08 E92 M3 EDC & DSC and occasionally requiring a jump start

[Koo]

My 08 E90 M3 with 61K miles experiences a couple issues today. After work the car was idling at 2K rpm for about 20 seconds which has not happened before.

While accelerating hard from a turn, the dash lit up with couple lights, one was for DSC system. The message that the stability control is malfunctioning and I also had a yellow brake light on the dash.

I've had ABS light come on for a second and disappear around 5 times within the last 6 months so I thought it was another funky error that would go away on its own. I pulled to a parking lot, turned the car off and tried restarting the car. However, it was dead. Almost like the battery was disconnected because hazards or interior lights wouldn't even turn on. I got the car jump started and it worked fine after that.

When I got home and turned the car off and restarted it, the same thing with rpms at 2K for 20 seconds happened again and it almost seemed like the voltage was low because of how some of the lights were dimmer on the dash than usual for just a second.

The DSC message and brake light went away after jump starting the car but I still have EDC message.

When I bought my car a year ago the dealership installed a new battery and two weeks later I got a passenger restraint system malfunction that I haven't fixed yet.

Any ideas what could be wrong with the car? There were no codes for a OBD2 reader and I don't want to get stranded in my car at work.

[WingZeroX5]

Originally Posted by Koo

My 08 E90 M3 with 61K miles experiences a couple issues today. After work the car was idling at 2K rpm for about 20 seconds which has not happened before.

While accelerating hard from a turn, the dash lit up with couple lights, one was for DSC system. The message that the stability control is malfunctioning and I also had a yellow brake light on the dash.

I've had ABS light come on for a second and disappear around 5 times within the last 6 months so I thought it was another funky error that would go away on its own. I pulled to a parking lot, turned the car off and tried restarting the car. However, it was dead. Almost like the battery was disconnected because hazards or interior lights wouldn't even turn on. I got the car jump started and it worked fine after that.

When I got home and turned the car off and restarted it, the same thing with rpms at 2K for 20 seconds happened again and it almost seemed like the voltage was low because of how some of the lights were dimmer on the dash than usual for just a second.

The DSC message and brake light went away after jump starting the car but I still have EDC message.

When I bought my car a year ago the dealership installed a new battery and two weeks later I got a passenger restraint system malfunction that I haven't fixed yet.

Any ideas what could be wrong with the car? There were no codes for a OBD2 reader and I don't want to get stranded in my car at work.

Weird electrical issues will pop up if the battery is bad. Get the batt tested first

When you installed the battery, did you register it?

Dim lights is a sign of low battery charge. Hook it up to a tender.

[Koo]

Originally Posted by WingZeroX5

Weird electrical issues will pop up if the battery is bad. Get the batt tested first

When you installed the battery, did you register it?

Dim lights is a sign of low battery charge. Hook it up to a tender.

It's an OEM BMW battery that was installed by a great dealership in Atlanta. I mean it could be a problem with it, but I highly doubt so.

When I shut down my car in the parking lot and tried restarting it, everything was dead. I mean there was no life to the car at all. However, now while its sitting outside my house, it starts up and things work properly.

It seems to me that there was an electrical issue that caused the warnings to pop up and somehow prevented the car from powering on at all in the parking lot.

Everytime these issues have come up have been under hard acceleration and I'm probably just going to take the car to a shop if I cant figure out the root cause.

[Richbot]

Check out the EDC module failure threads. Apparently the module can cause a draw which drains the battery when it fails

[Koo]

It happened today again this time under moderate acceleration. The dash went completely dark for a split second and my headlights turned off, back on, off again, back on around 3 times within a 2 second time frame.

All the codes are now gone including EDC. The codes stayed on the dash until the car was restarted, this time there was no power loss upon restarting the car.

[Rainer M]

Mine was once completely down.
I parked the car and noticed the car is dead.
Turned out that the stealership forgot to fasten the plus cable on the battery after a repair.
The cable was just sitting on top on the battery.
As soon as the mechanic touched the cable it moved away from the battery.
"My" dealership screwed more things up.
I could write a book about those "professionals"

I wouldn't be surprised if it is so simple for you too.
Doesn't cost a thing to quickly remove the cover and check the cables.

[houston]

EDC failure is common... prevents the car from going to "sleep". easy fix with 100$ part of ebay (assuming you get a good one) Stealership will rape charge you $1100

[Koo]

The dealership I bought the car from installed a new battery just before I bought the car. Apparently they didn't bother tightening the positive contact much or securing the battery in place. There was about 2cm of movement in the battery bay causing this problem.

Problem solved

[houston]

Typical BMW dealership experience.

[Koo]

Originally Posted by houston

Typical BMW dealership experience.

That's why I've never taken my car to one. I work 10 mins from Enthusiasts auto group in Ohio and they are much more affordable and provide quality service.