ATLESixty

A few weeks ago my car began giving control messages on my i-drive screen for FTM failure, Transmission fault, Check battery terminals, ABS failure, DSC failure and the transmission would go into safe mode and tell me to drive moderately. I changed the battery with one from batteries plus thinking it was just a battery problem. A few days later all the same errors began appearing again on my i-drive screen. Since my car is out of warranty, I was hesitant to take it to the stealership and opted to take it to a BMW specialty service garage. When I first went in, I explained that I had indeed replaced the battery myself and that this WAS NOT the problem because it gave me the same messages with my BMW battery. Upon my return, I was told that you cannot just switch out a battery and that it had to be programmed to recognize the battery and that this was the source of my problems. I disagreed and tried to explain that this seemed to be a common problem and directed them to this site. I drove off hoping for the best. The next morning, bammo! same freakin control messages and transmission goes into its protect mode. I am about at my wits end!!! Two visits and two bills later and I am still stuck with a car that is almost undriveable. They now believe that there may be validity to some of the error messages I am getting and they want 2 days to go over all the systems. What should i do? Do I stick with these guys and see if they can figure it out or do I return to my stealership where they will probably be equally clueless but charge me thousands? And no, trading it in is not an option. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Scott

skylolow

Well you can register it in the system. To say that would fix all issues isn't guarnteed and chances are won't. Many people have changed it out themselves and no problems.

First off charge your battery over night. What might be happen in the battery is to drained from sitting at BP and your alternator can't fully charge it. BMW's battery setup is way over complex for no reason. You'd think the alt. could charge it fully if the car can start. But not with BMW's setup. There is also a module associated with the battery (forgot the name of it) and that could be faulty.

Charge the battery over night and see what happens. Its free and easiest thing to start with.

tbal

I had the same problem, and it was the battery. But since you already replaced the battery hmm

advancedlogic

What exact battery and series did you purchase? If the battery has less than the BMW rated CCA power, you'll get all kinds of random electrical glitches. On a related note, if the alternator isn't up to spec, charging voltages will be insufficient during runtime and that could also cause those gremlins. It is highly unlikely all those systems failed at once. But since each operates off of voltage differentials, instabilities in the charging/electrical system can cause false errors. Maybe you dealer can try a standard BMW battery to see if it helps. If so, then they can bill accordingly. If not, then they can rule out the battery and focus on other charging system elements (alternator, micro power control module, etc). Good luck and keep us posted on the outcome.

akfirepro

ALTERNATOR!!!!

parmblagan

i agree ALTERNATOR, the batt is fully charged when it was new, you used the car for a few days and no errors messages but when the battery discharged and the alternator was replacing the lost charge,you got the errors.

my sunroof wasnt opening and closing properly and i had to replace the battery but i didnt code the battery to the car. a few days later the sun roof was working fine. my old battery was knacked and wasnt supplying enough current to the sunroof.

mikeg3tsguap

Did you get this fixed yet?

nigxdoof

Alternator too.. I had the same problem.

jonestheman

I've had the exact same problem!!! Cost ?1200 at BMW - New Alternator. New Battery and Battery Sensor fixed with empty wallet.