Two weeks ago I replaced my 5 year old, 48K battery with an exact spec Rayovac (made in Germany) from BatteriesPlus. Everything was fine for two days until I parked my car outside at LAX for 5 days during which we had torrential rain/wind in Southern CA. I replaced the battery because I received a couple "High Discharge" messages or something like that and I didn't want to get stranded. Soon after the problems have begun. 1. "Dynamic Drive Failure" every time I drive the car. 2. Vent/Heater blows erratically while the engine is under load when driving (it's fine at idle). 3. Stereo clips in and out 4. NAV data was completely lost and had to be reset by ejecting the DVD and re-inserting. I had the battery tested and it's fine. I reconnected the battery cables and they are secure. I checked under the spare tire and did not find any water from the high rains. It sounds like the alternator to me but it is a little to coincidental that it occurred right after battery replacement. Any thoughts??? - Thanks

 

Alternator. Had the same issues. Replaced it. All good. Knock on wood.

 

I'm currently having my alternator replaced at the dealership, today!

Covered by CPO warranty with deductible of $50. With no coverage, it may be around $800 at the dealership..

GL

 

Did you have the battery "registered?"

 

What is "Registered"?

 

When you install a new battery, BMW needs to "notify" your idrive, or the onboard cpu, that you have a new battery installed so as to recognize it, or so I was told by my SA on Saturday, 12-12-09. Even if you buy your own battery, they will charge about $150 for the "work" they do with your car.

There have been threads about this where a bad alternator kills a new battery in a few days due to the improper charge from the alternator.

 

I've heard that this information is BS from several other members. Also, i would think the alternator would show itself being weak at idle, rather than elevated RPM due to the more potential current output at elevated RPM...but i suppose anything is possible with these cars.

 

I have 2004 545i. I have the issue where the Dynamic Drive malfunction appears follow by the radio and ac cutting off then it goes crazy with the power steering and some other errors. i wonder if these are the same issues you had. Do you think will they get fixed by replacing the alternator?

thanks for your help.

 

Same here, replaced the battery, few days later I get a load of errors on the idrive again.

First check of the alternator was fine, the second time the alternator had no output, appears to have been an intermittent fault with the alternator.

 

Registering battery is only needed if it is a different spec then previosly registered battery. Needed to tell system how to much to charge battery. If same spec then no need to change anything.

Some alternator faults seen in BMWs include voltage spikes which cause CCC and other electronic modules to shut down to preserve themselves. This is momentary but usually leaves some fault code evidence. This a different fault mode than the more typical alternator fault of not charging the battery sufficiently.