:: Starter?

[whiskychaser]

I think the e34 killed the e39 last night.

When starting, there is a strong stable click click click every half second apart or so. Not the battery charge. Every time it clicks, all electrical turns off... Lights dash etc.

Starter?
If it sounds like a machine gun its probably the solenoid hammering in and out. Normally means a duff battery but if thats OK looks for poor connections. Any getting warm is a clue

[Ross]

I'd check the battery and connections first. Doesn't sound like the starter.

[Ross]

The starter is drawing all the power the system can deliver that's why everything else goes dead. Unless the starter has a dead short which is very unusual I'd look to a bad connection somewhere.

[Qube]

Ok, so it's the battery. Trying to diagnose when you're eating lunch out and the car in the garage isn't helpful. First thing I did when I got back was plug in the radar detector. It screamed low voltage. Went upstairs, grabbed the meter and it read 10.2v. Nice. Apparently the booster pack that worked great with the e34 won't jump a e39 540. I may need a new booster pack.

Jumped it with cables to the Focus... made the Focus shudder with pain :) it was straining.

Started fine, ran fine. Now charging. We'll see what happens. It's an AC Delco battery so I don't believe it's the original from 5 years ago.

[Qube]

I think the e34 killed the e39 last night.

When starting, there is a strong stable click click click every half second apart or so. Not the battery charge. Every time it clicks, all electrical turns off... Lights dash etc.

Starter?

[Qube]

Not a machine gun. Say...

Click wait click wait click wait

That's how spaced the clicks are... And they sound like sparks... Firecracker clicks... Not like the low battery-cant-turnover-machinegun-clicking.rat tat tat tat.

Everything shuts off on the click which is weird.

[whiskychaser]

Hmmmmm... So just one day it decides to drain the battery overnight.

Charged it to 80 percent yesterday, drove a long while. Overnight. Morning it doesn't even articulate the power locks. So assume it's got 70 amps of juice. Power down at 1am... Try to start at 9am. 8 hours and it's drained to the point there is barely any power left. That's ONE powerful drain?! Bad battery all of a sudden? Wasn't gradual... Just happened one day. Thoughts?

One thing I learned is that my Eliminator 600 battery booster isn't beefy enough FULLY charged to crank this V8! Will need a full size battery to boost a dead car :)
I use a DMM to check battery voltage but I also check the SG with a hydrometer. I can get hold of 12.60 SG sulphuric acid and thats saved me the price of a new battery before. I would charge up the battery again (if you can), connect up and link in an ammeter. Pull fuses till you find the circuit thats causing the drain. From memory, the clock etc draw a max of about 100mA so if you have more than that you have a problem somewhere. Traced such a fault in my father's car to the radio-even switched off it was drawing current for fun!!

[Qube]

Hmmmmm... So just one day it decides to drain the battery overnight.

Charged it to 80 percent yesterday, drove a long while. Overnight. Morning it doesn't even articulate the power locks. So assume it's got 70 amps of juice. Power down at 1am... Try to start at 9am. 8 hours and it's drained to the point there is barely any power left. That's ONE powerful drain?! Bad battery all of a sudden? Wasn't gradual... Just happened one day. Thoughts?

One thing I learned is that my Eliminator 600 battery booster isn't beefy enough FULLY charged to crank this V8! Will need a full size battery to boost a dead car :)

[whiskychaser]

Sounds good. The battery is sealed so no hydrometer. I'm going to fully charge it and put an ammeter on it. Gone to buy one now.
May be a bit late to say this but a DMM will measure mA. Then again if the system is pulling half an amp or so it would probably fry it anyway if its not protected. Hope you get it sorted

[Qube]

I use a DMM to check battery voltage but I also check the SG with a hydrometer. I can get hold of 12.60 SG sulphuric acid and thats saved me the price of a new battery before. I would charge up the battery again (if you can), connect up and link in an ammeter. Pull fuses till you find the circuit thats causing the drain. From memory, the clock etc draw a max of about 100mA so if you have more than that you have a problem somewhere. Traced such a fault in my father's car to the radio-even switched off it was drawing current for fun!!

Sounds good. The battery is sealed so no hydrometer. I'm going to fully charge it and put an ammeter on it. Gone to buy one now.

[Qube]

Found the culprit. Damn Final Stage Unit. Hopefully that's it though...

Keeping yer thread on hand in case... http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=34064&highlight=final+stage