Thanks for the block of wood information

I will keep that in mind when I need to replace my battery.

Right now, I'm using Battery Tender to make sure that my "German" battery will last me a while.

 

My wife was driving the car today while it threw every code in the book at her. I had her pull over on a side street to stop/restart but it wouldnt start. No sound.

I had it towed to the local dealer, they can't look at it until next Thursday due to current load. I'm gonna buy a battery in the mean time to see if fixes the issue.

Anyone know what tools are required to remove panel and battery so I can show up prepared?

 

 

You need a slotted screwdriver to remove the panel and then I think you need a 10, 11, 13 and one other metric socket. Very basic tools. Oh and a phillips screwdriver for the clamp that holds the battery in place.

 

Great info and presentation Marc!

I have had similar problems but at an earlier stage, of battery life, than you.

I think (speculate) that the system shuts down ?lower priority? functions (e.g., AS) first so as to not prevent starting the engine.

In my case(s) the AS would be disabled and instrument cluster saved data was zeroed but the engine did start. After a few hundred yards of driving the AS would initialize but I had to manually reset the time and date and the trip odo, elapsed mpg restarted at zero.

After much go around with the dealer I ended up with a ?trickle charger? that I will have to use on occasion. Though called a trickle charger it will monitor the charge and shut down at full charge.

BTW, my OEM battery is 110 AH.

My 550 is 18 months old an has approximately 20,000 miles.

Many thanks for your input.

sixcard

 

my battery is going bad and iwas wondering could i replace it with a optima red top battery?

 

As far as I know no Optima battery is approved for your BMW. I won't risk it with how electronically fussy these cars can be.

 

I put the recommended werker battery (SLIP5R-LI) in the car today, it started right up. I did the active-steering reset and then shut the car off. On startup, the alert wasnt there but I had a CEL with the increased emmisions message. I drove it home, but half way I got an alert on the driving system (car may not handle correctly, slow down in turns) so I shut it off, then started it. The CEL and the new alert were gone. Hmmmm.

Hopefully screen remains alert free, so far so good. Thanks for the info and help.

 

Hi guys, long time no post. I moved, new job, not as much time to surf, etc. Oh, and those carbon-fiber "style" grills that I got finally started turning yellow and peeling, so I guess they weren't that great after all (although I got my $24,95 out of them).

Anyway, I have been having the same problems discussed above: steering malfunction light, active steering light, usually only in the mornings on start up when the weather is near 0. My battery is still original, so going on 5 years old. When I start it in the AM, in turns over slowly and then starts. I am thinking maybe I just need to change the battery.

Can anyone confirm what has been said on here about the active steering failure being related to a low battery? Has anyone put in the 49DL battery from Autozone rather than the 95R, and if so, have you had any problems with it?

thanks guys.

 

My bad - SLI95R-LI