BMW 530d F11 - Sporadic battery discharge when stationary

With the above-mentioned vehicle type, a message may be displayed regarding increased battery discharge when the vehicle is stationary. This message appears when the vehicle’s battery has reached a critical state of charge. The vehicle electrical system electronics recognise this and disconnect individual consumers from the battery in order to enable the engine to continue to start.

If, as part of the fault diagnostics procedure, no defects in the charging system or on the vehicle battery and their periphery show up, the exterior door handles should be checked out. Water ingress and the resulting corrosion at the plug connections can falsely recognise an opening request. This signal is then forwarded to the higher-level control unit. As a result, the entire vehicle electrical system electronics are "woken up", which then leads to unwanted current consumption and ultimately to discharge of the 12-volt vehicle electrical system battery.

So as to check the door handle electronics, the parameters should first be read out using a suitable diagnostic device. If anything unusual is detected here, for example, if the door handle electronics are permanently displayed as in operation although they are not being actuated, the suspect door handle must be replaced.

Another test option is to measure and compare the temperature of the door handles using an infrared thermometer. A defective door handle often shows a different temperature compared with those shown by the other handles. If a temperature difference is detected, the door handle concerned must be replaced.

This fault profile may also occur in other vehicle models with comparable equipment variants.

Once the cause of the fault has been rectified, delete the error memory and then carry out a test drive.