Engine: D5: what could be draining my power?

[totalguy]

Originally Posted by VOLVOBOY

What you`re looking at is...
Main fuse-box 11E nos 1thru 7 with 40 Amp rating.
Covering all the fuses in 11D nos 1 thru 18.Attachment 124569

Attachment 124570

Attachment 124571

well the one on the left is number 7 the wire to that causes the drain not exactly sure where that one goes. it said passenger compartment fusebox but not sure which wires in thee passenger compartment fusebox because when you pull it out that fusebox all the wires are frigin red!

we found 1 of them but not sure if the other 1 goes into it tii (number 6) because you power it and everything powers but you disconnect it nothing powers.

[VOLVOBOY]

You`ve got this all arse about face,
The big red cable is power in.
The current then flows FROM THIS fuse-box .
Your wire from 11E-7 goes to fuses 1 to 5 in the rear fuse-box (REM).
Pull each fuse in turn and test to see which one has the current drain on it.
When you`ve identified that fuse the diagram tells you what components are served by that fuse. Isolate and test each component in turn to see which is causing the current draw.

[totalguy]

Originally Posted by VOLVOBOY

You`ve got this all arse about face,
The big red cable is power in.
The current then flows FROM THIS fuse-box .
Your wire from 11E-7 goes to fuses 1 to 5 in the rear fuse-box (REM).
Pull each fuse in turn and test to see which one has the current drain on it.
When you`ve identified that fuse the diagram tells you what components are served by that fuse. Isolate and test each component in turn to see which is causing the current draw.

the big wire on the right is power into that box the one to the left of it with the stripe goes to the rem the 4 on the far left go into 2 connectors that sit below the rem and 1 of them (2 wires) goes to the cem that would be 4 and 5 i think

6 and 7 atleast one of them goes to the passenger fuse compartment in the side of the dash just so we are clear.

so does number 7 go to the rem? or am i correct when i say only the one with the stripe goes to the rem?

we cant exactly see where the 4 wires go exactly after the 2 connectors we know they are pointing to the front of the car and we know 2 of them are definitely going to the cem and atleast 1 of the other 2 are going to that drivers side fusebox

and by the way both myself on my own pulled every fuse out of every fuse board, also me and my friend did it at another time who is an electrician and also the place who has it now a bmw specialist who has pulled every single fuse also and come up with the same result.

the only real result we have found that repeats itself is when we removed that thick cable that joins the battery positive and that drops the draw down to nothing

please feel free to correct me if anything is wrong as ive always said im no expert all i can do is tell people what ive done and what others have done im not trying to be defeatist and if we need to do tests again we will but as of now its related to the wires coming out of that junction box thing so we are as close as we have ever been

[barrybritcher]

you said earlier the glow plug relay was shagged and you had to replace it, have you checked the resistance values of the glow plugs?

[foggyjames]

A picture of the routing of the power cable would be helpful, although it sounds from your more recent findings like it probably isn't that anyway.

I'm slightly struggling to work out why the BMW place is struggling to narrow this down now you're getting close:
1) Figure out which cables from that distribution unit are carrying the drain (which you've done)
2) Figure out where they go
3) Figure out what's up with the destination unit. If it's the REM, and pulling all the fuses still doesn't sort it, is there anything between the input terminal and the fuses which could be causing a drain (i.e. an internal fault)?

cheers

James

[A9 Ken]

Had similar on 2002 S60, discovered fault was in alarm. Pulled fuse to alarm, 28 if I remember, by r/h door.
No more problem but no alarm.

[totalguy]

it got all figured out in the end and its fixed now and there is no wonder we couldnt find anything when pulling all the fuses it wasnt even on any of the fuses in the fuse board!

down the side of the battery there is a junction box with a load of permanent live wires and supposedly reset-able fuses thats where the problem was! bloody stupid! so swapped the box out and problem solved!

[totalguy]

Originally Posted by barrybritcher

you said earlier the glow plug relay was shagged and you had to replace it, have you checked the resistance values of the glow plugs?

not that i need to now but is that to check if they are shorting out?

[barrybritcher]

yes if they are failed they will go open circuit usually

[foggyjames]

Glad to hear you got it sorted. Do you know exactly what was happening - was it a battery drain caused by a malfunction in that box, or were the trips interrupting the starting process?

cheers

James