EML on after changing battery

I

imp75

Senior member
 Hartlepool
Hi all, first of all apologies for not introducing self before asking for advice - i will get round to this asap.

I bought my 55 plate z4 2.0 on saturday for a bargain price (with some unexpected extra equipment). Went to drive it this morning and it wouldnt start :( rang the guy who sold it to me and he confirmed problems with battery and starting issues. Rang for new battery prices and kwik fit said £190, halfords wanted £130 but ATS had one for £90 so thats what i went for,maybe that was a mistake......

Anyway, i swapped the battery over and turned the key - hey presto - success. Or so I thought i now have the EML on. Turning the car off and on again still results in the EML staying on.

I ve searched for similar issues on here to discover that maybe i shouldve forked out for OEM and had the dealer do it. Now im worried ive done a massive boo-boo and fried something. Prior to this morning the car drove nicely.

I havent driven the car in fear of killing it - am i able to drive it and is there anything i can do to clear the EML on dash?

All help very much appreciated.
 
I had similar issue on an S3. Try disconnecting the battery for 10 mins then reconnect. The fault should clear and light go out.
 
Thank you for quick reply :) i ve just disconnected it, now just gotta wait a long ten mins............
 
unfortunately the EML is still showing up :( i disconnected negative terminal only, i dont think id have to take off both pos and neg - but please correct me if im wrong. Maybe this is partly why it was so cheap :oops:
 
Try disconnecting both terminals and leaving for 10 again. My S3 cleared after a minute or so and extinguished the light.
If it does not cure then i think you will have to put the car on a computer tester, most indys have the equipment to run a diagnostic test.
 
One terminal removed is enough to disconnect the terminal (always remove negative first).

Is the new battery the same size amp wise as this could cause problems from the article I was reading recently.
 
bmw battery is 640 a with 140 rc and 80ah, unipart has 640 with 120 rc 64ah. to be honest ive no idea what this means as i am not really that mechanically minded
 
does anyone know if im able to drive the car with the EML illuminated, or am i being an idiot and likely to kill it dead??? sorry for asking stupid questions but the car didnt come with handbook - hve ordered one for delivery, and it cant come soon enough!
 
Left the car overnight and the eml is still on, drove to work and all seems fine, but catastrophes tend to take you by surprise, have decided to see what happens but a company in stockton said they could turn out the light for a tenner so that's what I'm gonna do. And keep fingers crossed all is fine.
 
It may come back on, it appears you have replaced an 80ah battery with a 64ah battery which can't help the situation
 
Thanks crutch. I guess I should put the correct battery on before taking it to stockton. Think ill try fully charging the BMW one as some posts I read last night said that if power in battery drops below a certain level then the car can't fully charge up on its own. It's gotta be worth shot. Any idea how long it should take to fully charge from near dead on standard 240 volt home charger?
 
It has 42k but came with no service history,although I have now traced this :) it has had a new boot lid, and bumper though. To be totally honest I wouldn't have noticed without being told this. Came with full heated leather, multi change and ipod lead, mfsw, and my favorite - folding wing mirrors lol only real downside (apart from being 2.0) is that its on 16s .
 
Try and give the battery back saying that it caused the problem, etc. Then go and get yourself a proper OEM one. If the battery was the inital cause then the light should go once replaced.
 
Peddy that sounds like a good plan! Was thinking of that myself. It's possibly a very simple solution.
 
imp75, yep, take the rubbish one back. But I'd pop along to Halfords and get a Bosch - online price £123 - they have an online battery selector, reserve and collect, in case they're charging different in store. You get a 5 year warranty + "Free Halfords Professional Screwdriver Set When You Buy Any Bosch 5 Year Battery!" (I actually quite rate the Halfords Pro range)

Think a few people on here have the Bosch batteries now - know of one that has just gone in an M coupe, with no issues.
 
imp75 said:
It has 42k but came with no service history,although I have now traced this :) it has had a new boot lid, and bumper though. To be totally honest I wouldn't have noticed without being told this. Came with full heated leather, multi change and ipod lead, mfsw, and my favorite - folding wing mirrors lol only real downside (apart from being 2.0) is that its on 16s .
Click to expand...

could well have been a Cat D then, but great price, expecially if mileage is good.

But personally I'd never just get a persistent EML 'extinguished'....it needs reading to determine error codes which may or may not be heart-stopping :)
 
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