Increased Battery Discharge - Strange Fix!

[SamelCamel]

Well, I started getting the "Increased Battery Discharge" message about a week ago. I replaced the battery about 6-8 months ago with a new 95 Amp AGM battery from Advance Auto. Coded it for 91 Amps because I believe that was the closest setting to my 95 Amp AGM battery without going over. I couldn't seem to figure out why the battery was getting low. I put it on the charger for 3 days in a row, but the battery didn't seem to take a charge. I noticed at night that the start/stop button seems to stay illuminated for a LONG time. I'm not sure I ever saw it shut off. I believe the car was not going into sleep mode properly.

After looking through the forums and on google, I decided to pull the fuses for the radio to see if it would help. After leaving the fuses (about 4 or 5 of them) removed overnight, I checked and the battery still didn't charge up. I replaced the fuses and started the car. After starting the car I was getting a TPMS error light and the knob and buttons for the iDrive weren't functioning. I thought that maybe the car had shorted something out. I researched it online and found out that both the TPMS AND the iDrive controller both use a 5A fuse at position #27. I checked my fuse box and I was missing the fuse. I'm not sure if it fell out or if I accidentally plugged it in elsewhere. I checked and could not find the fuse, so I ran to OReilly's and picked up another fuse. I replaced the fuse and the TPMS error went away and the iDrive controller started working again. I unplugged the negative terminal on the battery and plugged it back in to make sure I didn't cause any issues removing the fuses.

After driving the car all day, I charged it again overnight. Everything works properly now. The car goes to sleep and the battery is now at a full charge.

My only guess is that maybe one of the fuses was loose? If you've ever removed fuses before they're usually pretty tight. The BMW fuses are loose enough to easily remove them by just pulling them out with your fingers.

If anyone is having strange electrical issues, it would not hurt to disconnect your battery ground and reseat all of your fuses. It might cure some of the electrical issues. Strange, but seemed to fix my battery charging problems.

By the way, no fuses were blown either, I checked them.


-Sam

[Matticus91]

A 30+ min disconnect will clear out a lot of bugs!

[SamelCamel]

My battery disconnects were only for under 1 minute, but who knows it might have been the fix as well. I've just never seen fuses that plug and unplug this easily before.

-Sam

[elitesales305]

1er gremlin strikes again... thankfully u pissed all over him!! hopefully he wont reproduce!