"Electrical system malfunction"

[cki3]

Hey guys, just bought my 2009 m3 e90 in February, 60,xxx miles, carfax showed previous owner kept up with regular maintenance at his local BMW dealer. I'm fairly new to the BMW community and haven't done a lot of DIY with maintenance. So any help would be greatly appreciated.

About a month ago, the "increased battery discharge" warning came up. I borrowed my brothers battery tender, used it, and the warning disappeared. Just recently ordered my own tender online last week (still being shipped) so I thought I wouldn't have to worry about it.

Last Saturday (June 13th) I drove my car to 3 fairly close locations (about 2 minute drive) in the morning. Got to my car later in the evening and received the "Electrical system malfunction" warning, "Low Battery charge" warning," and Trasm. position "P" not engaged" warning.

That night I borrowed the battery tender hooked up the car all night. In the morning I got into the car, again the RED car icon on the jack in the cluster and the electrical system malfunction warning on.

The car started fine. I put it in reverse, everything was fine besides the "R" reverse icon in the cluster didn't show up. Put it into drive and the "1" 1st gear icon didn't show up in the cluster.

I haven't driven my car out of my driveway because the warning states "Electrical system malfunction! Continued driving is not possible. Have the system checked by the nearest BMW center."

Before I call BMW to a scheduled appointment I wanted to see if you guys thought there could be something I could do to at home to fix the problem. I've searched the threads and looked into my owners manual and it sounds like a battery issue but I haven't seen many threads with the "Electrical system" warning. Sorry for the long thread and thanks again for any advice.

[BzsBimmer]

What's the voltage at the battery terminals and at the front engine posts?
You should be at about 12.5 volts when sitting for a while.

A battery tender won't necessarily "fix" a battery that has a bad cell or two.
An 09 that has an original battery will more than likely need replacing.

[JEllis]

All BMWs freak out when the battery starts to fail or isn't functioning properly. My E36 does all kinds of weird things. I have a buddy with an E39 that had all kinds of strange issues prior t the battery completely failing. My guess, your battery is on its way out.

[Leonardo629]

If your battery is severely drained, you need to leave it on battery tender longer.

Worst comes worst you just need a new battery and coding at the dealer.

[Sered]

Originally Posted by JEllis

All BMWs freak out when the battery starts to fail or isn't functioning properly. My E36 does all kinds of weird things. I have a buddy with an E39 that had all kinds of strange issues prior t the battery completely failing. My guess, your battery is on its way out.

You ain't lying, after unknowingly draining mine after a bunch of flashing processes and then priming my new IC pump, mine was flickering all the interior lights after hitting the start button like a frigging rave. Was crazy, I thought the flash process broke something.

[cki3]

Thanks for the reply guys! I might just buy an agm battery and have it coded from a local shop or might just go to the bmw dealership. Haven't decided quite yet. I'm hoping its just the battery. Thanks a bunch again.

[BzsBimmer]

Originally Posted by cki3

Thanks for the reply guys! I might just buy an agm battery and have it coded from a local shop or might just go to the bmw dealership. Haven't decided quite yet. I'm hoping its just the battery. Thanks a bunch again.

If at all possible, avoid the dealer if just coding your new battery.
You can get the BMWhat app and code it for a minimal cost. You CANNOT code the new battery with the BTechnic tool just in case you were going to think about going that route.

[BPMSport]

I've never seen electrical system malfunction ever lead back to a dead or dying battery, but it could happen. In the handful of instances I've come across this error, it turned out to be a faulty module (Junction Box usually), or an issue with the IBS System or cable.

[cki3]

Update.

Drove car to Sears auto, (15 minute drive) e-brake light on, abs on, Hazard light on, no gear "1" icon in cluster. Changed to the diehard agm battery, paid 189.00 with install, afterword, no problems at all. Comes with 3 year warranty, so debating whether to pay extra to get it registered. Anyway, everything looks good so far. Thanks again for all the replies!

[JEllis]

Originally Posted by cki3

Update.

Drove car to Sears auto, (15 minute drive) e-brake light on, abs on, Hazard light on, no gear "1" icon in cluster. Changed to the diehard agm battery, paid 189.00 with install, afterword, no problems at all. Comes with 3 year warranty, so debating whether to pay extra to get it registered. Anyway, everything looks good so far. Thanks again for all the replies!

Nice to hear... sometimes its the simple solutions.

My buddies E39 was having all kinds of issues, Nav pixelating, lights not working ect.... He thought a lot of things were failing... replaced battery and all back to normal.

Same with my E36... lights would flickr on and off, dash lights on and off... replaced battery, all better.

[BzsBimmer]

Yes you should register the new battery. With all the money you saved you can afford the bmwhat bt adapter and the software to register the battery is on the free version

[MilehighM3]

If the electrical system malfunction returns along with associated symptoms such as the gauges going crazy, locking and window related issues etc, the likely culprit is the tire pressure monitor control unit. I see a lot of them fail and it takes out the communication on the kcan bus which leads to these type of issues.