despin5

Hello, I currently took my 2005 BMW 545i to my local dealership here in San Antonio, Texas because I wanted it to be checked out since a car rear ended mine (visually only paint damage) and hit my rear bumper. After two days of the car being in the shop, I get a call from the SA saying that my positive battery cable that goes from the back of the car, all the way to the front needs to be replaced (20 hours of labor at $140/hour plus the price of the part~$3,000 USD). Is this a problem that is heard of often or do you guys think it might have something to do with the accident?

balbs

How does that happen? It's a wire, it's flexible. Were you able to start the car after the rear end and even have the lights, radio, etc., working? I have personally disconnected the positive cable from the battery and it's only a 3' or 4' Ft piece and then connects to another wire that I guess goes to the front of the car under the hood. If it's only a minor rear end, how could it affect that cable? Stay away from that dealership and find a trusted independent.

or_550i

Were you able to drive it to the dealer? This sounds really fishy. The positive end of the wire from the battery is only about 2ft long... I call BS. Show up to the dealer (do not call ahead) and ask to see the damage. Then ask them to show you the voltage reading at the jumper terminal under the hood (if there's voltage between the jumper terminal and the body chassis they are lying sacks a poo).

despin5

I was able to drive it perfectly to the dealership with everything working fine. I actually drove the car for about a week and a half without any major problems. They said however that if I don't replace this cable I will start seeing some malfunction warnings every now and then these including lights coming on the dashboard or the screen module going out.

brendinernst

I just put my car up on the lift to check this out. There is a postive cable mounted under the car that starts at the trunk and goes all the way to the front of the car. The cable is about as thick as a nickle and from what I can tell it wouldn't take any longer that 3 hours to replace but what is their reasoning for replacement? Find a new dealer. The cable is visible when the car is on the lift.

balbs

Holy crap...Seriously, do what or_550i says and go to the dealership unannounced and get your car! Taking a wild guess but I wouldn't doubt you would be seeing funky dash errors only because they took some fuses out before handing the car over to you! Happened here on another thread. Go to the main E60 Discussion Forum and start a thread asking for reputable independent BMW shops in your area. I've seen a lot of members here that are from Texas. I'm sure you'll get at least 2 or 3 recommendations.

I'm curious...Is the car at the shop for body work only? Is something else wrong with the car aside from that and the alleged bad positive cable?

spediegunz

these dealerships are losing there minds lately they told me the same thing once cuz i had the dreaded Pass. Restraint System - Fault in passenger restraint system affecting airbags, belt tensioner, or belt-force limiter. Continue to wear the safety belt error message.

first they told me i have a seatmat sensor issue and wanted to charge me to check it cuz my car wasn't under warrenty despite there is a recall out on them...

then they changed there minds and told me no its my positive explosive terminal which may have been damaged in a car accident or roll over.. my car was never in an accident according to carfax at least.

anyway they didn't quote me all that money to fix it I think they said about 800 buck including labor, which is still ridiculous for a damn battery cable. so finally I went to an indy mechanic who used to work for bmw of Manhattan I don't really know what he did but 50 bucks later the error was gone and never to return.

But if you were rear ended who cares what bmw wants to fix and charge that's what insurance is for unless you gotta really high deductible

turboawd

Demand to see the damage. This sounds ridiculous.

rafichicago

The piece that runs from battery and connects with the rest of the cable running to the front of the vehicle cost $350.

TJBentley

You're definitely one of the Go To guys around here lol. Had that dreaded passenger restraint system malfunction warning on my iDrive for 2 years already. John at Motorcepts tried to clear it and it cleared but came back after a few days. You mind sharing where you went to that indy to get it fixed? Need to get mine checked out ASAP