CA not working...

[persian54]

This is for the Z4, but the z4 section is dead compared to here... so..

Neither fob works for my Comfort Access...

worked fine until recently.

Would rather not waste time at the dealer if I don't have to

Anything I can do? Reset something?

Car is only 3 months old, so I doubt both batteries have died already

Had something similar happen to my M3 a few months back and it kind of just went away on it's own (meaning CA started to work again)

Not sure what to do...X.x.....

Thanks

[THE TECH]

Does the locking feature when you touch the door handle still work? It would tell you if the FOB is the problem or not.

[persian54]

Originally Posted by THE TECH

Does the locking feature when you touch the door handle still work? It would tell you if the FOB is the problem or not.

Nope

Cannot lock or unlock

But we can start the car without putting the key in....

Also cannot open the trunk without using pushing the button on key (or the button in the car)

[THE TECH]

Originally Posted by persian54

Nope

Cannot lock or unlock

But we can start the car without putting the key in....

Also cannot open the trunk without using pushing the button on key (or the button in the car)

Interesting. Seems like some things work and others don't. Not sure how to explain that.

[FCTrs4]

Did you recently get your car tinted??

[persian54]

Originally Posted by THE TECH

Interesting. Seems like some things work and others don't. Not sure how to explain that.

Yeah..

I called my SA and he has no idea

I really don't want to have the car sit there for a week, especially since they don't give us loaners anymore

Originally Posted by FCTrs4

Did you recently get your car tinted??

Got it tinted months ago, but it's ceramic so it shouldn't interfere.

doesn't work even with the top down and windows down...

[THE TECH]

Originally Posted by persian54

Yeah..

I called my SA and he has no idea

I really don't want to have the car sit there for a week, especially since they don't give us loaners anymore



Got it tinted months ago, but it's ceramic so it shouldn't interfere.

doesn't work even with the top down and windows down...

Any new coding?

Is your SA cool enough to reflash the car?

[persian54]

Originally Posted by THE TECH

Any new coding?

Is your SA cool enough to reflash the car?

Nope no new coding

Strangly enough, can't even start the car without putting the key in now

i also got an increased battery discharged warning

so I guess it has to do with the battery...?

[THE TECH]

Maybe put the car on a charger and see if the issue disappears when the battery is fully charged.

Do you have pulleys on your car? Is the car a DD?

[Kyoshi71]

Originally Posted by persian54

This is for the Z4, but the z4 section is dead compared to here... so..

Neither fob works for my Comfort Access...

worked fine until recently.

Would rather not waste time at the dealer if I don't have to

Anything I can do? Reset something?

Car is only 3 months old, so I doubt both batteries have died already

Had something similar happen to my M3 a few months back and it kind of just went away on it's own (meaning CA started to work again)

Not sure what to do...X.x.....

Thanks

Are your windows tinted?

[THE TECH]

Originally Posted by Kyoshi71

Are your windows tinted?

Yes, he has the Huper Optik iirc.

[Kyoshi71]

Originally Posted by THE TECH

Yes, he has the Huper Optik iirc.

Well Sir, there you have it; or at least contributing to it.

You and I have been on a tint thread not too long ago where I claimed this can happen.

I had Huper and replaced it because of CA failure.

Originally Posted by persian54

Got it tinted months ago, but it's ceramic so it shouldn't interfere.

This is bad info thats been floating around here for a long time. Ceramic & Metallic tint mess with CA, remote distance, AM radio and who knows what else. Ceramic is less harmful than metallic, but none the less harmful.

[persian54]

Originally Posted by THE TECH

Yes, he has the Huper Optik iirc.

It's 3M ceramic actually. Not sure if the same?
Also, why would CA not work inside the car? The car doesn't even recognize the key is inside anymore...
I Have had the same tint on my 335, previous Z4, current M3... All with CA and no problems. But more importantly we had no issues with this Z4 until only recently.
Also issues occur even with top down and windows down...
Z4 is pretty much stock, daily driven with about 5k miles on a little under 4 months

I'll hook it up to a charger and see what happens...

[THE TECH]

Originally Posted by Kyoshi71

Well Sir, there you have it; or at least contributing to it.

You and I have been on a tint thread not too long ago where I claimed this can happen.

I had Huper and replaced it because of CA failure.



This is bad info thats been floating around here for a long time. Ceramic & Metallic tint mess with CA, remote distance, AM radio and who knows what else.

Very interesting. Which tint are you currently using?

Tint would not have effect on the battery drain issue that he is having unless the tint is causing the car to work harder finding the FOB or something like that.

[THE TECH]

Originally Posted by persian54

It's 3M ceramic actually. Not sure if the same?

I Have had the same tint on my 335, previous Z4, current M3... All with CA and no problems. But more importantly we had no issues with this Z4 until only recently.

Z4 is pretty much stock, daily driven with about 5k miles on a little under 4 months

I'll hook it up to a charger and see what happens...

My mistake. Thank you for clarifying.

[Kyoshi71]

Originally Posted by THE TECH

Very interesting. Which tint are you currently using?

Tint would not have effect on the battery drain issue that he is having unless the tint is causing the car to work harder finding the FOB or something like that.

Your right about the fob. But if you always keep it in your pocket and it doesnt recharge, the range will be cut down, and then with the tint thing......Deadness.

After my Huper fiasco (and the $$$ wasted) I did some research and switched to Suntek Carbon. It was night & day better but still not perfect. If I back into my garage, my remote only intermittently opens the door because the signal has to go through the back window.

Huper Optik sent a bulletin out to their techs stating that the problem could be fixed by adding a horizontal slice across the back window between the defroster lines. We tried it. It looked like shit and still didnt work.

BMW put out a TSB stating that NO TINT is approved for the car because of the sensitive electronics.

You can get by with Suntek Carbon series or LLumar ATX. 3M makes a tint that wont screw with the electronics either but I cant recall the name.

Bottom Line............No Ceramic tint.....Regardless of brand.

[persian54]

Originally Posted by Kyoshi71

Your right about the fob. But if you always keep it in your pocket and it doesnt recharge, the range will be cut down, and then with the tint thing......Deadness.

After my Huper fiasco (and the $$$ wasted) I did some research and switched to Suntek Carbon. It was night & day better but still not perfect. If I back into my garage, my remote only intermittently opens the door because the signal has to go through the back window.

Huper Optik sent a bulletin out to their techs stating that the problem could be fixed by adding a horizontal slice across the back window between the defroster lines. We tried it. It looked like shit and still didnt work.

BMW put out a TSB stating that NO TINT is approved for the car because of the sensitive electronics.

You can get by with Suntek Carbon series or LLumar ATX. 3M makes a tint that wont screw with the electronics either but I cant recall the name.

Bottom Line............No Ceramic tint.....Regardless of brand.

Interesting stuff
Thanks for the info

But I am still curious why it affects the car even with the top down and windows down?

LLumar sounds familiar! Maybe it was LLumar? It's either that or 3M something. It's been a while...

[THE TECH]

Originally Posted by Kyoshi71

Your right about the fob. But if you always keep it in your pocket and it doesnt recharge, the range will be cut down, and then with the tint thing......Deadness.

After my Huper fiasco (and the $$$ wasted) I did some research and switched to Suntek Carbon. It was night & day better but still not perfect. If I back into my garage, my remote only intermittently opens the door because the signal has to go through the back window.

Huper Optik sent a bulletin out to their techs stating that the problem could be fixed by adding a horizontal slice across the back window between the defroster lines. We tried it. It looked like shit and still didnt work.

BMW put out a TSB stating that NO TINT is approved for the car because of the sensitive electronics.

You can get by with Suntek Carbon series or LLumar ATX. 3M makes a tint that wont screw with the electronics either but I cant recall the name.

Bottom Line............No Ceramic tint.....Regardless of brand.

Great info! Thanks!

[///My5UV]

WTF!? I've got F1 Pinnacle ceramic on my E90 and CA works fine.
It only costs a couple bucks to change the batteries in the remotes, which you have to do periodically since they DO NOT recharge in the car. It's the easiest thing to try.
It's possible that the fobs were kept right at the edge of the CA range for a while before you got the car and the batteries got drained.

Edit:
Oh, but the biggest hint is the battery warning in the idrive screen... your car's battery, for whatever reason is low, which will affect many systems in the car. Given that it's a Z4, maybe you don't drive it often? We had to get a battery tender for our Z3 since it kept killing batteries if it wasn't driven daily.

[persian54]

Originally Posted by ///My5UV

WTF!? I've got F1 Pinnacle ceramic on my E90 and CA works fine.
It only costs a couple bucks to change the batteries in the remotes, which you have to do periodically since they DO NOT recharge in the car. It's the easiest thing to try.
It's possible that the fobs were kept right at the edge of the CA range for a while before you got the car and the batteries got drained.

Edit:
Oh, but the biggest hint is the battery warning in the idrive screen... your car's battery, for whatever reason is low, which will affect many systems in the car. Given that it's a Z4, maybe you don't drive it often? We had to get a battery tender for our Z3 since it kept killing batteries if it wasn't driven daily.

5k miles in 3.5 months is pretty often no?

that's more than my M3. I have a little over 10k miles in 11.5 months.

I think it's the battery thing...but wtf? why? car is only 3.5 months old!
and fob battery too...

key 1 in about 20-30 feet above the car, key 2 is about 20-30 feet to the left.
both ways have a couple walls in between the car and the key..

[spdy330]

I have Huper Optik with no issues. Let us know the outcome when you get it fixed.

[BMW Fanatic]

Before the problem started to occur did you always rely on CA, as in never put the key in the ignition? This could be the problem and explains why it's dying.. I try using the key in the ignition at least 30-40% of the time, keeps it from dying I'm assuming.

Window tint shouldn't interfere with anything, I'm pretty sure that's just a myth especially with the tints that are out these days, no radio interference etc etc.. Good luck in figuring it out, why don't you get loaners from the stealership anymore?