[srezzo]

So on my way to work today, I started losing power. First ABS/Stability Control/4x4 error. As I was pulling over, Airbag error. Tried to cycle ignition and car wouldn't start. Used a booster pack to get the car to a gas station where they hooked it up to a charger for half an hr. The gauge on the charger showed OK. Still didn't start. Had the car towed to my Indy. Battery is about 1 yr old. Alternator is original (06 330xi with about 108k). All signs seemed to point to alternator. Indy tests electrical system after fully charging battery and everything is functioning fine. Any ideas what may be causing this?? Any usual grounds or bad connection points on the vehicle?

~Sari

[bmw325i]

Originally Posted by srezzo

So on my way to work today, I started losing power. First ABS/Stability Control/4x4 error. As I was pulling over, Airbag error. Tried to cycle ignition and car wouldn't start. Used a booster pack to get the car to a gas station where they hooked it up to a charger for half an hr. The gauge on the charger showed OK. Still didn't start. Had the car towed to my Indy. Battery is about 1 yr old. Alternator is original (06 330xi with about 108k). All signs seemed to point to alternator. Indy tests electrical system after fully charging battery and everything is functioning fine. Any ideas what may be causing this?? Any usual grounds or bad connection points on the vehicle?

~Sari

Sounds like the power wire recall if it didn't start with a charged battery.

Or did the car start after the battery was charged? If so it sounds like the alternator is the problem like you suggested.

[///Mposter]

Sounds like the alternator . When the rectifier is on its way out or gone, then it no longer is putting out DC . Rather AC is coming out and can wreak havoc on system designed to have a ground plane as reference voltage. So all the systems tend to trigger on the gauges as faults. Alternator problems tend to happen more at night when large loads are incurred by headlights , air conditioning / heater, radio etc is all on. During the day it may seem the symptoms are not as bad. Best of luck with it!

[srezzo]

The Indy Shop tested the system with a 100A load and said the Alternator was behaving as it should. Is it typical for these vehicles to have some kind of an intermittent alternator failure?

[bmw325i]

It could be the power wire recall might want to check on that

[///Mposter]

Originally Posted by srezzo

The Indy Shop tested the system with a 100A load and said the Alternator was behaving as it should. Is it typical for these vehicles to have some kind of an intermittent alternator failure?

Well the only other thing I can think of is that the ground cable on the battery is loose or a ground strap from frame to engine. I don't think it could be the battery cable recall from the alternator to the battery because the collective loads would still be pulled from battery. The symptoms of the cable recall as I remember would be that people would be driving just fine an then upon restart there would be nothing, no click. As for the crazy gauge lights coming on, I've seen this issue multiple times when troubleshooting people's cars. It's been alternators mostly, caused by stereo amps overloading it, and then secondary the issue of the battery terminal loose , then third a ground strap left loose after someone worked on the car. A lot of sensors use a reference voltage based on ground and when a ground is lifted then issues arise as you described.