This past Sunday morning my 2003 X5 needed a jump after sitting in the garage overnight. It needed to be jumped again Monday morning, Monday night after work, this morning and tonight after work.
I removed the battery and had it tested tonight. No problem found. I'm assuming the charging system is working fine as I'm able to start the car three or more times after driving 45 miles home from work.
I reinstalled the battery, left the negative cable disconnected, put an ammeter in line and measured 4.5A draw with the vehicle and all accessories off. This seems particularly high to me.
I started pulling fuses to see if I could isolate the problem and discovered the draw dropped to .5A after pulling the fuse for the Servotronic. I reinstalled the fuse and the current draw increased back to 4.5A. I read that the Servotronic module is used to provide variable ratio power steering.
Is a 4.5A current draw with the vehicle off excessive? Could a failed servotronic module actually be causing this problem? Does anyone know where the servotronic module on a 2003 X5 is located? I'd like to replace it myself since the vehicle is out of warranty. I just paid $300 plus last month to have the final stage resistor replaced in the a/c. Can I drive the vehicle without the Servotronic's fuse installed?
Thanks in advance!
DJ