Increased emissions with odd temp gauge behavior. Bad battery?

[850tgul]

Hi All,
This post is perhaps a bit premature as I am in the middle of trouble shooting myself but wondering if anyone else has run into these issues.
After a spirited drive the other day the "increased emissions" light popped up. Conditions were about 50 degrees out and the fuel was getting low. Car seemed to warm up normally and drove perfectly fine before and after. Read the codes and had the following:

Engine
P3198 Engine Coolant Temperature Malfunction
2AFD relative time, plausibility
2AF9 engine coolant temp sensor

Traction
5E5B switch pressed longer than 10 sec or faulty

Instrument Cluster
A559 power supply switched off

I'm focusing on the engine codes as I believe the traction issue could be down to a painted M button I recently installed sticking a bit when pressed in and I also swapped the steering wheel at the same time and thus disconnected the battery which I'm guessing threw the instrument cluster code.

Checked the coolant level (it was fine) and cleared the code to see if it was a fluke and drove it again yesterday. The code returned and I noticed the car took a very long time for the temp gauge needle to barley move. After about 10 minutes of it hardly budging it shot up very quickly right before my eyes, it then shot down just as quickly to zero. It never overheated and after the quick up and down it eventually leveled out at the normal operating temp and stayed there. Again, car seemed to drive just fine.

Spoke to the previous owner who was very helpful and indicated he would sometimes see this fault until he started charging the battery after which time it disappeared.

It seems like some pretty weird stuff can happen if the battery is low. Curious if anyone had every experienced the temp gauge going crazy as I described from the battery.

I am currently reconditioning the battery with my CTEK to see if that fixes it. If so I will likely replace the battery.

[mrdoja]

The code returned and I noticed the car took a very long time for the temp gauge needle to barley move. After about 10 minutes of it hardly budging it shot up very quickly right before my eyes, it then shot down just as quickly to zero.

The gauge is oil temp not coolant temp...No?

[850tgul]

Originally Posted by mrdoja

The code returned and I noticed the car took a very long time for the temp gauge needle to barley move. After about 10 minutes of it hardly budging it shot up very quickly right before my eyes, it then shot down just as quickly to zero.

The gauge is oil temp not coolant temp...No?

It shows as oil temp but iirc the actual measurement is a combo of oil and coolant temps.

[850tgul]

Update. Reconditioned the battery and have been charging it since Wednesday night. Drove the car today and the error remained. Temp gauge took forever to get up to 190 or so but never quite reached 210 even after my 45 minute commute.
I am going to try to read the voltage when driving to see if it is where it needs to be.
Should I just be picking up a new thermostat and/or coolant sensor at this point?

[Mvy]

I think thermostat is the likely candidate for this. FCP has the Mahle ones for 30 bucks. Or you can pay 100 for BMW.
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...m6-11537836155

[850tgul]

Originally Posted by Mvy

I think thermostat is the likely candidate for this. FCP has the Mahle ones for 30 bucks. Or you can pay 100 for BMW.
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...m6-11537836155

I'm starting to think so too. Worth it to do water pump while I'm in there? Car is a 2011 with just under 30k miles.

[Mvy]

Originally Posted by 850tgul

I'm starting to think so too. Worth it to do water pump while I'm in there? Car is a 2011 with just under 30k miles.

If you dont mind spending the 400 bucks, why not? I know you are low mileage but age is a factor too. I started to replace fuel/water pumps at 7 years of age.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...-11517838201kt