Car Battery Question

TheBoffin

Hi,

With the cold weather recently we noticed out car has been acting up at night when the temp is low. Car will show several faults like ABS, DSC, Airbag, Flat Indicator, Emissions etc...

The odd thing is that during the day we will start the car and everything is fine, no warnings or faults.

I recall this happening once or twice last winter too but when I got around to bringing it to the garage the faults would not show up.

I was talking to a neighbour who said its most likely the battery.

Anyone got any suggestions?

Cheers.

biko

What car/year?
Was battery ever replaced?

But yeah, batts do act up in cold weather.

TheBoffin

BMW 5 Series 2005
Not sure if it was ever replaced - Ive owned it since 2007 and i dont remember it being replaced.

biko

Batts have an "average" life of 6 years (can vary greatly).
You can have a mech check it with a multimeter and see if it's on the way out.

TheBoffin

Thanks for the info, Ill get on it Monday.

serious3

my money is on the battery, my jaguar started acting up in a similar way, abs,tc, gearbox faults etc etc when i looked into it somene said check the battery, when i did it was the original from 2003!! changed it and all is now good!

just be aware of the battery change procedure for your car they vary from make to make ( i connected my charger to the terminals before i took them off so i got no voltage drop) it can cause lots of problems

TheBoffin

Good tip, thanks.

TheBoffin

Pure co-incidence, 2 other cars on my road with same issue, Cars wont start.

Kenny Logins

Battery should have a date stamp on it.

bazz26

Just to add that on the BMW the new battery has to be coded to the car's ECU, otherwise the recharge cycle will be off and your new battery's life will be shorter.

pred racer

bazz26 wrote: »

Just to add that on the BMW the new battery has to be coded to the car's ECU, otherwise the recharge cycle will be off and your new battery's life will be shorter.

On an 05?
Is there some good reason for this or is it just the usual dealer bullsh1te?

bazz26

pred racer wrote: »

On an 05?
Is there some good reason for this or is it just the usual dealer bullsh1te?

Any BMW with the I-Drive system (which all E60s have afaik) has an IBS (Intelligent Battery Sensor) which manages the charging cycle from the alternator and needs to have the replacement battery coded/registered on the car. Doesn't need to be a main dealer job, anybody with decent BMW approved software can code/register it.

Pain in the hole I agree but there you go.