Issues with my Alpina - Still!

S

SamUK

Member
I decided to get my Vanos seal etc renewed recently costing little over £600. Just one headache after another since..

When i got the car back, Noticed oil all over the engine bay - i buggered my alternator when i cleaned the oil to find out if it is an actual leak or oil from the vanos work. Then snapped a nut when trying to get the alternator out. :headbang:

The car was recovered to the garage, got it back after 3 weeks and a bill of £420 and was told the battery is dead and will need replacing.

(Car was good before i decided to get the work done, battery used to die if i dont use the car for 10 odd days, but this was not a real issue)

Anyway..

Got the car back, and parked up at home, next day the battery was near dead – did manage to drive and it charged up but had the same issue again. The speedo warning lights used to come on, and then go off when i started driving..meant the alternator is working.

My Right door mirror was missing, noticed this when i was on my way home - called the garage they will post it, and it was eventually posted 4 days later! should be here sometime this week! still not sure how or why this came off.. :?

Went to Euro Car parts, bought a Bosh S5 battery and fitted.£90 ( this different from the S3, & S4 bosh)

Been driving for 2 days, finding my sat nav screen turns off and back on now and then, also my windows are no longer going up with single touch. before this used to indicate battery low...

So, near 3 months later and little over £1k out of pocket..still not happy!


Any thoughts on what the issue can be battery or still the alternator?
 
Not sure it helps you here, but I fought for 2 months with a battery that constantly went flat. Spent more time than I care to remember testing and retesting everything over and over again to try and find a parasitic drain, only to finally establish it was just a faulty battery (Bosch S5).

You've just got a new battery, so like I say I doubt this helps, but may be worth trying a different battery in there if you have a friend locally with a Z4 you could so a short term swap for. Outside of that, have you run a test on the amps and volts being pulled when fully loaded (engine on, lights, radio etc running) and also on shut down (does it switch off completely)?
 
It's hard to diagnose things like this 'remotely', but you had the alternate replaced right ? With a new battery that should be fine now.

Windows will need reset as you've had the battery out - search on here for the procedure, it's dead easy to do. You should have had to reset your clock too. As for the satnav, mine does that occasionally... I put it down to the *ahem* 'upgraded' nav disk that I'm using as it throws a wobbly sometimes and can't read the map disk. Annoyingly the satnav reset also disconnects my phone from Bluetooth and it doesn't reconnect until I stop/start the car. So apart from the wing mirror, which is bizarre, everything else could just be normal now ?
 
Ah, now that you mention it.. since i collected my car, the sat nav has also stopped working..how much is a CD? guessing i cant use the one from my e60? as i had this with speed cams

Yep clocks needed setting again..

from before when i did jump start my car, i noticed the windows did not go up with a single touch - however after some time this started working.

yep, new alternator & battery..

Need to get a volt meter - to test will do this tomorrow.
 
As Bing says, certain things need a reset after the battery has been disconnected

If you find that you're still getting a dead battery you need to check the drain on the battery when the car is 'off' - IIRC, you recently did an audio upgrade and had some issues with the company that did the installation. If they've done something stupid like tap a permanently live feed rather than a switched one, this could be the source of your battery drain
 
personally the garage your using doesnt seem the best..... They will post the mirror??? ermm.... WTF? lol
time to have a serious chat with them imo...
 
Beedub said:
personally the garage your suing don't seem the best..... They will post the mirror??? ermm.... WTF? lol
Click to expand...

Think I've said my (rather large) piece on this particular garage before so won't repeat it. However, I would say, be persistent with them, and don't allow them to charge you silly money for problems they should be rectifying if the problems were not there previous to the work. *IF* they are at fault, they should be sorting this out with no cost/hassle to you. It all sounds, sadly, very familiar though......
 
SamUK said:
Ah, now that you mention it.. since i collected my car, the sat nav has also stopped working..how much is a CD? guessing i cant use the one from my e60? as i had this with speed cams

Yep clocks needed setting again..

from before when i did jump start my car, i noticed the windows did not go up with a single touch - however after some time this started working.

yep, new alternator & battery..

Need to get a volt meter - to test will do this tomorrow.
Click to expand...

You might need to upgrade the satnav firmware to use a newer disk, to v.32 IIRC. I'm not sure if you can use an e60 disk in our cars... But someone should.
 
SamUK said:
...My Right door mirror was missing, noticed this when i was on my way home - called the garage they will post it, and it was eventually posted 4 days later! should be here sometime this week! still not sure how or why this came off.. :?
Click to expand...

It is a well known Z4 (E85) problem, that the mirror glasses fall out.
Every driver should carefully check his glasses.
 
The only difference between the S3, 4, and 5 batteries are the warranty period and price. The number indicates the length of warranty period.
 
Bing said:
SamUK said:
Ah, now that you mention it.. since i collected my car, the sat nav has also stopped working..how much is a CD? guessing i cant use the one from my e60? as i had this with speed cams

Yep clocks needed setting again..

from before when i did jump start my car, i noticed the windows did not go up with a single touch - however after some time this started working.

yep, new alternator & battery..

Need to get a volt meter - to test will do this tomorrow.
Click to expand...

You might need to upgrade the satnav firmware to use a newer disk, to v.32 IIRC. I'm not sure if you can use an e60 disk in our cars... But someone should.
Click to expand...
You can use any disc for the MKIV nav system - don't think that was fitted to the E60, think that was iDrive
 
As has been said before, definitely check the drain on the battery.
I would also check the voltage, with the engine off and then running. To check there is an increase in voltage, as a result of the alternator charging. If you are able to drive for some time, without it all dying, it suggests the alternator is charging, as otherwise running on battery alone it wouldnt last long.....
 
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