Flattening My Battery

G'day Folks,

I have just come across another problem with my E28 535i....... This time around it seems that the Instrumentation lights up inside the dashboard seem to constantly be on, even when the headlights are off and the car locked and parked in the driveway...... I have replaced the headlight switch twice so far and they are still on........ The lower section of the dash under the steering column is not fitted yet the power window circuit breaker and the vacuum thingy on the right side of the column are connected....... I am forever having to recharge or jump start my battery or at worst having to call out for road club assistance...... As I have no access to a service manual for the car and unfamiliar with the ELECTRICAL SPAGHETTI throughout the car, I am hoping on a bit of HELP from you GUYS and or GALS.......

HELP ME PLEASE........... HELP ME NOW!!!!!!!!

Upon further examination....( looking )..... it seems that the so called light is just coloured plastic and still cannot figure this BASTARD out....... connected wrong maybe but not sure here as I did not force anything back in place........ power window circuit breaker clicked back easily as did replacing many times the head light switch although I never trusted the BASTARD switch as the dimmer control did jack ****!!!!!!!...... will ask BROTHER to check switches with Multi Meter when next I visit Family...... I am getting frustrated at this as it becoming a pain in the ARSE having to recharge the battery every time I need to go somewhere........ I would be stuffed if I had to go out in the night time......

Thanks for your patience

Stephen

Turn everything off, close doors and boot, leave one window down. Connect amp meter between battery lead and battery terminal. You should be able to read the draining current. Disconnect amp meter and unplug light switch. Close up car (apart from window) and connect and recheck ampmeter. Keep doing this to other systems (alternator, ign switch, boot light, glovebox light etc) until drain current stops. Fix that system.. (I keep saying leave a window down in case central locking cuts in - would not be the first time..........)

you can also do the same thing by hooking up amp meter like you say and pulling and replacing fuses one by one until you have Isolated drain. I had a drain one time in the power antenna. seems that the antenna was always powered and the signal to go up and down came from radio. It was a fluke I found it I leaned over to test something in trunk
and heard it buzzing and trying to go down when already down. weird.

Originally Posted by thexpbogger

G'day Folks,

I have just come across another problem with my E28 535i....... This time around it seems that the Instrumentation lights up inside the dashboard seem to constantly be on, even when the headlights are off and the car locked and parked in the driveway...... I have replaced the headlight switch twice so far and they are still on........ The lower section of the dash under the steering column is not fitted yet the power window circuit breaker and the vacuum thingy on the right side of the column are connected....... I am forever having to recharge or jump start my battery or at worst having to call out for road club assistance...... As I have no access to a service manual for the car and unfamiliar with the ELECTRICAL SPAGHETTI throughout the car, I am hoping on a bit of HELP from you GUYS and or GALS.......

HELP ME PLEASE........... HELP ME NOW!!!!!!!!

Upon further examination....( looking )..... it seems that the so called light is just coloured plastic and still cannot figure this BASTARD out....... connected wrong maybe but not sure here as I did not force anything back in place........ power window circuit breaker clicked back easily as did replacing many times the head light switch although I never trusted the BASTARD switch as the dimmer control did jack ****!!!!!!!...... will ask BROTHER to check switches with Multi Meter when next I visit Family...... I am getting frustrated at this as it becoming a pain in the ARSE having to recharge the battery every time I need to go somewhere........ I would be stuffed if I had to go out in the night time......

Thanks for your patience

Stephen

Why so much swearing at the car? It obviously has something wrong with it. If your dog,,,or your child... had something wrong, would you swear at it? No, you would go to a doctor and find out what was wrong. Please don't swear at your car. It's a BMW, one of the finest cars in the world. If you can't give it the proper care it's not the car's fault.

I swear all the time at my car when I am fixing it. I once had a 320i that would break every time I said something nice about it, so I only called it mean names. In fact the name of the car was Bitch.

Your car will end up telling the key pixies and you will loose keys for hours on end.

OK DUDES IT ME AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!

To 85hypershark....BMWFatherFigure & south26

Thanks for the info and will take notice when doing another check

Oh as for the KEY PIXIES........... good luck to them as I always have the key with the house keys........... which means I have no access to the house either...... SCARY FEELING I THINK NOT!!!!!!

To ProRAIL - OK....... It's my piece of GERMAN CRAP OTTO MY BILE and I will call it what ever I like.......... also I don't have a dog and if I did...... I'D KICK IT INSTEAD......... No kids either............

Stephen