[ronny214]

Okay, so I'll start off by saying I'm in Orlando at a resort in Lake Buena Vista...trying to make sure I target the correct audience.

Before a long roadtrip to Orlando from Dallas (a trip I made last year in my car) I changed the oil and tires and checked all the other fluids in the car. Thought I was good to go :-/ Get to Orlando and start noticing in a major way slow crank/start. My roommate who is fairly knowledgeable about cars said that when he was driving it in the past he thought sometimes it seemed slow to crank/start but thought since it wasn't his car maybe he just wasn't used to the workings of the BMW.

So I call the dealer in Dallas, set up an appointment for when I get back, and confirm with them that under my original MFG warranty they'll replace the battery for free....so now the battery just has to get me through till I get home. Stop gap measure? I'll purchase one from walmart where customer service is a little more lax than say Autozone and the just return the battery in a week when I get BMW to replace mine under warranty. Please don't judge me but it is memorial weekend and I'm desperate here.

So on the assumption I have a bad battery I go to walmart and using their computer pick the battery it tells me to purchase. Get back to the resort and install the new one, which btw seems way more complicated than necessary, and go to start the car. All the internals power up and work but the car won't even crank. It just clicks (click-click-click-silence). The click is very soft and almost not able to be heard, but I am very OCD when I work on my car. I tried about 10 times with no success. I put the old battery back in and it fires right up...there was no slow crank but then again I had just been to walmart and back so the alternator had probably juiced it back up with no time for it to run back down again. This is how I'm determining that my starter isn't going out, and I hope I'm right.

So old battery in. Okay...it has been working I just wanted to prevent a problem before it stranded me at a club on a Saturday night. Right? Okay so I'm at Publix and I get back to the car. I stupidly without thinking roll the windows with the keyfob down. Go to start the car and it just makes that almost cannot be heard clicking. I thankfully keep jumpers in my car (don't ask why just do), and a nice gentleman decided to jump me. Took us a few tries, but I think that the cables just weren't making good contact on the jumper prongs under the hood. Short story is I got the car back to the resort (before doing so my roommate and friend ran into walmart while I sat in the running car and grabbed an emergency jump starter).

At this point I'm kind of stranded in Orlando. The dealer in Orlando is closed till Tuesday with no promise that if I go in on Tuesday I'll even be able to get them to change it without an appointment. I really need a battery in the car that I can run until the dealer replaces mine under warranty and I can return the purchased one to walmart.

So after all that I know the car needs to register the battery, and be reprogrammed if I moved from one type of battery to the other (AGM and non-AGM). I don't want to change types, so no reprogramming. I just want the same type of battery, but it still needs registered.

My call to help is that someone has a recommendation for me. Know of a dealer service dept open on Sunday? Know of anyone who'll do me a solid and register my battery? I know a tech in the forums of the threads I searched said that it takes about 5 minutes to register and longer to reprogram.

Thanks in advanced. I'll be monitoring the forums for replies.

[xxxjecxxx]

On the negative terminal, there are one or two small wires coming out of it for the IBS. Intelligent Battery Sensor. This may be what is defective in your car. A very simple way to test it, when you car does not turn on, unplug it and try again.

I had similar issue and the battery was not at fault. Only found out after replacing the battery. It got damaged because water got in to my rear tail light and dripped onto the sensor. Had a AAA monster truck try to jump the car and it still would not turn on. I unplugged it and turned on right away. I've had the IBS sensor unplugged for almost a year with no issues.



Hope that helps!

[ronny214]

My cable does not look like that.

The car starts up just fine with a jump...granted it has only died on me the one time. Every other time it has just been a slow crank on rare occasions. I highly suspect a bad battery here. Everyone I've talked to in my Regional forums, and BMW owners from Dallas who do all sorts of work on their cars, confirm that it sounds to them like a bad battery.

Does anyone else see merit in me trying the above suggestion? I really get nervous about unplugging cables and running the car to bypass sensors and stuff. No offense to you or anything, but since I'm so far from home and this is my only car I want to be a little more careful than I would be if I was at home with my backup pickup truck. :-/

[xxxjecxxx]

I've been in your shoes, maybe you are just as stubborn as I am lol. Good luck!

[ronny214]

Originally Posted by xxxjecxxx

I've been in your shoes, maybe you are just as stubborn as I am lol. Good luck!

Thanks man. I went ahead and tried your suggestion. It didn't start but the Emergency Battery Jumper started it right up. Only problem with this is that the Jumper has to be recharged after every use. Annoying to say the least.

[BoostAddict]

Try calling psi in winter park. They are one exit away from fields BMW. They may be able to help you out. They are also a forum sponsor.

[ronny214]

Originally Posted by ***********

Try calling psi in winter park. They are one exit away from fields BMW. They may be able to help you out. They are also a forum sponsor.

Thanks for the recommendation! I just tried calling them, but they are closed on Sundays, and will probably be closed on Memorial Day. It is looking like every solution I can come up with will not be available until Tuesday, and by that time Fields will be open and can hopefully do the warranty replacement.

Really annoying because not only do I have the BMW Emergency Assist under my Warranty, but I paid for the dang upgrade on the BMW Assist package and all they can do is tow me to BMW.

I've called Pep Boys and Autozone, but neither of them have the correct tools to register the battery. I've also contacted some independent shops I found on Google, but they are all closed.

Looks like it is Priceline car rental and wait till Tuesday. :-/

[ronny214]

Okay, so all fixed up. Turns out the issue was a starter...though it took a trip to Fields and them telling me the battery and everything was fine, sending me on my way, and then the car requiring a Tow back to Fields. Was there all day, but over all the issue was resolved very fast.

Bill returned my weekend voicemail promptly at 7:15am today and told me to get the car in ASAP and he'd help me out. I think he felt bad that he couldn't find an issue with the car when I brought it in, but I understood his hands were really tied due to needing to show an issue before BMW would approve the replacement.

When the car failed to start 10 minutes after I left the dealership he had me get the car towed back ASAP. Determined that it was a starter, not battery, and had me all fixed up in under 2 hours.

Overall I was very disappointed that this happened, but very pleased with Bill at Fields. I'd recommend him to any Orlando drivers! Seems to really car about the customers and making sure they are taken care of. Didn't have one issue with the Cobb AP on my car or the upgraded FMIC/Chargepipe.

Now that that is over with I can go back to enjoying vacation. Also, everything from last Friday until today (food, lodging, etc) gets reimbursed to me by BMWNA since I fall under Trip Interruption (any non-battery/tire warranty repair that occurs more than 100 miles from home).

Now time to go . Will be hitting Cocoa either Wednesday or Thursday for any drivers that wanna meet up. Will be going out to the Pier that has a bar at the end...I can't remember the name of it but you have to pay like $1 to get out to the end of it and drink.

[BoostAddict]

Glad your all fixed up. Contact @Ianbiz. He's lives a little south of cocoa in rockledge. Cool dude and can definetly tell you where to go to have a good time.