westsidebalto

This morning I had a noticeably slow turn-over on my 04 545i. I partly chalked it up to an overnight drop in temperature, but when I started it an hour later at the gym it was still sluggish.

After work, same thing, but it started so I drove home and parked in the driveway. Just now I went to move it into the garage, and I get Christmas tree lights on the dash and no hint of anything turning over.

My initial reaction was that it has to be the battery. The indicator appears black (but honestly I've never looked at it closely so I'm not sure how bright the yellow or green are).

I will jump it to see if that does the trick and then idle it for a while. If that doesn't work, should I assume it's the starter or maybe the alternator? I imagine the clutch/ignition relay that can fail would be an all or nothing type failure and wouldn't have warning signs.

Closest dealership wants $450 to replace and register....

westsidebalto

Date code is 17 06 on the battery, so that's almost 7 years, not bad. More evidence that it's the culprit.

westsidebalto

Andddd it started with a jump. Guess it's time to let it idle and hit the stealership tomorrow.

tonyb635

Funny conversation you are having with yourself here. I think you hit it though, the battery would be my choice. Go to autozone and get the gold with a 7 yr warranty. This is what I did and it works perfect. Make sure the cranking ams are the same. This was exact to mine. Their system will direct you to another battery but ask for one with what you have.

westsidebalto

What about the registration?

BimmerFan52

Indy should charge you about $50 for registration.

$tealerships get anywhere from $280 - $750 for a battery, depending upon how hungry they are.

tonyb635

I did mine myself or I think I did... It was so quick I'm not really sure it happened. Anyway, I'm not worrying about it because if the bat goes ill just exchange it out under warranty. So far over a year and no signs of any issues. If you can locate an Indy then go for that. Otherwise just leave it. That was the main reason I was saying get the exact CA,CCA. If you throw something else in there you may have to get it programmed and registered. Some here have done either so you will get lots of feedback for either way.

Bill109

im due for a battery as well, can you go a little further in depth in the programming and registration aspect, im slightly lost.
replacing a battery should be as simple and taking the old one out and puttint the new on in and hook it up to the leads..

however is there any way to do this without having to reset the sunroof? ie, anything you can put from one terminal to the new one so you dont break the circuit?
i replaced a battery in my e39 and the sunroof has never worked right since. (timing, reinitializing didnt work)

KLR4LIFE

You can get a battery from places like AutoZone, Advanced Auto Parts etc.. and it will save you a lot of money from going to the stealer. You can get a shop to register the battery to the car, make sure you get the battery registered it tells the car you have a new battery so the car adjusts its charging.

KLR4LIFE

Nope and i havent heard of that problem on the E60's.