[arkow]

My 2012 X3 35i battery was on the way out for a while now (replaced February 2016) and the cranks were getting longer and longer for months now. Today i got a "charge battery", "vehicle battery charge low" lights on the dash and the cranks are even longer now and the car won't start everytime... do i need to get the BMW OEM battery or am I ok going with any battery as long as its made for my car?

Thank you

[one9kilo]

You do not have to get the OEM battery from BMW. If you go for the alternative, make sure everything is the same. This will make registering the battery easier.

[pungo]

Longer cranking could be something else is preventing it from starting quickly.
Slow cranking sure, it could be the batt, but not longer cranking.
Before changing the battery, properly test its health to make sure it's bad.
Test the health of the charging system.
Check for any stored error codes.

No, you don't need a BMW brand battery as long a you get one with close to the same specs as the old one and have it registered properly as well as code it to match the capacity if it's different from the old one.

[6MT_Addict]

Originally Posted by arkow

My 2012 X3 35i battery was on the way out for a while now (replaced February 2016) and the cranks were getting longer and longer for months now. Today i got a "charge battery", "vehicle battery charge low" lights on the dash and the cranks are even longer now and the car won't start everytime... do i need to get the BMW OEM battery or am I ok going with any battery as long as its made for my car?

Thank you

Batteries last 5 years on average, so it makes sense you may need a new one.

Other possible causes though might be the starter (high drain) or alternator on the way out.

Grab a CTEK battery charger/tender (or similar). If you're driving less due to Covid this may be the cause for your battery issues and a battery tender will extend the battery life another year or so.

You can also use ISTA (or have a shop look) to grab battery info from the car. It'll tell you the charge ability vs new. When I replaced mine at 5.5 years old it was holding 78% of its original capacity and was causing batter my related issues.

I have a DIY post btw on how to change/register your battery. You can find it by searching for posts I created.

[WagonR]

+1 on the CTEK, it's what BMW re-brands for their chargers.

Even if you're going the DYI route for changing the battery, I'd still call the dealer to see how much the battery is. I just replaced the original battery in the X3 (7 years and 80,000 miles later). The car had the 105AH 950CCA battery, which is the big one, and the MSRP was only around $190 on it. The part number for reference was 61212353814.

The same battery form NAPA (East Penn manufactured, same as OE, same specs) was $280 or so. A lot of manufactures don't advertise the AH, but going off CCA I didn't find much less than $200 from the local auto parts (Autozone, O'riely, etc.) stores.

As noted, make sure to register the new battery. I used the Foxwell NT530, but there are a lot of options.