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Thread: E61 Electrical Problems

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    ME, CT
    Posts
    206
    My Cars
    03 530i 5MT, 535xiT 6MT

    E61 Electrical Problems

    Hi All,

    I recently acquired a 2008 535xi wagon with a 6-speed and the sport package (yes–very excited!). The car is in quite nice shape, other than some electrical problems I've noticed since I brought it home two days ago. Luckily I got a great deal, so I'm not too upset by the undiscovered problems. I've done quite a bit of researching on the forums, but am a bit lost as electrics are far from my strong suit. I appreciate any suggestions for diagnosis.


    I occasionally get a "high battery discharge" warning when starting the car, and there are some clear electrical problems, as outlined below:

    - It sounds like one of the disk drives (either the CD or DVD for the nav) keeps spinning when the car is shut off, unless it's locked.
    - The car goes to sleep very quickly: we have two other N52 E61s as comparison, and the new one will sleep right away (and this is obvious, because the electric truck mechanism stops working, whereas the trunks on the other two will continue to work). I have to open the driver door to wake the car before the electric trunk mechanism will work. I also can't turn on the radio when the car is off, unlike in the other two E61s.
    - When I start the car, the odometer first appears in kilometers (as well as the mileage range, etc), before switching to miles after ten seconds or so. I have a CarFax history report showing that the car has always been in the U.S. (and the mileage doesn't have a discrepancy, and the car is very clean for its 163k miles).
    - The USB input doesn't work, and the AUX is finicky (when I turn the volume up, it sometimes gets so quiet it's hard to tell it's playing).
    - The headlights stay on whenever the car is running, and the switch does nothing. The foglight also don't work. It's not the switch, as I plugged it into my other wagon and it worked fine.

    Sorry about the disjointedness of this post–I understand this cannot be diagnosed simply by describing the symptoms. I tested the battery, and it hovers between 13.8-14.2V when the car is idling and sits at 12.45V when the car is off and asleep, which seems okay to me. If the voltage was low, I'd assume some of the issues were due to that, but it doesn't seem to be the case. It seems like the IBS may be shutting down systems that could be drawing on battery power, but I'm not sure how to tell which ones are doing that (although my first guess might be the nav unit, due to the noise after the car is shut off). Would pulling fuses be a good way to diagnose? I'm afraid it could have multiple issues (ie. a bad nav unit, a bad LCM maybe, etc?), and I might get lost between them. Could this be a result of an un-coded battery? I'd assume the one in there was coded, but I cannot be sure.

    I'd love to hear some suggestions for diagnosis–not asking for a solution, as I realize it's impossible to diagnose over the internet. I do have access to a professional scan tool that can read all the module codes, if need be. Thanks in advance!

    It's also got an AC leak, and the N54 sometimes makes a weird howling noise at high RPM (probably not turbos, as they were done 25k ago with receipts), but I'd like to deal with the electrics first. Otherwise, the car is in very good condition and drives really well.

    Just a picture for entertainment:
    E61s.jpg
    Check out my car blog here: exhaustfumes.blog
    Gone: 1995 525i5, 1995 740iA, 2006 S60R 6MT, 2000 540iT, 1999 ML320, 2007 335i6

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Burlington, Ontario
    Posts
    1,122
    My Cars
    1991 750iL+ 2008 535xit6
    Lovely! The electric issues sound a bit like a bad ground (the engine strap often goes bad) or a wiring problem elsewhere--did you check the trunk underfloor for water damage? A load test on the battery (and recoding) may be wise as well, along with a draw check on every fuse--you may have a parasitic drain.
    The CCC (idrive) in these often starts acting up when it's failing. Mine will spin randomly too, and then just keep rebooting. It tends to happen less often with the battery at full charge.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    ME, CT
    Posts
    206
    My Cars
    03 530i 5MT, 535xiT 6MT
    Thanks for the info!

    I'll take a look at the ground strap–I totally forgot to look at that, so thanks for the suggestion.

    While the spare tire well doesn't have signs of water damage, the TCU does look corroded and is covered in a white powdery substance (so maybe it somehow got wet while the other modules didn't?)... I'm thinking it could be the cause of some of my audio problems, but the nav does work, as well as bluetooth. I've definitely got a battery drain somewhere, though, as I swapped batteries with a known good battery from my E39 (not coded to the E61, but just for testing) and it also loses voltage overnight. My headlight/hazard switches, etc, also stay illuminated all night long, so clearly it's not sleeping properly.

    Got some more digging to do, but I'll keep pulling fuses!

    This is what my TCU looks like:

    Attachment 691637
    Check out my car blog here: exhaustfumes.blog
    Gone: 1995 525i5, 1995 740iA, 2006 S60R 6MT, 2000 540iT, 1999 ML320, 2007 335i6

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Napa, Ca
    Posts
    1,796
    My Cars
    1987 M6
    The rear hatch wiring is known to break and cause all sorts of electrical gremlins. Check the harnesses on both sides.

    Jose
    1987 M6
    Livin the dream!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    7
    My Cars
    Subaru
    Yes if the hatch harness has not been repaired, it needs to. On my 2006 I had at least half the 50-60 wires broken in half!!
    Just repaired one by one. Long but real easy to do.


    Envoyé de mon iPhone en utilisant Tapatalk

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