turboawd

it'll at least tell you if your battery is original or not, if it says 06 or 07 on it, which is past its life whether it was sitting on a shelf or in your car.

JayArras

Well, I've had a very strange turn of events. I took people's advice and brought my 530xi to Advance Auto Parts to have the battery diagnosed. So the guy hooks the tester to the battery and gets a reading: "Battery OK, but low voltage. Charge the battery to proper level" or something like that. So then the guy instructs me to start the car. Nothing. It starts to crank, the headlights flicker, but all it does is click, click, click. So we wait a few moments. Same deal. So the guy goes back into the store and comes out with a battery booster. Same result. So I suggest we try jump starting it with my booster cables and another car. He agrees, so he pulls his truck alongside, we hook up the cables, and i attempt to start the car. Same thing...clicks and lights flickering. So I ask if he doesn't mind, let's leave the cables connected for about 5 minutes and I'll try it again. He's agreeable, so he goes back into the store to wait on customers and comes back in about 10. Okay... moment of truth...SAME DAMN THING!! WTF???

So this all took place in the early evening, so the indie mechanic I use is already gone, so I have to leave the car in the parking lot overnight and have it towed in the morning.

So the next day, I call the indie, explain what happened and have him arrange to have the car towed to his place two towns away. So he does. The diagnosis? The CAR STARTS when it gets to his place!! Can you believe?? He tests the battery - OK. He tests the starter - OK. He tests the alternator, the belts All OK. So he hooked the battery up to the charger for a nice deep charge. Later, I drove the car back home. He said there was no sense in changing anything if there was nothing indicating faulty. No point in spending more money if I don't have to. Oh, and the charge for the tow (actually flatbed)? A whopping $180.00! I was shocked! For a freakin' 10 miles or so!

So now I've got a drive-able car with an unknown problem. Wonderful!

BimmerFan52

Yeah, intermittent starting problems can be maddening.

Sometimes if the battery is very low the solenoid will move (click) but the starter motor won't turn over. Generally when this happens though, the interior lights are very dim and you won't be able to pull in the solenoid more than two or three times before there isn't even enough voltage for that and it will stop clicking when you turn the key. If simply a low battery was your issue then keeping the battery properly charged will solve your problem.

However, if the lights stayed strong (no dimming) and the solenoid would click as many times as you turned the key that points to the starter motor brushes. If that is the case you may go several thousand more miles without incident, but I predict that your problem will return and you will end up replacing the starter motor.

JayArras

Thanks! That provides some helpful insights. I'm hoping it's just the battery signalling that it's starting to fail. We came to the conclusion that it's probably the original, so at this point, it's going on 7 years old. It's still testing good, though.

turboawd

loose connection somewhere. you check to make sure battery cables are tight?

E60I

I had very similar experiences about two years ago, and it was a pain in the a@#! Every shop (including two BMW Dealers who also did the parasitic load test) I went to, told me the battery was fine. Because I listened to those supposedly experts, I ended up owning two of these: Sears.com

For about a month or so, I often had to get jump starts from strangers or AAA because the above tool (portable power jump starter) is really useless when the car battery voltage level is too low. To keep my story short, the problem went away after the shop replaced the battery (after market), IBS and CCC (the most expensive fix since I owned my car!). Whether they were related or not, I think I f@cked up the CCC because I had too many jump starts!!!

From my personal experience (expensive one!), I recommend you not to jump start the car anymore!!! Replace your current battery with the most compatible after market battery and original BMW IBS. Get the battery registered and report back to us in a week or two. If you get positive result by following my advice, I think I may have saved you a lot of money from damaging your CCC (Car Central Computer?).

In any case, good luck!

JayArras

E60i, after your post I did some Google research on the IBS. (Before now, I didn't even know what it was.)

From what I'm reading, other's experiences seem to mirror my own. Most point to a faulty IBS. The Intelligent Battery Sensor's function is to properly put the car into sleep mode so that components don't drain the battery. The part has electronics that can be affected by moisture and goes bad over time. A faulty IBS will actually prevent the car from starting, which is what I experienced.

Some have recommended to simply disconnect the wire on the negative battery terminal (not the whole cable) that connects to the IBS and see if the problem I was experiencing persists. The car will still start. If after a couple of weeks I don't get the High Battery Discharge message, replace the IBS.

Had I known what I know now, I could have disconnected the wire, restarted the car and would have avoided having to have the car towed.

I'm getting conflicting messages as to whether the new IBS needs to be re-coded to record the battery output. Also, as this part is not cheap ($125-$200), I'm wondering what would happen if I just disconnect it and not replace it. Any thoughts?

E60I

J,

When they replaced my battery and IBS, I don't think they coded the IBS. I know they coded the battery and it literally took like a second or two.

If your battery is two years or older, why don't you just keep the IBS disconnected for as long as you can start the car up consistently? I think all you will risk to destroy is the battery.

radaddict

Here's some info I found on Bimmerfest that may be helpful: Faulty IBS sensor and negative battery cable replacement - Bimmerfest - BMW Forums
The reference to let the car idle for a few hours to initialize the IBS sounds bogus to me, but the other info may be useful.

Apologies for my first post pointing to another forum. ;-)

JayArras

I thought I'd leave it connected for now to see how it goes. The first sign that the problems are reoccurring, I'll disconnect it and once again monitor it. That way for sure I'll know that's what the problem is.

...or will I? If it's disconnected, and the purpose of the IBS is to put the car's electronics to sleep, won't I experience the same issues with battery drain?