[vdubturbo]

Yesterday 5 of us piled in the 5-er for a trip to Harpers Ferry... on the way home we stopped for dinner. When we came back out to head home, I had the message attached at the bottom of the screen.

I just figured b/c it was so hot outside that maybe a fan was running and the car shut the fan off so it wouldn't kill the battery. Unfortunately, even after driving the vehicle, shutting off and restarting, and waiting overnight, it still shows the same message.

I tried calling my dealer but I don't think they're service dept it open on Sundays. Now what? The car starts and runs fine, but it's clearly limiting the amount of electrical components that function... which means my HVAC fans only blow on low speed, which is a HUGE problem here in the Virginia heat and humidity.

I do remember This Post from a while back, but that only discusses the problem when the car was sitting for long periods of time. In my case I had just driven for 2+ hrs...

Thoughts?

[gatoman39]

What does your driving behavior look like? Short trips in urban environment or something else? Do you have any external electronics plugged into the car like an Ipod, radar detector,cell phone chargers, etc?

[vdubturbo]

The car basically gets split about perfectly 50/50. During the week it's short urban trips. Weekends are mostly highway.

Only electronics that are plugged in is my iPhone in the center console, which I believe has no power when the doors are closed anyway.

[gatoman39]

Originally Posted by vdubturbo

The car basically gets split about perfectly 50/50. During the week it's short urban trips. Weekends are mostly highway.

Only electronics that are plugged in is my iPhone in the center console, which I believe has no power when the doors are closed anyway.

What's the build date on the car? The battery shouldn't be dead, I'd be making a stink to get a new battery. (BTW, don't tell dealer you drive in this manner, if they ask just say your drives are mostly highway and some urban and it gets used daily).

[Dandle]

It won't be a new battery required. The message is telling you something is draining the battery when the car is shut down. The E60/61 does this when certain modules fail to shut down correctly when the car is locked, they then keep draining the battery causing the same message. On that model the comfort access system on both versions and the rear tailgate modules in the e61 used to cause the fault when they failed.

As its a relatively new model it could be something different failing, do you have anything on the car that isnt quite functioning correctly or any aftermarket stereo or amps fitted?

[ghueser]

I had the same issue and the car ended up needing a software update. The dealer did not have to replace the battery and dod a thorough search of all systems and found nothing else wrong. It did seem to fix it.

I would suggest that you download your personal profile on a memory stick before taking the car in. No doubt the dealer will likely lose most if not all of your preferences when they work on the car.

[vdubturbo]

The already incredibly inconvenient process of getting the car in for service has begun.

[Rbembas_M3]

I just had this message over the weekend, it was because I was playing the stereo while i was detailing my car. I read that my car saves the message. Yesterday i still had the message, took my car out for a drive, everything running fine and was able to run all my electrical components. This morning the message was gone, I have seen this a couple of time and again because i was jamming to my awesome stereo.....

[U235]

Not sure if this is relevant, but I found the same issue with my E70 X5. Every night we would park it in the garage, go inside, and the next morning it would have that message. After researching, I found out that the car would never go to sleep when in the garage because the key fobs were sitting inside the home, but still within range of the car. So all systems including Bluetooth, stereo, etc. were basically remaining on. It's incredibly annoying, and the only way we could solve the problem was to lock the car inside of our garage every day so the car would sleep.

[CraigMcKBish]

I had a similar message on my old 3 Series, turned out the kids had left on the rear reading lights, you could not see them during the day and it is summer,so light nights, took a few weeks to find the problem!

[vdubturbo]

So this was the dealer's response to my issue...

"5451 VEHICLE IS NOT BEING DRIVEN ENOUGH W TESTED FOR FAULTS, PERFORMED ENERGY DIAGNOSTICS AND FOUND VEHICLE BATTERY TO BE GOOD. CLOSED CIRCUIT WAS OK. NO CONTROL UNITS WERE WAKING UP. THERE IS NO DRAW OCCURRING. TEST SHOWED VEHICLE DOING SHORT DISTANCE DRIVING AND NOT GIVING ENOUGH TIME FOR CHARGING SYSTEM TO FULLY CHARGE BATTERY. CLEARED FAULTS AND RECOMMEND TRICLE CHARGER FOR CUSTOMER TO PURCHASE."

Three things:

1. I corrected all the tech's spelling errors
2. How is it my fault that my commute to work is "too short" for the car?
3. This happened after driving for nearly 3 hours.

Thoughts?

[BMWrules7]

Originally Posted by vdubturbo

So this was the dealer's response to my issue...

"5451 VEHICLE IS NOT BEING DRIVEN ENOUGH W TESTED FOR FAULTS, PERFORMED ENERGY DIAGNOSTICS AND FOUND VEHICLE BATTERY TO BE GOOD. CLOSED CIRCUIT WAS OK. NO CONTROL UNITS WERE WAKING UP. THERE IS NO DRAW OCCURRING. TEST SHOWED VEHICLE DOING SHORT DISTANCE DRIVING AND NOT GIVING ENOUGH TIME FOR CHARGING SYSTEM TO FULLY CHARGE BATTERY. CLEARED FAULTS AND RECOMMEND TRICLE CHARGER FOR CUSTOMER TO PURCHASE."

Three things:

1. I corrected all the tech's spelling errors
2. How is it my fault that my commute to work is "too short" for the car?
3. This happened after driving for nearly 3 hours.

Thoughts?

Ask the dealer to show you where in the lease or new car warranty that explains what factors are to be used to ascertain that the car has been "driven enough."

When he can't, tell him you want the battery changed.