charger would fault as would mess with the charge cycle. It worked perfectly when the car was last used no sign of it dying as car started with ease. Don't actually know when it went flat, just noticed it on the Tuesday.

That's a damn good idea. will have a look into replacing the ignition, is there any tell tale sign that is could potentially be failing? It def goes into sleep mode but something un-obvious must still run if it completely drained the battery in that time. The battery is 2 and half years old so hopefully ruled that out unless its buggered now. Seen you boosting up Wairau the other day in the mighty 318, could have given you a race in my beast of an L300 hahaha

No, don't think it has ever been done looking at the history. Do these cause issues? When I left the battery connected again over night, the next day it was down to 11.2v

Hi guys Got 99 problems and the E39 is about 98 of them haha. Have a battery drain issue on the E39 540, and wondering if there are any common issues that would cause this? Basically, last drove the car Saturday on about a 140km trip then parked up at home, never missed a beat. Came out on Tuesday the following week to get something out of the car and it was completely dead, wouldn't unlock, no lights, and quite possibly has damaged the battery as my meter was measuring 2volt. Put in on charge, it was so low I had to use a dummy load to get the smart charger to work. Charged on a 8amp cycle for 6 hours to see what happened, and the battery voltage rose to 12.4v and started the car no issue. Once started the voltage went to 14.2v so I figure that rules out the alternator unless they can be tempermental? and it was rebuilt just over 2 years ago. No interior or exterior lights were left on, the climate control fan does not run on, the in car phone is off and the boot light is off. Are there any hidden items that may cause this? Any help appreciated

Such a hot car!! That colour cleans up so nice. Will have to try make it to the next meet

AirCon is always nitty gritty, epsecially if the gas had leaked. Sounds like a good job done though, definetly good to have the AC working and trouble free

^^ they certainly are hahaha. Car looks amazing, love it

That is awsome!! Looks like a good buy and well looked after. Cant wait to see it at one of the meets

Mint photos. House market hasn't settled all that much..., sure you can't keep them both? Wish I had the spare coin, always wanted one of these, this is an amazing rare example!! Good luck with the sale mate, worth every cent.

Very much awsome!! Nice work on the car Amber, looks so good

So much awsome!! Well done Amber, topaz blue looks wicked even more so on an M3. Looks like a good find

I've been told Harold from Transmission Solutions in Manuakau is the bees knees, (09)2777 177, 021 212 0561. I've only even spoken to him on the phone, but he was extremely helpful and I wish I'd taken mine to him.