AP Sales

With 115,000 miles and almost 4 years old, and with cold weather coming, I had my battery replaced few weeks ago. Just took it to my local Goodyear tire dealer. Cost $200 for the Interstate battery, installed.

Have had no issue or problems whatsoever.

mikeg3tsguap

i think my alternator is going aswell i have dynmaic drive malfunction aswell as the power steering goes out after about 45mins of driving check;d the fluids and its fine also my pdc and my sos seized to work..

porsche911targa

This is true, however, I was told that the software compensates the alternator charging power over time. The logic being that it takes more to charge an older battery than a new one. All the 'registering' does is to tell the alternator that there's now a new battery and it does not need to charge it as much as an older battery. This registering essentially resets the clock and starts over. It kind of makes sense. I asked my independent shop guy if it's true and he said "yes" and they're capable of doing that too.

Isn't it a bit too much of a coincidence that all these alternator problems happen a few weeks after replacing the battery without registering it? My dealer replaced the battery under warranty, back in August, and I have not had a problem since.

salaki

^^^
Do you know how much does an Indy shop charge to "register" the new battery.?

Looks like my Battery Tender will never off the car when the car is parked in my garage.

porsche911targa

I never asked my indy because BMW covered mine under warranty, but I would guess that it would cost considerably less than the dealer.

JFiRB

What I also heard is if you don't register the new battery, the car will think it still has an very old battery and tries to conserve the electricity by disabling non-essential functions, which means you may get all sort of error messages.

My dealer charged me about $60 to register my own new battery. Also, right on the battery compartment, there is a label that says "after disconnecting battery, initialize the car blah blah....".

zen68

Yes, you DO need to register battery.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa38...6/ai_n32129310/

pauliehcfr

I am having similar problems such as yours. Radio sound cuts out for a couple seconds and the interior lights will flicker. Just wondering if you have solved your problems with a new alternator before I go and drop a few hundred on a new one. Thanks

mikeg3tsguap

im torn in the same boat i am out of warranty so my debit card is my warranty i know in my car its either the szl sensor or the alternator both repairs are about $600 each with labor =/ let us know if the alternator was the issue in your car

vwvwvw

That was an interesting article, but he didn't go into the benefits of using such a system. He only said, "... the electrical system is so sophisticated that it tailors charging as closely as possible to both the type and the age of the battery." I'd think it was to be able to discharge the battery more than a traditional charging system would, like on the F10 where charging the battery is held off until deceleration. But no one's said this about the E60.

Maybe the next time I go into the dealer I'll ask the SA about this.