Should I run away from this car?

[JakeS76]

I found what looked like a well cared for e89 for sale but when I ran Bimmerlink it came up with 6 error codes. The battery is in good condition so it's not a low battery causing false codes. Should I run away from this one? Or is it fixable?

All of the 3 e89s I have looked at recently have had multiple error codes. You would hope that dealers would actually check them before offering the car for sale. But apparently not. I assume they think that most people won't have an OBD2 scanner.

 

[JakeS76]

The error codes are
387f power management closed circuit
A8ee Microphone short circuit
A559 kl30g F shutdown
A47e flap error - blockade
E721 CAN message status sensor AUC

 

[raymond.harper]

Delete the codes and take the car for a run using as many electrical systems as possible, especially the heating. Then rescan and see if they are still present, possibly they are historic codes. Regarding the battery, does the Carly have a battery check function? Electrical problems in a Z4 can be expensive to fix so beware. Anything on the heater, ie the flap error, I would be very worried about.

 

[Rockhopper]

Most dealers buy cars at auction, give them a wash and put them on the forecourt. Dealers who go beyond that are few and far between.

Check out High Peak Autos on YouTube for how it should be done!

 

[Zed Baron]

What E89 are you looking at? I would think most of these cars have been lying about over the past few months (hardly convertible buying season for most people), started up occasionally to move them about forecourts and in need of a good run. I would think most of these codes (I could be wrong) are related to battery condition, as suggested earlier, clear the codes, drive the car, rescan and see what comes back.

 

[JakeS76]

I used Bimmerlink which shows the battery state and what mileage it was registered at. Which is useful.

 

[Pondrew]

All of the 3 e89s I have looked at recently have had multiple error codes. You would hope that dealers would actually check them before offering the car for sale. But apparently not. I assume they think that most people won't have an OBD2 scanner.

Those errors could easily be associated with the battery going below required voltage at some point. They look pretty random.
As said above, a quick wash and advertised for sale. That's how the car trade work these days.
I would bet they couldn't care less if you have a fault code reader, or not. I would also bet that at a high percentage of car dealers have no idea what a code reader is, anyway.

 

[Marcoose]

All of the 3 e89s I have looked at recently have had multiple error codes.

Those errors could easily be associated with the battery going below required voltage at some point.

I too reckon a new battery would solve nearly if not all these problems. IMO.

 

[JakeS76]

Cheers everyone. I'll ask the seller if they changed the battery recently.

 

[Zed Baron]

Car batteries normally have a guarantee of up to 5 years they can and do last longer depending on how they are looked after. Normally the production date of the battery is stamped on the top of one of the posts week/year.

 

[Pondrew]

Cheers everyone. I'll ask the seller if they changed the battery recently.

If being sold by a dealer it could easily just be they let it go fairly flat.

FFS, I just bought a brand new car and after 2 days the battery needed charging because it had been sitting around for ages. Car dealers just don't care (about anything except money). I explicitly asked them to make sure the battery was fully charged before delivery. Did they? Did they f**k!
Oh and they sent me the paperwork for a completely different car, with all the personal details of the purchaser of that car. GDPR anyone? They couldn't have given a s**t.
Oh and after a month the number plates have cracked/ crazed because the monkey that put the plates on used 2 No.16 pozi self-tappers and did them up too tight. The screws are the cheapest crap they could find as they are rusting already. F***ing idiots.

Did I mention I'm not a fan of car dealers (or estate agents)?

 

[JakeS76]

I asked Bimmerlink and this is their reply (from a lead software developer)
"The codes in the error memory indicate issues that were reported at some time, but they do not say that the underlying cause is still present. Depending on the error memory, additional information may be provided, such as "Error stored" or "Error stored and present."

As a non-mechanic, I'm not aware that a low battery could cause "false" errors. In my opinion, if a low battery negatively affects some functionalities, I would expect "true" errors to be reported. However, this is just my personal view."

Ive had codes before on my old Z4 where it tells you that the code is Stored but not present. i.e. it's been fixed but the code hasn't been cleared. But on the car for sale I didn't get that info.

 

[B21]

My 35is had 147 errors when I checked as part of pick up…after clearing it was down to 3..

Any battery failure will potentially reek havoc on an E89

 

[JakeS76]

The battery is about 4 years old (Bimmerlink shows the mileage when it was registered so i cross referenced this with the MOT mileages). When I test drove the car a couple of days ago the chage was 67%. The dealer bought the car a couple of weeks ago at auction and hasn't charged the battery since.

 

[Mr Tidy]

That may explain those codes then!