Aftermarket VS. BMW Battery
01-10-2010, 05:23 AM
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My Ride: 2004 545, Sport Package, Steptronic, NAV, L7, PDC, Sunshades, Titanium Gray over Black, Bluetooth
Quick recap: 5 year old battery was getting tired so I swapped it out with a BattiesPlus Rayovac battery. Battery was exact spec and others on the forum have had success with it. I never got around to registering the battery. Soon after I began having problems: 1 dynamic drive failure (only when it was cold outside) 2 vent/heater surging 3 radio clipping in and out. Had the battery tested and all was ok. I finally brought it to BMW for an unrelated issue and had them look at it. Tech said that the battery was the problem - I had a hard time with that. He offered to register the aftermarket battery to see if that helped - it did not. I finally broke down and bought a battery from the parts dept and dropped it in myself. Sure as sh$& - it worked!! Problems gone. So for some of you an aftermarket battery may work or it may not. Registering the battery may or may not work - I guess that each of these cars are just different enough to make a differece. I'm just glad to have this fustration over. One positive note - BatteriesPlus took it's battery back after 30 days use. Hope this helps someone
01-11-2010, 07:24 PM
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Uh you got a bad aftermarket battery, should have exchanged it, i had i drive go down, abs, active steering go down, strange surging, and hard starts(random and would go away for days) on my 5 year old battery that still started the car and ran somewhat good, yes the batteries need to be in top condition, but i got one at autozone $179 made in germany with 3 years free replacement, with MORE CCA and better IMO, the car starts stronger, runs faster, no more surging and all seems great...... no registration needed thats a bunch of bs, the active steering came on i turned left and right and that was gone.....
01-11-2010, 09:25 PM
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My Ride: Alpine White 2006 530Xi (SLD)
I'm getting an OEM one - don't wanna mess with anything electrical. 200 with coding and all from Bay Diagnostic in Brooklyn.
01-12-2010, 06:19 AM
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My Ride: 2008 550I LOADED, all options except HUD and NV
This is my 5th year with my OEM battery, so I am SO glad to have both CPO and Maint warranty - it should be covered right?
01-12-2010, 06:21 AM
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Originally Posted by danzanchy' post='1088847' date='Jan 12 2010, 02:12 AM
why go with aftermarket and same specs? to me they seem almost equally priced 
