Battery replacement under warranty

[JHZR2]

I have a 2011 135i bought new 7/2010.

Took it out, started using it again. Has been fine besides the yellow car on lift icon that has randomly occurred. No service due until 5/2012.

Used it quite a bit, even a 70 mile round trip. No issues, started perfectly. This am, no start, couldn't even pull the key back out of the slot. Checked battery voltage - 5.38V. Great. Alternator was putting out 14.1V, I know that for certain. Last night I even had opened the car, to pull something out. No issues, unlocked and locked, no lights on, etc.

So I think it is a shorted/reversed cell.

Long story short, battery isn't old, car is under warranty. Will BMW replace a failed battery (including registration) under warranty?

If so, great. Especially if not, I think I'll plan to get the car registered with an agm vs flooded battery.

Any info would be appreciated.

If there is no hope (I'll take the car to the dealer with a group 49 battery in the trunk), I might just buy my own battery and the BT scan tool, and register it myself...

[nikijack]

JHZ: I don't know if this will help, but there has been a recall for Canadian 2011 128s, to replace the battery with a 90 amp version. They know there is a problem. Mine was just replaced last week. Free.

Jack

[JHZR2]

Yeah, I know that is the case, I saw it in the search. 70Ah battery replaced with a 90 Ah battery, IIRC.

Have to look at the specs on mine.

Was suprised to see that my battery (BMW OEM) had Exide on it. Would have tought it to be Varta made in Spain. My white case MB batteries last near forever...

And I know it was original, as I took PCD. Oh well. Ill drop a spare grp 49 in it, drive it to the dealer, and let them deal with it...

Figure that is better than calling roadside and having them jump to a severlely depleted battery, which isnt the best for the alternator, and who knows what kind of other voltage spikes may occur then...

[JHZR2]

I had put the battery on my personal testers, and it is no good. Had to parallel another battery to this one to trick a charger into allowing it to charge. Got it to roughly 10V.

Impedance is way high, 107 milliohm, when it should be around 4. Not sure how much of this is a voltage effect, since I'd think that a shorted cell would have zero resistance.



CCA down to ten, count 'em, ten:



Waiting to hear back from the dealer. I got the car there by swapping a spare battery in. Group 49 diesel batteries do fit. Gives a lot more capacity than the standard battery, but more weight in the back too...

Hope the dealer will warranty this out...

[jsublime]

Battery is covered under original warranty, not by CPO though. So it's actually a good thing this happened now.

Hope the dealer doesn't give you any issues for changing it out yourself. You probably could have had roadside tow it.

[cpt97m3]

I have a 2009 that I bought new, and the battery was replaced under warranty. They do check to see if there is lots of short trips when they plug in the key. Evidently they had to call BMW to get approval to replace mine, but it was approved and replaced.

[JHZR2]

Good info, thanks. Minimum use tends to be a 9 mile commute, had done 36 miles before I put the car away last.

If they give me an issue with swapping in my own battery, Ill be pretty mad. But at least Ill have a battery to deny service and drive to another dealer!

[JimD]

I do fairly frequent ~10 mile trips and mine also sits for up to a week at times (I have another vehicle and travel for work some). I've never had a problem. When it's parked it is in a garage, however. The battery in my 2006 SUV is original. The mild weather and garage use are probably helping me.

Jim

[JHZR2]

Mine too is in a garage, and in fact I had it on a float charger for the better part of the winter! It is a battery tender, which is the same that BMW sells themselves!

[JHZR2]

They found the battery was flat and replaced under warranty.

Regardless of use I should not have had a shorted cell in 2 years, especially since I use a float charger.