smurf520i

Apologies, I know that there have been a number of discussions on this but not seen a recent one and therefore not sure if things have changed since.
I need to change my car's battery. It has not gone flat yet (after 7.5 years) but I'd like to change it anyway in preparation for the coming winter.
Could I/should I do it myself or should I take it to the dealers in case they need to re-program anything?

sanjsanj

change it yourself and you'll save bucks. BMW would program it if they changed it for you. If you have a diagnostic cable then by all means you can program it yourself, but there are many reports of people changing batteries themselves and have been fine without needing programming.


Sanj

neoe60

Thanks Sanj!

What's the current most compatible one to buy? I've seen the brand Werker on many forums but Rayovac bought that company and a Battery Plus employee told me that they aren't true AGM batteries.

donpb

i just popped in a 900cca battery from Autozone. no programming needed. been working fine for years.

sanjsanj

Hey neoe60! Nice choice for your profile picture btw

I don't know much about the brands available in the U.S., so I cant recommend anything, but my general knowledge tells me that all lead acid batteries have pretty much the same technology in them because you can't change much in the simple lead + acid make up of them. Chemically, they will all produce the same volts.
So, assuming all of them are pretty much the same, all you need to make sure is that you match or (preferably) exceed the capacity of the original battery (measured in mAh) because e60's are power hungry. The other thing you might want look out for is the "cold cracking amps" if you live in a particularly cold climate and leave your car outside rather than in a garage.