Mtec09

Battery seemed to get a bit sluggish so I plugged on a battery charger, no joy so I disconnected battery then tried another charge. In the process the battery cables touched, would this do any damage? There was no battery attached at the time as said. Charger is saying battery is full but car isn't starting lights come on on dash and attempts to start but doesnt turn over. Will new battery solve this and will it need 'coded' to the car to tell it it's a new one? Any help appreciated.

sanjsanj

try a battery out of another car?

Also, I read somewhere that a faulty IBS could stop the engine from starting too. use the "Secret OBC Menu" (number 7 or 9) to get a voltage reading and report back.

The car should start without any coding and the cables touching with no battery attached won't have caused any harm. Are you sure it was the battery getting sluggish, and not the starter motor?

Mtec09

Thanks for the reply, I'll look into the obc menu tomorrow. Any idea what values I should be getting from the menus? Well I think it's the battery for sure, car seemed sluggish to start and threw up a random error about steering servo, steering was heavy for a while until I restarted car then was fine. I have the battery charging now overnight so will give it a go tomorrow.
Any one know of a good battery to replace the eom one with without visiting dealer? The battery I have came from dealer in oct 2010..

sjv5

A friend of mine bought a replacement battery for his 550 at walmart and has had no problems.

sanjsanj

[font="'Comic Sans MS"]the halfords bosch one is the exact same one that comes factory fitted. cost me £129.99. [/font]
[font="'Comic Sans MS"]Plus, if you can get the battery to them, they'll test and to tell you if it's faulty or not.[/font]

[font="'Comic Sans MS"]edit:[/font]http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_11101_catalogId_15551_productId_73 4844_langId_-1_categoryId_212578#tab2

Mtec09

My battery is still under warranty,dealer wants £46 to do an energy diagnosis, if it turns out the battery is at fault then there will be no charge. Not sure what to do as I don't want to pay dealer for them to say its not the battery at fault. Used the obc menu 9 when car was running it showed 14.8v, menu 7.02 flashed between 170h/171h/16Fh. Not sure what those results mean though?

sanjsanj

Sorry, yeah, I forgot if it was menu 7 or 9, that's why I mentioned the both of them, I knew it was one of them. 7's just gibberish, ignore it, 9 was obviously the right one.
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[font="'Comic Sans MS"]I can only recommend going to halfords for a free battery check. Dealers take too much money for plugging in a computer and translating the faults codes into english these days, and after doing so there's no guarantee you'll know what the problem is.[/font]
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[font="'Comic Sans MS"]How was starting the car after the overnight charge? did it sound any better?[/font]
[font="'Comic Sans MS"]14.8v is a strong reading, so your alternator (and therefore charging) sounds fine.[/font]
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Mtec09

I had the battery tested at a local garage after a full charge and the voltage dropped from approx 10/9 volts to 8 so i don't think it's in great condition, although only about a year old.
After the overnight charge car was dead still, not enough power to start, but lights on dash. I hooked a new battery up to the car using the connections under the bonnet to give it a boost and it started, after a few minutes running it would turn off and back on ok without the new battery connected. Any ideas?
I agree, dealers do charge way too much :thumbsdown: , worried they will put the fault down to something else and I'll be out almost another £50 and still need a battery.
Thanks for the help sanjsanj

sanjsanj

[font="'Comic Sans MS"]At 9 volts I'd say you have a 2 bad cells in the battery, which is very poor. One bad cell is enough to give you starting grief (though with a stroke of like you might still get it started). 2 cells? Definite nono.[/font]
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[font="'Comic Sans MS"]With 12.5 volts showing with the ignition on, my voltage drops to 9odd V during startup, so yours will drop waay too low to crank it.[/font]
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[font="'Comic Sans MS"]According to my experience, batteries with bad cells tend to be very sporadic before they die completely. One minute they can be fine, next minute, completely dead. My old car: started up no problem. Drove 120 miles in 2.5 hours, constantly (and therefore was charging constantly). Got into car for return journey, key position 3, nothing. After a short while, clicking from starter motor (indicates weak battery). Rang AA and waited for them. In the mean time, 15 mins passed and I tried again? viola, it started like there wasn't even a problem![/font]
[font="'Comic Sans MS"]Got home, switched off and immediately decided to check if battery okay: attempt start up, no problem again! Tried in the morning, fired up again! Tried a whole week later, dead again. Jumped it and took to halfords, the guy brought out some kind of tester (NOT voltmeter) and told me battery needed replacing.[/font]
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[font="'Comic Sans MS"]In the morning, before attempting start, key position 1, check menu 9, note down volts, then put in key position 2 and check volts again. Then see what happens to the volts when you try to start it (key pos 3).[/font]
[font="'Comic Sans MS"]If you want to run your own diagnosis, next time it doesn't crank, get another car, disconnect battery from "another" car, connect jump leads from e60 battery directly to terminals of other car (MAKE SURE YOU COMPLETELY REMOVE BATTERY FROM "ANOTHER" CAR FIRST, you don't want to assist/boost it, BUT NEITHER DO YOU WANT TO SHORT CIRCUIT IT!!!)[/font]

dragonfx

I don't want to scare you or anything but you should read this post..

https://5series.net/forums/topic/122...ars-worldwide/