irs cold - dead Z4M

so since the malady......

i've got a ctek trickle charger and most nights connect the car up. typically garage is -1C in morning. but my clicking on bumping on road is still there.... must be a loose connection somehere.


as an aside our slk spent 5 driveless days outside in night time temps < -10C (days <-5C) and the other night I put the CTEK on it and immedialty indicator was green - fully charged... the battery is 9 years old.
 
Lack of use is probably the biggest enemy of a full charge on the Z4M. My car is used daily, but has often been parked in -20C to -30C temperatures in the middle of winter. It never needs to be put on a trickle charger and always starts without an issue. It has also sat for a few weeks without being driven in below freezing temperatures, started up without a problem.

I don't believe the Canadian Z4Ms use anything other than the standard battery used elsewhere, also, I use the 10W60 TWS Castrol year round, so no thinner oil for use below -30C. The only issue I have with cold starting is a tendency for the bendix on the starter motor to stick against the flywheel for a couple of seconds after the car starts when the temperature is below -25C.
 
aerobod said:
The only issue I have with cold starting is a tendency for the bendix on the starter motor to stick against the flywheel for a couple of seconds after the car starts when the temperature is below -25C.
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OMFG I cannot even imagine what a temperature of -25C must be like. Spent one New Year's in Canada (Ottowa) 8 or 9 years ago and almost died when it was -16C. Leaving the airport building I took one deep breath and both nostrils promptly froze together. In my book, anything below +5C is too cold for human habitation. You should get a bravery medal for driving the Z in those conditions. :bow:
 
carl said:
LOL, if you'd just undone those two screws using the spanner in the toolkit you wouldn't have had to bust off the foam bit around them!
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Firstly, it was like that when I got it, and I didn't notice/care until I came to take it off for some reason last year :roll:

Secondly, you'll notice the nuts are recessed into the polystyrene (see Figure 1), so I'd be grateful if you could inform the rest of us which of the tools in the toolkit (see Figure 2) can magically transform into a socket :P

Just for proof, I went out and took photos for you. Don't forget the ///M might be different to a non-///M, so I will forgive you :thumbsup:

Figure 1
Polystyrene.jpg


Figure 2
Toolkit.jpg
 
The spanner in the toolkit does do the job though, it's the only tool I've ever used to remove them.
 
Yes, use the spanner vertically instead of horizontally. Just crack them loose then undo by hand.

Happened upon this thread as my Z4 was dead yesterday after a couple of weeks of non-use.
 
dgm said:
The spanner in the toolkit does do the job though, it's the only tool I've ever used to remove them.
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I don't have to use any tool, as mine have already been liberated :lol:
 
Oh dear. Was happily driving around on Friday, now we come to today (Monday) and it won't turn over. I think the battery is knackered.
 
carl said:
Oh dear. Was happily driving around on Friday, now we come to today (Monday) and it won't turn over. I think the battery is knackered.
Click to expand...

Yep same happened to me on xmas eve :( combination of not using the car for a few days, cold weather and old battery. Had to walk 3 miles to nearest halfords to by a charger. All ok now although probably need a new battery at some point.

I found it a major pain trying to disconnect live, was awkward in the roadster
 
Mine's connected to my Accumate now, but it's *sllooooowww*.

Will probably pick up a new battery in the next couple of days. Is the Bosch Silver one from Halfords the recommended option?
 
carl said:
Will probably pick up a new battery in the next couple of days. Is the Bosch Silver one from Halfords the recommended option?
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If you've got a Costco membership, then they do quite good prices on Bosch batteries too!
 
No Costco membership I'm afraid, but an odd development...

So the car was nose-on to the garage, which meant I had to put the charger in the boot. Of course I could never tell if the battery was topped up, as every time I unlocked the doors and opened the boot it uses some electricity. So I decided to turn the car round and park it tail-on to the garage, meaning I could put the charger in the garage and then close the boot.

Cranked over fine, turned the car round, etc. But on turning off the ignition I could hear a fan spinning down from what sounded like high-speed. Seemed to take about 10 seconds to spin down. I wonder if the engine fan is running all the time? Maybe there is some sort of electrical fault which is causing the battery to discharge? There are no fault lights on the dash.
 
Maybe this is obvious but how do you get the trim off that covers the battery . Have been charging mine through the underbonnet terminals but fear the battery may not be much longer for this world so a change is on the cards.

Step by step procedure would be helpful

Thanks
 
Er, there are three plastic clips holding the carpet trim on. Rotate each by 90 degrees -- IIRC the one on the top has to be vertical and the other two (front and side) have to be horizontal. Or maybe it's the other way round. Then pull the carpet trim box out.

Now you have a polystyrene cover with lots of bits in it. Take the long cylinder out of its hole (it's the goo for filling the tyres with), and the compressor, and the toolkit. One end of the spanner in the toolkit will undo both of the hex nuts that you can now see from the top. You have to hold the spanner vertically with the teeth around the nut to unscrew. Once they're done, you can just pull the polystyrene section upwards and you now have an exposed battery. You need to unclip the little red box around the +ve terminal to get access to that.
 
An update from me: thought I'd got away with it by charging up the battery but it went dead another couple of times during January. Ended up getting the Bosch Silver battery from Halfords with £20 of free screwdrivers chucked in (not sure if this is an in-store offer, but it's available on "reserve and collect").

Found some places purporting to sell compatible batteries for about half the Bosch price, but after reading some of the comments on other threads about things going wrong I decided to stick with the Bosch and its 5 year guarantee.
 
FYI of others reading this thread the Bosch Silver S5008 can be had for £85 online. Google it.
 
mine did the clickety click dashboard disco thing a couple of years ago. I took it to the dealer who could not trace the cause and I got the battery replaced (under warranty), after a charge up did nothing. Car has been fine ever since after battery change, until today....

Here I am 2 years later - and this morning (Tuesday) the car is totally dead - not even courtesy lights or the door locks or the alarm lights working !

Had been driving around on Saturday, no problems - no tell tale signs - no clicking, but totally dead this morning :(
 
DTR said:
this morning (Tuesday) the car is totally dead - not even courtesy lights or the door locks or the alarm lights working !

Had been driving around on Saturday, no problems - no tell tale signs - no clicking, but totally dead this morning :(
Click to expand...

When my battery died, it did so suddenly too having started the car perfectly the previous day. I suspect it's a characteristic of the battery.
 
I have a very encouraging update !

even though the car is under extended warranty - as you all know batteries are not covered and I would probably be pushing my luck to ask for a replacement of the battery I had (which was replaced less than 2 years ago), to take it into my dealer ship would have encountered charges for diagnosis, and probably a new battery at their rates... alternatives were the new Bosch Silver Plus battery as previously mentioned by other forum members (about £122 from halfords but you get a free toolkit if you order online).

So I decided to bite the bullet and try and fix it myself - I bought a new battery charger, A Ring, Powerring smart battery charger (8 Amp) from my local halfords last night, got it home and took out the battery and hooked it up on the kitchen worksurface (as you do). First pass said it had no amps and about 3v in it, first charge run said the battery was broken and needed replacing.

However, this particular charger has a special deep reconditioning function for knackered / old batteries - so I thought "nothing to lose" and went for that. That spent the best part of the entire night running and just before leaving for work this morning, it finished the reconditioning cycle and switched to charging - So I left for work (in the other 1/2's 1 series) and came back this evening to find the battery completely juiced up and the charging cycle complete.

I have just put it back in the car, alarm went off (as you would expect), and I had to reset the clock and the time but that was it. I did notice that the radio came on as soon as I fired her up - so maybe this is where the bug/drain is ??? who knows. Anyway, everything is working and I had no issues with the clickety click behind the console - it seems to be working just like a fresh new battery without issues - so far so good. :D

here is the link to that charger with the reconditioning function - it was 50 something quid but has saved me probably over 200, plus allowed me to keep my OEM battery (and not kill my warranty probably).

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_532907_langId_-1_categoryId_165629

worth every penny I think as it goes that extra mile to recondition a battery that I would have otherwise replaced. :D :D :D
 
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