carolbob

Last week I told my SA that I was going on a road trip and had him check out my car to make sure that it would be safe and in good condition to take on a 400 + mile round trip. I drove up to my cabin without incident on Thursday. On Sunday when the car was packed up and I was literally ready to leave my cabin to go back home, the car wouldn?t turn over. It was throwing lots of different codes, etc....needless to say, I called BMW assist who said my battery was likely drained and they had a tow truck come out and jump my battery. The car started up after a few tries and drove without incident for over 4 hours. The whole time I had the error message that said my battery had high drainage (or something like that). Today (the day after this incident) my car started right up even with the same error message. I drove it around for a few minutes and reset the time, etc...and it was fine.

Tonight, several hours later, I get in the car fully expecting it to not start, but it started fine. Not only did it start right up, but there were no error codes whatsoever. It?s like it never happened. Now, I know that once a battery goes bad, it stays bad. Could this be an electrical issue? BTW, the car is a CPO 2008 and as far as I know, it?s still on it?s first battery. Out here in the desert, batteries only last a couple of years so I?m not suspicious of the battery dying, what doesn?t make sense is that the error code would go away. Has anyone had this happen to them? Is this anything that my SA would/should have been able to check for? I plan on taking it in tomorrow to see what he says. Thoughts? Similar experiences?

lightfytr

Sounds like its time for a new battery. CPO wont cover it but if you are still on the intitial warranty you should get it swapped. I just swapped mine for a Wal-Mart battery $77. Cant beat it.

Theo

It is not uncommon at all for battery associated problems to come and go, same goes for alternator issues and the combination of both which you'll find as well.

Good luck with solving the issue!

Excession

This site should have a sticky strongly recommending to anyone who owns or is planning to purchase a 5 series as a non daily driver or weekend only toy to purchase a battery charger/tender. Too many stories on this site and throughout the net about BMW's unique battery maintenance requirement.

carolbob

My daily drive to work and back is 50 miles a day, that?s not including errands or anywhere I go before or after work. I?ve put well over 20K miles on it in less than 1 year.

BTW my SA let me know that they are keeping the car overnight to see what?s causing the battery to drain. I was hoping it would be a cut and dry battery replacement...should?ve known better after a track record of 10 times in to be serviced for different things in less than 1 year of ownership. Really, really tired of this b.s. :thumbsdown:

Excession

Sorry, no disrepect intended, just assumed (I know) that since you had driven up on a Thursday and driven back on Sunday; that the car had stayed motionless during that time; which given my experience would mean a 50% charge or less in the battery and I have dealt with those some error messages as a result.

I just think the way too easy answer is just put a new battery in it and call it a day; I have other vehicles which tend to sit idle for similar amounts of time (with original batteries of the same vintage as my E60) and don't have the same issues.

carolbob

The weird thing was that my SA performed a diagnostic which said that the key was left in the transmission or the radio was left on??? Nothing further from the truth. I would never leave the keys or radio on in my car...never have. In the end, he put a new battery in, reprogrammed it, and charged me $400. I don?t know...just another blemish on the reliability issue, but this time it cost me $$$

kane1111

Good Luck Dude,, You should be fine tho!!!

Excession

Ha, got to love those service dept's. Quoted same and mine was diagnosed as a bad cell. I declined cause they had already ripped me off for too much for a simple service. Got a quote of $260-$300 for an AGM replacement from my local bimrs.org indy shop. Eventually I'll pull the trigger as I'd rather have the AGM battery but the following article makes me doubt whether I should bother doing so.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/bmw...iving-machine/

carolbob

Thanks for the link, very interesting!