Damn battery is dead

[mr.fabulous]

We beat the topic of battery life and maintenance in these cars to death a few years ago... but I thought I'd bring it up again as my battery appears to be dead. It's less than two years old, purchased from a dealer and installed and registered by me (with an AutoEnginuity widget). It has enough juice to prime the pumps and such, but press the button and nothing happens.

My car has always cranked (what appears to me) slowly; that did not change when I put the new battery in, and so maybe I have a bad ground or something? Not anything I've ever tried to chase down; now I appear to have a forcing function.

I take almost nothing but short trips, and so I toss the car on a CTEK charger at least once a week. Damn thing died anyway. I have literally a few days of CPO remaining, and so I have an appointment with the dealer tomorrow morning. It will be mighty interesting to see if they find anything

[ShocknAwe]

Do you really need to be using a charger on it that frequently?

[The Wind Breezes]

The battery charges a lot faster than you think while driving. Anyway, I had a similar problem with my car where literally NOTHING happened when I pressed the start button...no clicking or anything. Turned out a positive cable going to the starter had lost continuity. Had it replaced for free by dealer. Pretty rare issue though.

[Mr Gasser]

so the button itself is pretty stout?

[mr.fabulous]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

Do you really need to be using a charger on it that frequently?

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1101203

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1081902

[mr.fabulous]

Originally Posted by The Wind Breezes

The battery charges a lot faster than you think while driving. Anyway, I had a similar problem with my car where literally NOTHING happened when I pressed the start button...no clicking or anything. Turned out a positive cable going to the starter had lost continuity. Had it replaced for free by dealer. Pretty rare issue though.

I have a hunch I'm facing something similar (wiring or a ground), the car has always cranked very, very slowly. I'm still charging & will try to start it once that's complete (I'll report back...).

Read the two links I posted above and look especially for mention of Intelligent Alternator Control (or something like that, I might not have the name exactly right). Nothing but short trips (less than six miles) will run down a battery in these cars more quickly than you might expect.

[gjm120]

Originally Posted by mr.fabulous

I have a hunch I'm facing something similar (wiring or a ground), the car has always cranked very, very slowly. I'm still charging & will try to start it once that's complete (I'll report back...).

Read the two links I posted above and look especially for mention of Intelligent Alternator Control (or something like that, I might not have the name exactly right). Nothing but short trips (less than six miles) will run down a battery in these cars more quickly than you might expect.

In your first post you mention the battery from Tischer doesn't have an eye like your Exide. Did you have the Exide in the car before the one from Tischer? If it had an eye, you may have gone from flooded cell to AGM which is needs coding ( not just registering).

[mr.fabulous]

Both the OE battery and what I replaced it with are lead-acid (they slosh). I have always been confused by that, as the IAC doc from BMW clearly states same requires AGM. Is it possible these 6MT cars don't have IAC? I really don't know...

[gjm120]

If the both sloshed, they were flooded cell. Also, I don't think there is consistency in whether they put flooded or AGM in our cars. I have a 2013 with all the electronics crap and it has a flooded cell battery. From the date stamp on the pole I'm pretty sure it's original.

[The Wind Breezes]

Originally Posted by mr.fabulous

I really don't know...

As stated above by gjm120 the car can be recoded for either type--it supports both.

[mr.fabulous]

Battery is fully charged and still nothing when I press the button. (s)He's dead, Jim. Call BMW Roadside and they tell me my CPO expired a few weeks ago. Not sure how that's possible, I bought the car just before Thanksgiving 2014. I'll sort that out later. And so it looks like I eat this... for now, at least... DAMNIT

[The Wind Breezes]

Originally Posted by mr.fabulous

Battery is fully charged and still nothing when I press the button. (s)He's dead, Jim. Call BMW Roadside and they tell me my CPO expired a few weeks ago. Not sure how that's possible, I bought the car just before Thanksgiving 2014. I'll sort that out later. And so it looks like I eat this... for now, at least... DAMNIT

Does your dash at least light up when you press the button or literally nothing whatsoever happens?

[mr.fabulous]

Originally Posted by The Wind Breezes

Does your dash at least light up when you press the button or literally nothing whatsoever happens?

Dash lights up. Press the button and I hear a click under the hood, but it's more of a relay, not the starter solenoid. I'm betting something simple, electrical... a ground, a fried cable, a fused link... something like that.

Does a dead HPFP do this?

And I have to eat it. I bought the car just under two years ago CPO, and I'd been believing I had two years' warranty from that date. Turns out I have two years from the original in-service date... which was two weeks ago.

This is going to cost me...

[The Wind Breezes]

Step 1, get multimeter, measure voltage under the hood. It shouldn't be too much below what the battery measures at directly. If everything checks out, then proceed to next step.

Step 2, verify your ground cable is intact and properly connected. It's on the left side (driver side) of the car and it's a big braided cable you'll be able to find from up above. If that cable doesn't seem to have a problem, go to next step.

Step 3, get the front of the car up, take off the splash tray and check the other wiring going to the starter.

Step 4, replace the starter, sometimes they go out. I think the solenoid is integrated but not sure.

[dtla1]

Braided cable was worn through on my car, had the same symptoms. Dealer also replaced Starter and Main cable going to starter while they were there.

[mr.fabulous]

Cripes... JIGGLE THE DAMN CABLE. Are you fucking kidding me.

Jiggled the positive cables between the jumper block at the right and the cable that (I think) drops down to the starter on the left... and she starts right up. What. The. Hell.

I'm betting the cable that drops down to the starter, I'll drop the front splash pan and see what I can see tomorrow. Those of you who replied about having cables replaced... anybody got a part number?

17 years with my E36 and she stranded me only one time, towards the very end of my time with her. A crimp on a power steering line failed. At 17 years I can understand that. This car has stranded me twice in two years. It's a fun car, but this is dumb.

[Gizmo135i]

If you bought the battery from a BMW dealer, then you should have a 2 year unlimited mileage warranty on the battery, including labor (as with any other part) as long as you can dig up the receipt. Might be worth arguing

[mr.fabulous]

Those of you with my symptoms who've had a cable replaced... can somebody please verify that part is 12427584691. That's what I jiggled last night to get the car to crank.

[JimD]

The cable doesn't have to be bad for this to happen. Usually cable issues are really connection issues. The cable is just a big wire with ends crimped on. I'd start with cleaning the connections at both ends. The fact that wiggling it worked suggests they just need cleaned and/or tightened. It could also mean a break in the wire, I guess, but I've never seen that. Removing it to clean it will let you see if the ends are well connected, that is the next most likely issue. I wouldn't buy any parts until I cleaned the connections of the existing cables. All you need is tools to remove them and a little sandpaper to clean things up.

[Bimmer-Bob]

Still on my original battery at almost 7 years. Sometimes cranks are a little slow, but that's only because the car is no longer daily driven as of about 3 months ago. I expect the battery will conk out before too much longer, though.

[Dackelone]

The fuse-bus link atop of the battery can also go bad.



Since you wiggled the cables and the car started, I would first clean and tighten those cables(at the starter ?) first and then see what happens.

Originally Posted by Bimmer-Bob

Still on my original battery at almost 7 years. Sometimes cranks are a little slow, but that's only because the car is no longer daily driven as of about 3 months ago. I expect the battery will conk out before too much longer, though.

Me too Bob. I still am on my original battery. The slow cranking is bc the battery isn't fully charged(I bet). Before I started using a CTEK battery tender(two years ago) I would also notice a slow crank - when I had not driven the car in a few weeks time. The CTEK really helps to re-condition the battery. Even on cars that get driven often. I highly recommend using the CTEK.

[Bimmer-Bob]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

Me too Bob. I still am on my original battery. The slow cranking is bc the battery isn't fully charged(I bet). Before I started using a CTEK battery tender(two years ago) I would also notice a slow crank - when I had not driven the car in a few weeks time. The CTEK really helps to re-condition the battery. Even on cars that get driven often. I highly recommend using the CTEK.

I have the OEM battery tender, which I think is a re-branded Deltran. I use it whenever I'm not going to be driving the car for a couple weeks or longer (sometimes much longer, like a 7-month deployment).

Is the CTEK any better?

I should probably use it more regularly, now that the car is being driven a lot less. Do you keep open all the time when you use yours? That's honestly what keeps me from using it every day. That, and the garage at the place I'm living now is sort of inconvenient in terms of outlets.