rice_rocket88

So I just was looking through threads trying to see if anyone had this symptom, but it seems that almost everyone had something show up/error.

I just went away for 3 weeks on vacation, nice and hot outside.. came home and I "thought" car might have cranked slower.. but no problems, went to work (a good 30 mins in.. 1 hr back in traffic) and nothing. This morning I had to ferry the kids to school, grocery store, and bank... last stop, car just moaned and didn't crank. Tried it a few more times hoping it would catch quick but nothing.

I ran over to direct tire and asked for a jumper pack, which they had a small one there. It didn't do anything initially, I really thought it was simply drained. But we let it stay hooked up for 5 minutes or so while I was debating calling the wife to come bring me a jumper pack.. or use my AAA card which I haven't in 8 or 9 years.

Well then it started up and was fine. Zero errors, car acted 100% normal, with the only exception of the time and date reset, as well as my trip-odometer and mileage etc. Everything else stayed, no errors.. nada.

I'm going to see how it behaves when I get off work and maybe hook it up to the trickle charger overnight. I'm inclined to go order a new battery.. I at least know a friend with a shop that can register the battery. But it seems that nobody has had an error free... and no warning coming battery kind of .. kick the bucket?

E60Japanese

I had a similar problem when I bought my E60

The battery would take a charge and I was able to start the car
but if I left it a few days or travelled a while it wouldnt turn the car over but when the car was running it was perfect.

I had no dash warning lights

I checked the battery and it had low voltage and very low cranking power

My alternator also had a bad bearing noise so I changed that although it was charging okay

and then finally lololololol

The exciter wire in the back of the alternator was broken which caued the alternator to sometimes charge and sometimes not charge
I simply replaced about a foot of wire from the loom to the alternator

I have been driving for it for about 4 months since and had no problems

But you have a problem
1st
get your battery checked
2nd
Get your alternator checked

It could be either or both but I would bet its the battery

rice_rocket88

Well.. I got home okay and hooked up the trickle charger for 3 hours or so.. went to move the car, and nothing.. Which is odd to me... why would the trickle charger not work versus the car running and charging it?

Well I'm trying to get my friend to order me a battery asap... being out of one car sucks. Good thing I have the kid mobile minivan.. but it is some juggling. If I can't get a battery easily I might have to go to the autoparts store route. I saw a thread where a few people found the right battery. My friend, however, hates the thread since he said it's so complicated with BMW that he wouldn't trust it at all...

twh

I've replaced battery in both my BMW and wife's BMW with batteries from Advance Auto Parts. No problems. I did register them after a couple months when I got around to it. Just got the BMWhat App and dongle. It can also register and change battery type; think going from non-AGM to AGM.

Allen

Same thing happened to me...one day battery is fine...next day totally dead. You would think that a car as sophisticated as these would give you SOME sort of indication before the battery goes completely dead.

Ditto on the "complicated thread" comment...

rice_rocket88

so I decided.. it's $100 bucks more to go OEM. It was $275 for the battery and I just did it. The local advanced autoparts said they "think" they have it.. didn't bother to go check for me on the phone. It was still $175 for it. I got fed up and went ahead with it. So far just threw it in and got no other errors... I'll swing by my friends shop tomorrow morning to get it registered. I saw a short description on how to do it with my cable and the bunch of software.. but it's much easier to go say hi at a shop At least the size of that sucker is 2X the size of our minivan which I replaced last year and it still cost me $135. It's sort of like buying two batteries at once.. ha.

Blaze46

Hi all, Thought I'd chime in on this one... 2010 550i M-Sport

A little over a year ago, I had "Increased Battery Discharge" warning msg appear. Took it to the dealer and had the battery replaced. It was 4 yrs old, so that's about the time a new battery is needed.

Last week, car was driving fine. Went to the gym, came out and car wouldn't start. Didn't even try to crack over..just clicked while pushing the start/stop button. No warning lights appeared at all prior to not starting. Had a tow truck jump me w/ the jump box and it fired right up. Drove it strait to the dealer to get it looked at.

Its been there a week so far... doing a bunch of tests on the battery. Finally, they found that the bluetooth wire was not powering down when the car was off. This was pulling from the battery. So, the car is still at the dealer. Hoping to get it back today and have the problem fixed. Take away msg is there might be something more to your dead battery. It might be worth it to have the system checked for power drains.