One of my first posts in this forum was about my battery not being charged later found a bad alternator was the cause, then about six months after that the battery gave up, got a new battery. Second Battery gave up about 1 year and few months later, now I installed my third battery and this time I installed a non BMW battery, I was busy last few days and was driving my Land Cruiser and left my car with the new battery for 8-9 days. When I went back to start yesterday first the iDrive didnt come on, but radio/ CD and phone functions were ok. I turned the car off, checked the fuse, and then started the car, and saw it was reluctant to start, then after starting a few secs later iDrive came up, but the interior lights were flickering, I drove the whole day about 40 miles, and today the car started fine, but the lights were a bit flickering today as well.

So do you think because its a new battery and it needs more driving to get more juice? As of now I have NO error messages YET.


I also always leave my iPod in the glove box connected to the car and I have a nokia 6230i in the car cradle always on and in the cradle which I also leave in the car over night, is it not allowing the car to go to sleep mode?

third does the dealer have any special tool in progman by which it can detect why the vehicle is not going to sleep mode? If that is my case here........

 

Why don't you check yourself whether the car goes to sleep. If the red indicator light by the gear shifter stays on, your car is on. If the light is out, she's asleep...

 

is it supposed to go out in a few mins or right away?

 

the "amber" indicator light is ON always! it does not go out....

 

OK - that is your problem. It is supposed to go out in something like 10-15 minutes. Something is keeping your baby awake at all times/drawing power from the battery. Try and disconnect either your iPod of the phone to see who the culprit is.

 

I would agree that should be your problem (it is probably BOTH the phone and IPod being left plugged in). New batteries generally come fully charged so that's probably not the culprit. About a month ago, I left my IPod connected (forgot it) and didn't drive the car for a couple of days. When I came out to start it, it didn't crank as strong as normal and the electroincs were acting a bit "lazy" if that makes any sense. I haven't left the IPod plugged in and have never had the issue again.

Curious I have an '08 535i (6 sp manual tranny) - exactly what amber light are you referring to that should shut off The only one I can think of is the "Start" lettering on the start button that lights up when the key is 1st inserted......

 

it was the phone , car is now sleeping like a baby

 

The auto-tranny has small indicator lights next to the shifter which show what gear is engaged. We are talking about the amber or red light for "P." I don't have an LCI ('08) car, but wonder if that "Start Light" has the same function. Does it stay on for a while after you stop and park the car?

 

FYI, I have the ipod permanently in the car and leave my cell phone in the craddle quite often overnight. Car sleeps in any case after 15mins.

 

car goes to sleep mode even with phone in craddle and ipod connected in glove box, I thought my problem is gone... but today the battery just died......it does not display any msgs just a picture of the battery , took to the battery vendor, one of the cell seems to be bad, at this point I am just pissed off, My first BMW battery lasted about 6 months, second non BMW battery lasted about a little more than a year without any problems, and the new batter same as the second battery died in 8 weeks, battery will be replaced tomorrow but is something wrong with my car? the dealer service guys kept the car over night and checked everything updated software but couldn find anything wrong with the car, could my car damage a battery? or its just my luck that the battery came with a bad cell to begin with?