SI lights stay on, with car off

[coop]

'90 325is. Recently did tuneup/timing belt. Car runs fine. When I got done with everything it started normal. (had been sitting for about a month as I wasn't in a hurry) I had to do couple other things like put the hood on and fuel filter, got those done, went to test drive, and battery dead! Wasn't totally dead, but not enough to start. Charged the battery, took it for a drive, everything seemed normal. Noticed tonight that the greens of the SI board are staying on with the key off. I know the gears are f'd in my cluster, and I imagine the SI board is messed up as well, I don't remember the SI board lighting up before, as I just bought the car. Could a faulty SI board do this, I'm assuming it could, but is there another possible cause? Any ideas?

[dnguyen1963]

If your car battery was dead and you let it sit for a month then your SI batteries are probably dead too. When the SI batteries are dead, the green LEDs will stay on even after you remove the key. Take your SI board out and if it looks good, has no corrosion you should take it to Battery Plus to have new batteries put in.

[coop]

hmmmm. well the battery wasn't totally dead, just dead enough where it wouldn't start. I had cranked it 3-4 days prior and let it run in the garage. There was a decent cold spell that came though a couple days ago, and if there was a time to kill the battery I bet it would happen then.

So green lights staying on means the batteries are dead. I did notice this morning that the green lights were off. I didn't have time to mess with starting the car, but I metered the battery before I ran out the door and it had like 12.3v. So maybe the green lights are also showing the SI batteries recharging? Aren't they rechargeable? I'm going to try and crank it tonight to see if it died again.

Thanks!

[dnguyen1963]

hmmmm. well the battery wasn't totally dead, just dead enough where it wouldn't start. I had cranked it 3-4 days prior and let it run in the garage. There was a decent cold spell that came though a couple days ago, and if there was a time to kill the battery I bet it would happen then.

So green lights staying on means the batteries are dead. I did notice this morning that the green lights were off. I didn't have time to mess with starting the car, but I metered the battery before I ran out the door and it had like 12.3v. So maybe the green lights are also showing the SI batteries recharging? Aren't they rechargeable? I'm going to try and crank it tonight to see if it died again.

Thanks!

Green LEDs stay on only if the batteries on the SI board are dead. They are rechargeable and require the car battery to be in good condition. If you started the car up a few days ago, it might have charged the SI batteries enough that the lights were no longer lit.