[HardCoal99]

I recently started getting a warning that there was an increase in battery discharge when I start my car. Went to start my car the other day and the battery was dead enough that it wouldn't even crank. Battery is fairly new so I suspect something other than the battery itself.

Put the car into sleep mode and measured for a draw on all of the fuses. Only one fuse gave me a reading (0.9 on a 5 amp fuse). Fuse was number 74 which is assigned to the instrument cluster.

Has anyone see anything like this before? Any suggestions on things to try? I hate to think of the process of pulling out my instrument cluster. And even if I did that, I'm not even sure what I would be looking for.

I'm hoping for some input so I don't do something stupid. Thanks.

[HardCoal99]

Update: Removed my instrument cluster and took it apart. Couldn't see any obvious defects on the circuit board. I removed the step motors that drive the 4 gauges, and plugged it back in. That eliminated the parasitic draw.

Through a process of elimination I narrowed down the parasitic draw to a single faulty step motor and have one on order. I'm hopeful that once I replace the motor and put everything back together, it will be good as new!

[Sgop335]

Originally Posted by HardCoal99

I recently started getting a warning that there was an increase in battery discharge when I start my car. Went to start my car the other day and the battery was dead enough that it wouldn't even crank. Battery is fairly new so I suspect something other than the battery itself.

Put the car into sleep mode and measured for a draw on all of the fuses. Only one fuse gave me a reading (0.9 on a 5 amp fuse). Fuse was number 74 which is assigned to the instrument cluster.

Has anyone see anything like this before? Any suggestions on things to try? I hate to think of the process of pulling out my instrument cluster. And even if I did that, I'm not even sure what I would be looking for.

I'm hoping for some input so I don't do something stupid. Thanks.

I had a battery drain from instrument cluster on my 335i. The drain wouldnt let the car go to sleep. After a process, replaced the cluster for a used one from ebay, which fixed it.