BMW jumpstarted - now having problems

Baird

00 330d, was off the road for about 6 months. Battery dead when went to start it. Car was jumpstarted and runs however now the dashboard looks like a christmas tree. All error lights are basically flashing in some shape.
Any ideas what level of damage could have been done and if it is superficial or could there have been serious damage done to the electrics of the car.
Reason i ask is i am looking at potentially buying the car and want to know how much hassle am i possibly leaving myself in for?
Thanks for the help

Gumbo

i would start by resetting the ECU, instructions can be found online.

or you could bring it to an independent like AC car sales who will plug it into their diagnostic machine and reset all the error lights for a nominal charge i would imagine.

joeperry

Well if this was your own car I'd disconnect the battery for half an hour to reset everyting. But I wouldn't buy a car that's been sitting for 6 months.

Gumbo

joeperry wrote: »

Well if this was your own car I'd disconnect the battery for half an hour to reset everyting. But I wouldn't buy a car that's been sitting for 6 months.

why?

kdevitt

Was it jump started front the battery or jumping points?

joeperry

Just because a car should be driven, especially in our climate. The best cars to buy are daily drivers.

Nforce

kdevitt wrote: »

Was it jump started front the battery or jumping points?

Exactly....it's only recommended to jump from the designated jumping point under the bonnet....otherwise you could fupp up your car's electronics.

Captain Slow IRL

BMW's (like a lot of other cars) will generate a crap load of fault codes if the battery's gone flat or died altogether.

You would have to get all the codes erased and see if any reappear to find out if there's anything wrong - disconnecting the battery won't erase them, you'll need someone with the correct diagnostic equipment.

snowman707

joeperry wrote: »

Well if this was your own car I'd disconnect the battery for half an hour to reset everyting. But I wouldn't buy a car that's been sitting for 6 months.

don't buy from the dealers so, some of them have cars for 18 months at this stage,

6 months is nothing we often park up vehicles in slack times for well in excess of this, with no ill effects whatsoever.

maidhc

Nforce wrote: »

Exactly....it's only recommended to jump from the designated jumping point under the bonnet....otherwise you could fupp up your car's electronics.

Personally I avoid jump starting cars. It is kinder to just take the battery out and put it back in fully charged.

I don't see how it makes any difference whether you use a "jumping point" or just the negative. The negative is just grounded to the body of the car anyway.

unkel

maidhc wrote: »

It is kinder to just take the battery out and put it back in fully charged.

Indeed it is. Not an option though if the battery is too screwed to hold a charge decent enough to start the engine

Fishtits

There's an awful lot of uniformed rubbish posted here, as long as your connections are good, in the context of fault lights, it doesn't matter where you jump it from.

The fault lights are most probably, as previously stated, due to the battery going "dead".

Now, a car left up for 6 months should not have drained the battery to the point of it not being able to start. Either you have a parasitic drain or the battery is mush. (there are thousands of cheap Asian batteries - put your own sticker on them - out there that are complete rubbish, I've seen brand new batteries that fail to work once the temp gets down to 0 degrees)

Get it started, get the faults cleared and get the battery tested.

Then you'll know what you're dealing with.

JHMEG

Fishtits wrote: »

There's an awful lot of uniformed rubbish posted here,

Fishtits wrote: »

Now, a car left up for 6 months should not have drained the battery to the point of it not being able to start.

6 weeks of sitting idle will do it for most cars. ECU, alarm and stereo are all on standby and will drain the battery.

Fishtits

JHMEG wrote: »

6 weeks of sitting idle will do it for most cars. ECU, alarm and stereo are all on standby and will drain the battery.

Sorry, I disagree.

If you've got kit fitted that will drain your battery below start up ability after six weeks then either the kit you've fitted is piss poor or your battery is duff

JHMEG

Fishtits wrote: »

Sorry, I disagree.

If you've got kit fitted that will drain your battery below start up ability after six weeks then either the kit you've fitted is piss poor or your battery is duff

Factory batteries. 6 weeks in any car I or anyone else I know has owned, and you're at the limits. This guy reckons 1 month is pushing it.

Disconnect the battery and it's a different story. Maybe as much as 12 months and it'lll still hold enough of a charge to start the car.

maidhc

JHMEG wrote: »

Factory batteries. 6 weeks in any car I or anyone else I know has owned, and you're at the limits. This guy reckons 1 month is pushing it.

Disconnect the battery and it's a different story. Maybe as much as 12 months and it'lll still hold enough of a charge to start the car.

Dunno, but I leave the 190E well more than 6 weeks between starting. It has an ECU and a radio. I don't switch on the alarm though, that would be just asking for it!

L1011

Fishtits wrote: »

Sorry, I disagree.

If you've got kit fitted that will drain your battery below start up ability after six weeks then either the kit you've fitted is piss poor or your battery is duff

No, nearly any modern car will have drained its battery after 6 weeks sitting, from factory... you've got the radio, alarm, immob, transponder for remote locking, etc, etc sitting there leeching.

Add a badly installed Nokia car kit and it becomes 6 DAYS!

unkel

MYOB wrote: »

No, nearly any modern car will have drained its battery after 6 weeks sitting, from factory...

Nail + head

Older or classic cars might last a lot longer but that's just because of the lack of electronics.

rebel.ranter

Jump starting a car can most definitely fry an ECU, a surge like that can screw with the electronics. I would say the faults are the result of the jump start not the car going dead.
If you're in Cork I can reset the fault codes for you.

Fishtits

unkel wrote: »

Nail + head

Older or classic cars might last a lot longer but that's just because of the lack of electronics.

I disagree.

Any car that discharges its battery to a level that it won't start after six weeks lying idle has a fault.

Factory installed equipment would never cause this situation.

JHMEG

maidhc wrote: »

Dunno, but I leave the 190E well more than 6 weeks between starting. It has an ECU and a radio. I don't switch on the alarm though, that would be just asking for it!

Does that yoke even have a battery? Does it not run on a mix of coal and lard?;)

maidhc

JHMEG wrote: »

Does that yoke even have a battery? Does it not run on a mix of coal and lard?;)

Actually has electric sunroof, electric windows all round, abs, electronic anti-slip differential, airbag, cd changer, and keyless central locking. Not bad for a 20 year old car! Everything works too!

(you are mixing it up with a 190D)