lcc014

My 2005 530i's original battery does not hold charge recently. The lens on top of the battery showed "Green" color. I measured the voltage across battery terminals when car was running, it was 14.4V. When car was driven for a long distance and shut off, battery voltage across terminals was about 12.5V. When car sat overnight and before starting it in the morning, voltage was 11.5V. I had difficulty or slow crank to start the car lately. Sometimes, the date/time was reset after start - just like the battery was gone and came back.

Does the lost of charge indicate that the battery is almost time to go ? Or something else in the car is draining the battery ? I am still debating which kind of battery to get (dealer or aftermarket: OEM) if I do need a new battery. Also, the battery registration thing ....

Any suggestion is appreciated.

Thanks,

umichchris

i had similar problems (and a few additional ones too). definitely replace the battery....they are only good for 6 or 7 years anyway. i went the aftermarket route and bought a Bosch battery from Pepboys....cost me $94 and i popped it in myself....my local Steelership wanted $380 for the same damn thing....i gracefully declined lol

good luck!

Gilgorm

Your battery is old and not holding a charge overnight. Before looking for potential drains, I would replace the battery. My brand new battery 'lens' has been black since it was installed. The lens is not reliable in all batteries.

pcy

Battery can still be bad even though the battery status lens shows green. One cell could've gone bad. The green cell is showing the performance of ONE of the 6 cells inside.

BIM530I

Spend $100 on the most comparable battery to your OEM's before the lack of current mess up other modules in your car today! I think my CCC went out (expensive replacement!) because of the battery; all the shops kept saying my battery was good. lol

Also, our cars should not be jump started too often! That can mess up your IBS.

I bought my car brand new and had two (or was it three?) OEM battery replacements already. The 3rd one was an after market and it seems to work a lot better than OEM's. Sorry, I can't remember the name because Soley Bimmer(repair shop) replaced it a few months ago.

Good luck!

lcc014

Thanks for the information. I am thinking about Interstate's MTP-H9. I have no idea that Bosch make one for our E60 too. I definitely will check that one out. So far, I don't have to jump start my car yet because the car would start after a couple slow crank.

balbs

Check the date stamp on the negative pole of the battery. It has 2 numbers on top indicating the week of the year and 2 numbers below for the year. If it's older than 5 years, just replace it. Also, I heard that if the battery is failing, the system will kill power to non-essential devices such as the clock. The last think it will do is let you start the engine before it completely dies.

BIM530I

Yeah, I think my last replacement was an Interstate battery. Sorry, I can't rememer the model number.

As long as the specs are close to your OEM battery, you should be fine.

Good luck!

lcc014

I bought my car in 2004 November, so the battery is almost 7 years old. A member mentioned he used Bosch battery from Pepboys. Which Bosch battery will work with our E60? I saw S5533B, S5572B and S6587B (AGM battery). I have not seen Interstate coming out with a AGM battery for our car.

Thanks,

lcc014

After you replaced the battery with Interstate, did you go to dealer to register the battery ? There are many discussion about the registration, very confusing....

Thanks,