Drum
05-13-2008, 10:18 AM
The 1997 540i/6 that I inherited from my Dad has had "sleep apnea" for a few years now. When it was my Dad's, he drove it pretty regularly until Spring time when he would start rolling on two wheels whenever he could. During the good weather, the 540 would sit, sometimes for weeks before it would be driven again and, eventually, my Dad would discover that the battery was dead as a door nail.
We ultimately "fixed" the problem by buying a second battery and carrying it around in the trunk. When the car went dead, my Dad would simply switch the battery and take the dead one for a charge. Somehow, the car seemed more resistant to dying with the battery in the trunk. (How do it know?:cool)
We have a brilliant and very loyal indy BMW mechanic who has been over the car at length and has not been able to figure out where the electrical draw originates.
When this problem first appeared, the battery would die after a week or ten days of no driving. More recently, since I inherited the car, it has been conking out the battery if it goes for 3-4 days without a ride.
Now, I think of the car like one would a dog that needs to be walked on a regular basis. I take it for a long-ish 30 minute drive about once a week and everything stays happy and electrifying. Still, if that fourth day comes and I have not given her a good ride, she is dead.
I figured it might be a good idea to spell all this out for you clever guys here and see if any of you have had similar experiences that you were able to track down. While driving a 540i on a regular basis is not what I would generally consider a burden, I have just recently picked up a used X3 to help save some of the miles on my beloved 5. With the novelty of the "new" car and so on, I am afraid that I am going to have problems again with my 540.
Any thoughts or helpful comments would be appreciated.
1. One symptom that has caught my attention in this is a winding sound that continues, sometimes long after the car has been turned off. My mechanic tells me that this is the vents under the car opening and closing. He has checked this aspect and does not think that it is the cause of the drain, but my Mom tells me that she would occasionally hear the car winding in the garage, hours after my Dad had parked it.
2. Has anyone any experience with the solar panel battery charger offered as an accessory by BMWUSA? It would appear that it sits on your dashboard and converts sunshine to a trickle charger that plugs into the car lighter. As the car has been living outside at my house, it is often quite sun bathed.
Cheers and thanks in advance for any help you all might be able to render.
Drum
We ultimately "fixed" the problem by buying a second battery and carrying it around in the trunk. When the car went dead, my Dad would simply switch the battery and take the dead one for a charge. Somehow, the car seemed more resistant to dying with the battery in the trunk. (How do it know?:cool)
We have a brilliant and very loyal indy BMW mechanic who has been over the car at length and has not been able to figure out where the electrical draw originates.
When this problem first appeared, the battery would die after a week or ten days of no driving. More recently, since I inherited the car, it has been conking out the battery if it goes for 3-4 days without a ride.
Now, I think of the car like one would a dog that needs to be walked on a regular basis. I take it for a long-ish 30 minute drive about once a week and everything stays happy and electrifying. Still, if that fourth day comes and I have not given her a good ride, she is dead.
I figured it might be a good idea to spell all this out for you clever guys here and see if any of you have had similar experiences that you were able to track down. While driving a 540i on a regular basis is not what I would generally consider a burden, I have just recently picked up a used X3 to help save some of the miles on my beloved 5. With the novelty of the "new" car and so on, I am afraid that I am going to have problems again with my 540.
Any thoughts or helpful comments would be appreciated.
1. One symptom that has caught my attention in this is a winding sound that continues, sometimes long after the car has been turned off. My mechanic tells me that this is the vents under the car opening and closing. He has checked this aspect and does not think that it is the cause of the drain, but my Mom tells me that she would occasionally hear the car winding in the garage, hours after my Dad had parked it.
2. Has anyone any experience with the solar panel battery charger offered as an accessory by BMWUSA? It would appear that it sits on your dashboard and converts sunshine to a trickle charger that plugs into the car lighter. As the car has been living outside at my house, it is often quite sun bathed.
Cheers and thanks in advance for any help you all might be able to render.
Drum