JetBob

Hi, just went out to start the car at home and all I get is a 'click' followed by a 'buzz'. BMW emergency service on the way. Car was last used on Sunday for a long (2.5 hour) run. No problems before this. Any ideas?

Spyder44

I know this may sound stupid and please do not be insulted....did you leave the lights on?

JetBob

No offence taken but no, lights were turned off. Wouldn't I get a warning for that anyway? I've read stuff on the forum about cd players running continuously and that sort of thing. Don't know what software version I have though.
I've just looked at the battery telltale thing and it's green for good.
On an old car I'd be tapping the starter solenoid with a hammer or something!
Guess I'd better wait for the guy to show up.
I'll post what the outcome is.

kscarrol

How old is the car? You simply could have a bad battery. Never had it in my E60, but in other cars, a cell is bad and the battery won't hol enough charge to start the car. It will click and buzz etc but not enough power to crank the engine.

JetBob

It's registered Sept 1st 2006.
Why don't details appear in my messages? They're in my profile...

Iceman

If you want the details to appear in your posts you need to create a signature.

And you're right about the lights and other stuff. There would be a warning message and the systems would be shut off by the computer automatically to save enough power for another start of the engine.

aero76

[had the same problem....battery was flat

JetBob

Well the BMW emergency guy eventually showed up and simply started the car with leads from a power pack on his vehicle. Fine, but it doesn't leave me any the wiser about what caused the problem. After a few minutes he used a device to 'test' the battery and it came up 'battery good'. He said he wasn't allowed to replace the battery under these circumstances.
He advised me not to leave my Road Angel lead plugged into one of the aux power sockets, although I've had it there from day one with no problem before. I'll try this but not convinced.
All in all not very satisfactory and it's shaken my confidence in the car. At least if I could eliminate the battery that would be something...
Ah well, I guess I'll just keep calling them out until they figure it's cheaper to actually find the problem.

Edit: Thanks Iceman, done the signature thing

E60M5E60

The next time you are at the dealer have them check the "micropower" module.

bosg

Did you ever help someone else jump-start their car? I helped jump-start an SUV which drained my battery. I took my car for about a 40 mile drive just to pick some stuff from my friend's place, and 5 minutes later the car didn't start. This time my car had to be jump-started. I called BMW and told them my battery's no good. I have an '04, and they told me to bring my car in for a new battery. So just bring your car in, explained that it just died, had to get it started by Roadside, and I'm sure they will get you a new battery.