E36 Draining Battery... Daily.

Not holding a charge is a sign of a damaged cell in the battery itself..
I'd bring it back if it's new..

Had a similar issue on my Porsche recently, turned out to be a dud starter solenoid.

Does it jump start and drive ok?

Could be the alternator too

petem said:

Had a similar issue on my Porsche recently

Click to expand...

Get some pics up please Pete The Porsche, not the battery

End of thread hi-jack

orientblaue36 said:

Not holding a charge is a sign of a damaged cell in the battery itself..
I'd bring it back if it's new..

Click to expand...

Tried 2 new batterys and its the same

petem said:

Had a similar issue on my Porsche recently, turned out to be a dud starter solenoid.

Does it jump start and drive ok?

Could be the alternator too

Click to expand...

It'll jump and run perfect and will then start on it's own without a jump but leave it a few hours it'll just be dead flat (Barely have dash lights flat)

So something is draining it when it's left idle...

my money would be on a relay sticking, a module is not shutting down, or there is a shorted diode in the alternator

Chewi said:

my money would be on a relay sticking, a module is not shutting down, or there is a shorted diode in the alternator

Click to expand...

Cheers

Would any of them show up on a diagnostic test or is it a case of testing everything to see what's wrong?

the module would show up on a scan, problem with the voltage regulator or relay may not.

YBTurbo said:

Cheers

Would any of them show up on a diagnostic test or is it a case of testing everything to see what's wrong?

Click to expand...

Had the same problem in my E46...it was the alternator that was shagged! Battery would be fully charged and a min later it would drop below 12 volts with nothing on....new alternator sorted it! If you think it's the alternator you could disconnect the plug at the back of it and see if the battery drains quicker

Chewi said:

the module would show up on a scan, problem with the voltage regulator or relay may not.

Click to expand...

I know someone who'll scan it for me so I'll get it done anyway

318 IS Cosmos said:

Had the same problem in my E46...it was the alternator that was shagged! Battery would be fully charged and a min later it would drop below 12 volts with nothing on....new alternator sorted it! If you think it's the alternator you could disconnect the plug at the back of it and see if the battery drains quicker

Click to expand...

Perfect, I'll try that tomorrow and see what happens

make sure that you don't have a light which is switched on all the time and not noticed ( glove compartment, boot-trunkd light, etc...) due to malfunction of their switch.
make sure that you dont have a shot circuit somewhere as well .!!

as Aglan said, make sure its not something stupid draining the battery like the boot light or the glove box light, my e36 coupe did this a while ago and it turned out to be the boot light not switching off intermittantly.

If its a coupe put down the back seats with the boot closed and see is the light off and jiggle the boot lid to see does it come on, or just disconnect the light in the boot and the glove box tonight and see does she start in the morning, very easy way of eliminating themas the fault. rule out the simple stuff before you go presuming its a altinator problem etc!

Mine killed it's batt as the striker in the door was wore slightly in turn leaving the footwell light on, new striker no problem

No lights staying on, already checked.

Could possibly be the door striker plates, as my passenger side has a mind of it's own but 99% of the time doesn't work at all.

1997 e36 parasitic battery drain-
My sweet E36 was stolen and tampered with-
It’s recovered, but the battery is being drained-
Alternator is good, battery is good, interior lights and headlights work-Starts right up with a jump, runs fine, it must be a parasitic drain-Any ideas where to look?