Increased Battery Discharge error and a few others.....

[pats_cat]

 

Hi folks, I really hope I can get some advice on here.  I'm new to the site so Hi in advance!!

My 2010 520D tourer is having electrical issues and I'm hoping to find the right direction to go with the diagnosing and resolving of the problem. Brace yourselves, lots of info, hopefully all relevant.
Here we go:
A few months ago it started occasionally giving an error on the screen saying 'increased battery discharge'. I had the battery professionally tested after testing the alternator myself to check it was working. Both alternator and battery came back as good. I was told to keep an eye on it, this I did. Unfortunately the car had other ideas and refused to start one evening forcing us to jump start it (from another diesel in the right way).

Long story short it went into a garage (BMW specialists and one level down from dealer) to have the electrical issue looked at after I had to charge the battery several times in situ. They found plenty of other things wrong with it which they dutifully fixed (nice bill, thanks) including several scope tests which concluded the battery was dud and couldn't find anything else to charge me for but a new battery. The 'dud' battery had been new 4 years before. When we got it back from them there was an awful vibration through the clutch. They said 'we didn't do anything, it was lumpy when we test drove it', small argument later and we went back to the garage that had fitted the clutch and flywheel July 22. It turned out the guide bearing on the cam shaft had jammed, causing the flywheel to jam, causing the clutch to give up. Great. That is now sorted. We're now getting a new set of error messages!!

New messages: increased battery discharge (ok, not all new), start assistance inactive and the reversing sensor to come on when getting within 3ft of another car at the front at lights; wonderfully random set of messages but hopefully connected?

The car has been parked up for almost 2 weeks waiting for the clutch to be done, we then drove it Cardiff to Swindon the day after being fixed, parked for 3hours then got the increased battery discharge message on return to the car. Odd. It makes no sense to me.

The start assistance inactive appeared before the clutch was replaced and keeps appearing every few minutes.

Other bit of info that might be relevant: the reversing lights are piggy backed to each other so they both work but the car thinks one is broken. The rear demister doesn't work. I've been told that it needs a new module in the boot somewhere, our 'experts' didn't seem to pick up on this in all their checks of the car before. We do know though that the car is sound underneath and is in really quite good mechanical order given that it's done 202k.

I'm hoping to point the 'experts' in the right direction when it goes in towards the end of the month, until then I've just got to keep using it until it refuses to start again I guess.

Any help or advice (other than sell the car because I love it) would be appreciated, Thanks!!!!

[Greydog]

Morning Jess

Welcome to the Forum

What a frustrating time your going through !!

My starting point would be all the earth points, BMW love multiple earth points and earth switching. Also check the engine earth straps 

Check www.realoem.com put the last 7 digits of your Vin into the search box it will call up your model. Then look for what you need the small exploded drawings will help locate stuff. My 4.4 X5 had some weird stuff going on which turned out to be one of the Multiple earth points in the boot behind the spare wheel  I took it off cleaned the contact area smeared it with electrical contact paste and remounted it all issues gone. The dealer had suggested a new FCM was probably needed a BMW specialist was heading down a similar path? 

Once your confident that the earths are all good (there are several around the car) then if you still have an issue either manually pull fuses to see what stops the current draw. I would also carryout a full diagnostic scan but then I have my own BMW diagnostics program

Good Hunting

Dave

[pats_cat]

Amazing, thanks Dave, it gives me a starting point!  Jess