quack_6mt

I had the car sitting (in pieces) for over a month while I slowly did a bunch of work (replaced water pump, diff fluid, trans fluid, brake/clutch fluid, charge pipe, etc etc). Stupidly, I forgot to put it on a battery maintainer for most of that time.

Well, I finished up all the work, got in the car, and it started after only a couple seconds of cranking (only slightly longer than usual). I'm thinking DANG the battery in mine is a champ! However, I started getting the 2DED DME code most of the time I start it up.

Almost every time I start it in the morning (when it's been sitting for 10+ hours) the 2DED code comes up. If I drive it for 30+ minutes then let it sit for 3 hours or so, the code doesn't come back most of the time. It's somewhat erratic in whether it shows up or not.

HOWEVER, the one consistency is that MY CAR NEVER HAS TROUBLE STARTING. I've let it sit for days or even a week, and it still starts just fine every time. If I really had a big battery drain, I doubt this would be possible. For this reason, I believe the 2DED code is illegitimate. I've seen some posts with TSBs from BMW having to do with certain modules staying awake, etc but I'm not sure any of those apply to LCI E6x's. Those issues seem to have only impacted Pre-LCI E6x's.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!

donpb

It's most likely an intermittent that may or may not get worse. If it's not causing any problems, then there is no need to keep scanning for it.

seanjordan20

Modules staying awake is a BMW thing. Do not try and point it to a certain model as modules go bad in every BMW and can cause a battery drain.

I would assume you need to charge your battery is why it keeps saying you have a low battery drain. The error is definitely not a false positive because the system records voltage throughout the battery's life. To me, it just makes too much sense that you didn't charge your battery during the work and now it sees that it has drained hence the warning. Either way it needs to be addressed with charging the battery or programming a new one if the maintenance work is indeed the reason for the warning.

donpb

Check the Charge histogram. If it's not marginally low, I would be very surprised.

quack_6mt

Thanks for the responses! I'm still waiting on a K+DCAN cable that I recently ordered from Bimmergeeks. I also have their "BMW Standard Tools" installed, but haven't gotten around to messing with it since I don't have the cable yet.

I assume I can find the battery histogram in ISTA somewhere? If you know any good tutorials/videos on how to use the software included in "BMW Standard Tools" please let me know!

Also, I doubt my battery is low on charge because I have been driving it consistently now for 3 months or so. I have done plenty of long drives (1+ hour) which should give the alternator ample time to recharge the battery to it's maximum usable capacity. Of course, the SOH may not be great as it is probably an older battery (haven't replaced it since I bought the car). BUT, I remind you, I NEVER had the 2DED code until it sat for about a month. Do you think that letting the battery drain in that time and then the alternator charging it back up could have reduced the SOH that much? I don't know, maybe. Let me know your thoughts.