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      12-12-2012, 07:39 PM   #1
Siciliano611
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Is my battery about to die? weird stuff happening

I've owned a 09' m3 for a year now and it is out of warranty next June. It now has just passed 27k miles on it and only today have I started noticing that the angel eyes and taillights (with the headlight switch on AUTO) are not coming on when i unlock the car after locking it....this is now consistent with 4x i've tried today....The strain to start the engine seems like a little bit longer as well. Usually If u unlock and lock the car a certain amount of times the angel eyes and taillight welcome lights won't come on but I'm talking about the 1st time i unlock the car after being out of it the taillight and angel eyes do not come on.... I notice the clock in the car is correct and not stalling yet though. Any opinions on this? Obviously I would like to get the battery replaced under warranty if this is indeed the issue....
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      12-12-2012, 07:49 PM   #2
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Is the clock slowing down?
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      12-12-2012, 07:55 PM   #3
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Quite possible...E46s usually act like possessed by the devil with a sketchy battery.
maybe E92s are the same?

Can you put a voltmeter on the battery with the ignition off? If the voltage is much below 12.5 v I'd be checking further...

But yeah, be worth getting to the dealer.

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      12-12-2012, 07:57 PM   #4
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I had to get a new battery around 45k miles, but my car would sit for extended periods of time as I used to work on offshore drilling rigs. The dealer replaced it under warranty.
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      12-13-2012, 03:35 PM   #5
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Mine is starting to slowly lose time. The end is near I believe.
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      12-13-2012, 03:43 PM   #6
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The angel eyes and taillights not coming on when in "AUTO" headlight mode is a sign your battery is weak. The car tries to save power by disabling features until it thinks the battery is strong enough to use it again.
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      12-13-2012, 03:53 PM   #7
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It doesn't sound like you drive it too much. The batery will die much quicker with little use. No need to replace the battery. Get a nice trickle charger, charge it up once in awhile, like once a week or something.
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      12-13-2012, 05:39 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MA///M3 View Post
It doesn't sound like you drive it too much. The batery will die much quicker with little use. No need to replace the battery. Get a nice trickle charger, charge it up once in awhile, like once a week or something.
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      12-13-2012, 07:16 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Z K View Post
The angel eyes and taillights not coming on when in "AUTO" headlight mode is a sign your battery is weak. The car tries to save power by disabling features until it thinks the battery is strong enough to use it again.
They should call these Smart cars
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      12-13-2012, 07:18 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Z K View Post
The angel eyes and taillights not coming on when in "AUTO" headlight mode is a sign your battery is weak. The car tries to save power by disabling features until it thinks the battery is strong enough to use it again.
Not true.

The car will only do this three or four times and then will stop until it's driven. This is not a sign of a weak battery, this is by design.
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      12-13-2012, 08:22 PM   #11
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Hopefully you have a good relationship with your dealership. As someone on this thread already stated, with the amount of miles you have on it, it's like you don't drive it much. The dealership told me that you need to drive it to keep the battery charged. If not, they generally won't replace your battery under warranty. Luckily I have a good relationship because they were telling me it would've been $1000 job. They had to do a few things to get the approval though.
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      12-13-2012, 09:37 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by slo_guy View Post
Hopefully you have a good relationship with your dealership. As someone on this thread already stated, with the amount of miles you have on it, it's like you don't drive it much. The dealership told me that you need to drive it to keep the battery charged. If not, they generally won't replace your battery under warranty. Luckily I have a good relationship because they were telling me it would've been $1000 job. They had to do a few things to get the approval though.
$1000 to replace a battery is insanity.
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      12-14-2012, 03:51 AM   #13
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Originally Posted by Mike Benvo View Post
$1000 to replace a battery is insanity.
Isn't it??? The tech told me that it's best to go with the factory one because they made everything so touchy that if you're off by a little voltage-wise, it throws everything out of whack. He said it was a bullshit thing for them to do, and I agree with him.
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      12-14-2012, 09:40 AM   #14
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I drive it a lot, the previous owner didn't...I bought it from home in January it had 14k miles on it...now its about double that at 27k miles....
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      12-14-2012, 11:40 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by slo_guy View Post
Isn't it??? The tech told me that it's best to go with the factory one because they made everything so touchy that if you're off by a little voltage-wise, it throws everything out of whack. He said it was a bullshit thing for them to do, and I agree with him.
I've talked to quite a few clueless techs. Some of the techs and service advisors I'm surprised even have a job being as clueless as they are.

I do agree that the factory battery is the best suited match for the car. But the battery is not $1000. I think it's around $300 ish if I'm not mistaken. And it's not hard to put in your self. Only thing needed is the battery reset afterwards which the dealer will usually bend you over hand over heels for.
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      12-14-2012, 12:02 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by slo_guy View Post
Isn't it??? The tech told me that it's best to go with the factory one because they made everything so touchy that if you're off by a little voltage-wise, it throws everything out of whack. He said it was a bullshit thing for them to do, and I agree with him.
A tech once told me that I had installed a "racing harness" in my E46M3. When I asked what he was refering to, he pointed out the factory baby seat tethers on the rear deck.

Moral of the story: tech's can be retarded.
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      12-14-2012, 12:28 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Benvo View Post
Not true.

The car will only do this three or four times and then will stop until it's driven. This is not a sign of a weak battery, this is by design.
I am not talking about the number of times opening the door and the angel eyes coming on.

This is a feature to save battery. When I had a low battery warning, the angel eyes did not turn on at all regardless if it was driven prior. The dealer explained this happens when the battery is low. Once the battery was charged, angel eyes and taillights were back to normal on disarm/unlock.
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      12-14-2012, 01:13 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by slo_guy View Post
Hopefully you have a good relationship with your dealership. As someone on this thread already stated, with the amount of miles you have on it, it's like you don't drive it much. The dealership told me that you need to drive it to keep the battery charged. If not, they generally won't replace your battery under warranty. Luckily I have a good relationship because they were telling me it would've been $1000 job. They had to do a few things to get the approval though.
How did you get the dealer to cover it? My battery has been going dead from simple coding and I think it may be low as it's the original 09.
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      12-14-2012, 09:15 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Benvo View Post
I've talked to quite a few clueless techs. Some of the techs and service advisors I'm surprised even have a job being as clueless as they are.

I do agree that the factory battery is the best suited match for the car. But the battery is not $1000. I think it's around $300 ish if I'm not mistaken. And it's not hard to put in your self. Only thing needed is the battery reset afterwards which the dealer will usually bend you over hand over heels for.
Sorry for any confusion... he said the job was around 1000. He wasn't referring to just the battery.

Quote:
Originally Posted by spr View Post
How did you get the dealer to cover it? My battery has been going dead from simple coding and I think it may be low as it's the original 09.
He told his boss he ran the tests 3 times and said the customer still complained of a weak battery. I guess it's worked a few times for other customers. He mainly told me that if they weren't driven enough, BMW wasn't responsible for the battery.

Last edited by slo_guy; 12-14-2012 at 09:20 PM..
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      12-15-2012, 11:47 AM   #20
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Hmm. What is the life of the battery supposed to be? Wonder if I want to try and get this replaced while still under warranty until March or whatever. That and it's time to measure the rotors to see if I need to get them down for a new set by some extended canyon driving
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      12-16-2012, 07:52 AM   #21
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Even so. The entire thing, including the battery should be a bit over 400. Max

Quote:
Originally Posted by slo_guy View Post
Sorry for any confusion... he said the job was around 1000. He wasn't referring to just the battery.



He told his boss he ran the tests 3 times and said the customer still complained of a weak battery. I guess it's worked a few times for other customers. He mainly told me that if they weren't driven enough, BMW wasn't responsible for the battery.
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      12-16-2012, 11:58 AM   #22
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Fwiw I took a few measurements today.

I had a single occasion this morning of a DSC fault and Engine Malfunction/reduced power, that cleared upon restart.

Not running
At the trunk: 12.55V
At the engine jump start lug: 12.19V

Running, same places
14.19V
14.30V
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