Patrick E61

It has been cold here (nothing new), and already on Saturday, I had trouble getting the 530d started. I suppose that is a problem when just doing short runs in town, having the seat heaters on, fan on, etc., in cold weather.

Last night, it got really cold (-26°C), and today the E61 was dead this afternoon.

The interior lights, dash lights, fan all work. But it would not turn over.

I tried to charge it for about 3 hours, no help.

I tried to jump start it with a co-workers car, no help. Even after 25 minutes, it did the same thing - just a slight turn over, then nothing.

ABS warning light, the <-----> warning light and some other lights came on, Xenon headlights were strobing, and then we gave up. The car was towed to my service department, and it will probably tomorrow evening before I hear anything (and they get the car warmed up).

Does this sound like a dead battery, or something more expensive?

phelix

Unless it's a very strong charger 3 hours won't make much of a dent. Typical battery charger is perhaps 8 amps and for a 100 amp-hour battery that will result in a 25% charge at best. And if the battery is more than a few years old and has been thoroughly discharged it probably is no longer capable of holding much of a charge.

And jump leads need to be pretty thick and left in place for perhaps 10 minutes or more with the donor car's engine running to give the dead battery somewhat of a charge and then transfer enough current to start a big and cold diesel engine.

So, in a wordy way, probably nothing more than a dead battery!

355dreamer

Sounds like a battery. I just replaced mine, and it was $300 USD

yeewiz

sounds like my story. just got back driving the wagon from Dallas where there was about 2 weeks of sub-freezing weather (just 28 deg F, LOL, not like you really cold climate guys). now back in SF where it's toasty at 50 deg, go to start the wagon after it's been sitting for 3 days, and barely a turnover and then dead. put a jumper on to my running 330ci, nothing. WHAT???? readjust all the jumper cable clamps, still nothing. finally, roughed up the negative terminal nut with the jumper clamp to ensure good contact, and finally got it started. whether it was roughing up the negative terminal or it just happened to be 10 minutes of charging from the running 330ci, I don't know

since the wagon is 2007, probably needs new battery. so my questions are:

1) batteries covered by waranty?
2) if not, can I buy after market?
3) if so, what's this business about registering the battery
4) 355dreamer, was that $300 for a dealer battery?

Persian_535i

I had the same issue with my battery not too long ago and wasn't able to jump my car either until I correctly connected the cables thanks to a tip from a member here. Original post is here explaining where to connect jumpers.
https://5series.net/forums/topic/109...1#entry1299460

Patrick E61

The car still hasn't gone in for service, but the service manager thinks it is simply a dead battery. 320? + labor. But I am getting some new "gel" battery (or something like that).

Since I have the M5 instrument cluster, they have to re-install the original cluster, code the new battery, then re-install the M5 cluster... Yikes.

I am guess 600? for a battery replacement.

Patrick E61

We had a good connection - I even RTFM about where to connect the negative (black) lead to the big nut on the chassis.

Theo

Very common, most cars can't seem to jump start these e60's/e61's, saw it many times. Usually a towtruck jumpstart or heavy external batterypack will get you going in a second.

Oh and BTW, always put your auto light switch in the 0 position when starting after a cold night or being jumpstarted.

Patrick E61

When the flatbed showed, the driver asked if I wanted to try starting it with his external battery pack. I figured that since the battery is totally dead, what is the point. It is -29°C here last night, so I would probably just be in the same situation today.

Yes, the lights were off when we tried jumping it, as was the interior fan.

Waiting for a call from the service department now.

mmitev

EUR 320.. I paid EUR 160 for a new Bosch silver series battery. Let us know what is this "gel" thing when you learn more about it

And that M-cluster I am surprised it has to be removed (thought the battery registration happens over the OBC plug), but what do I know