Battery?

D

drewsutton

Member
First "error" I've had with my car in ownership. Haven't used it much the last few weeks as we have another daily. Took it for a very short journey and when I returned to go back home had a picture of a car on a ramp and the message "increased battery discharge on idle" or something to the effect.

Question; would you replace your battery as a precaution? Genuine battery only? Or will a good drive be adequate?

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Depends how old the battery is really, a good charge followed ideally by a trickle charger would be better than a drive.

These cars are very susceptible to low/old batteries causing lots of strange errors (including juddering roof in my case, no low battery warnings).

Check the age of your battery (date stamp on terminal) and take it from there.
 
DONT BUY FROM BMW you will be fleeced - if its a BMW battery its probably original fit at that mileage - all you need is a standard AGM type car battery that matches the spec of yours - any half decent battery will do, halfords etc..
 
I think those are two different messages. The symbol of the car on the ramp is something to do with some kind of annual inspection and the error message about battery discharge is of course battery related.
 
I've had that error too when car not used for a bit or battery not on the conditioner. Went away after I reconditioned the battery.
 
step_change said:
I've had that error too when car not used for a bit or battery not on the conditioner. Went away after I reconditioned the battery.
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I had it also before changing the battery, didn’t have any other problems but it must have been on its way out as it was the original, 8 years old.
Although I’ve recently had the parking brake problem, but think that was due to little use and a few short trips.
These cars are very susceptible to battery related faults so would definitely fit a need battery before anything else.
 
Perfect, thanks for all the help. I'll get a new battery as I have no way of charging it (live in a block of flats) without driving and don't want to get caught out. I'll check the date, too.

There's a local GSF selling Yuasa batteries. 60% off atm so probably get it there but I'll look around a little.

The sub menu on iDrive shows no other errors except that discharge at idle one so I believe the error on the dashboard is related, not separate.

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How to then code the said battery? What if fully conditioned the new battery first then install in this tip-top condition?
 
step_change said:
How to then code the said battery? What if fully conditioned the new battery first then install in this tip-top condition?
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If the replacement battery is like for like it won’t need coding, just registering. It won’t make any difference if it’s “conditioned beforehand or not, Carly or something similar can do this :thumbsup:
Rob
 
Leaving all this new fangled stuff aside, if my current battery is dead on its arse, can I just buy a battery, install it and the car will work without all is coding/registering malarkey?
 
step_change said:
Leaving all this new fangled stuff aside, if my current battery is dead on its arse, can I just buy a battery, install it and the car will work without all is coding/registering malarkey?
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Yes it will, your battery won’t last as long and it MAY catch you out refusing to start due to the onboard electronics miscalculating minimum remaining power to do a safe restart and/or it MAY cause spurious faults like rear brake ECU lockup etc etc ..

100% probability that your new battery won’t last as long, the rest are maybes/possibles depending on how flat you let the new battery go flat during these COVID-19 times..
 
Won't lie I've never bought a battery before so don't really know much about them but the only ones Halfords have listed are start/stop (my car does not have start/stop) does this matter?
 
step_change said:
Leaving all this new fangled stuff aside, if my current battery is dead on its arse, can I just buy a battery, install it and the car will work without all is coding/registering malarkey?
Click to expand...

Just stick a request up on the forum, someone will code your battery for you, I'd be happy to but i think a drive from Nottingham would be cost prohibitive for you..someone local will help you out I'm sure :thumbsup:
 
drewsutton said:
Won't lie I've never bought a battery before so don't really know much about them but the only ones Halfords have listed are start/stop (my car does not have start/stop) does this matter?
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a start/stop is the right battery for the e89, its all to do with the brake regeneration system rather than the start/stop technology but its the right one :thumbsup:
 
Worked out I hadn't used my car for 2 weeks. Just took it out for a 50 mile blast and didn't encounter any issues. May just wait and see how it goes over Winter as it won't be getting much use, anyway.
 
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