[F30ed]

Got this reading from the battery health meter, looks sort of not so good, but not completely bad. Battery is 6 y.o. , but the car start absolutely fine, except when it was -365F for a few days (it felt that way it least). Car is CPO but that does not cover the battery. I am in doubt. What options are out there, guys?

[HPR]

Six years in a cold winter climate is probably coming to the end of battery reliability. So, replace it soon/now at my convenience or wait 'til it fails, usually at the worst possible time? I'd replace it and not worry.

[oVeRdOsE.]

Originally Posted by HPR

Six years in a cold winter climate is probably coming to the end of battery reliability. So, replace it soon/now at my convenience or wait 'til it fails, usually at the worst possible time? I'd replace it and not worry.

all depends on battery quality and maintenance.

did 15 years on OEM dodge durango battery. and here its about 5 month of winter. with a lot of -12°F.

I'm on 7 year on my audi. And 11 year on the 09' pontiac G5 (bought 2008), OEM battery still in it when I sold it. Also both my audi and G5 got few battery drain. (radio/ headlight)

So 6 year is not normal. short trip? deep drain? hi/low temp ? cheap battery?
I have the feeling BMW calls for dead battery way too soon... probably to keep electronics to a stable voltage.

anyway, every 3-4 month, depending of your usage, put it on a battery tender until it reach 100%

[383vett]

Originally Posted by oVeRdOsE.

all depends on battery quality and maintenance.

did 15 years on OEM dodge durango battery. and here its about 5 month of winter. with a lot of -12°F.

I'm on 7 year on my audi. And 11 year on the 09' pontiac G5 (bought 2008), OEM battery still in it when I sold it. Also both my audi and G5 got few battery drain. (radio/ headlight)

So 6 year is not normal. short trip? deep drain? hi/low temp ? cheap battery?
I have the feeling BMW calls for dead battery way too soon... probably to keep electronics to a stable voltage.

anyway, every 3-4 month, depending of your usage, put it on a battery tender until it reach 100%

I agree with the battery tender. It desulfates batteries and they last longer.

[HPR]

Originally Posted by oVeRdOsE.

all depends on battery quality and maintenance.

did 15 years on OEM dodge durango battery. and here its about 5 month of winter. with a lot of -12°F.

Sounds like you're getting exceptional service from your batteries. I too live in a cold winter climate and usually end up with about seven years life from an OEM battery. They're checked regularly and I use a battery tender if the car is going to sit for a week or more.

[Bilbofraggins]

Originally Posted by HPR

Sounds like you're getting exceptional service from your batteries. I too live in a cold winter climate and usually end up with about seven years life from an OEM battery. They're checked regularly and I use a battery tender if the car is going to sit for a week or more.

Nearly 11 years on an E90 in East Coast Canada....and still going.

6.5 years on an X6M....until I got fed up.

4.5 years on an F25 X3...and now starting to give the odd "increased discharge" message.

Now use a tender on the X6 and the X3...(or tender on steroids for the X3)...

[omasou]

Go to PepBoys and have them test the battery. If it fails buy a new Bosch glass mat battery.

It's great if a battery lasts longer than 5 years but not unusual for it to start to go at that age.

If the test comes back good then you may have a ground or drain to find.

[F30ed]

Originally Posted by Bilbofraggins

Nearly 11 years on an E90 in East Coast Canada....and still going.

Does E90 have keyless entry system and security scanner (under the mirror) like X3? Those 2 things constantly draw some current when the car is locked.
EDIT: Moreover, there is cell phone service embedded for "BMW Connected" or whatever it is called (send GPS destination, remote start and so on), plus there is timer function to ventilate the car... All that means that at least CAS and maybe something else is always powered up.

[Bilbofraggins]

Originally Posted by F30ed

Does E90 have keyless entry system and security scanner (under the mirror) like X3? Those 2 things constantly draw some current when the car is locked.

Nope...not on ours...

[F30ed]

Originally Posted by Bilbofraggins

Nope...not on ours...

I guess dodge durango with 15 y.o. battery from the example above does not have that either. Well, that sort of explains.

[kevink1]

Historically I've done better with OEM batteries, but maybe that is because when I used third party batteries it was on older cars that probably had other issues with them.

On my previous car, I probably only made 5 years on average on a battery before replacement. And that was without all the features my current X3 has.

My battery will be 5 years old in May on my X3. I've had issues with it when something did a draw, but otherwise, as long as I lock the car, it seems to do OK.

[marc x]

I replaced my battery with a larger AGM one from Carquest. When I scanned my car with ISTA/ Rheingold (BMW dealer software), there was a code placed into the system, something like "Battery life near end, consider replacing."
Its pretty amazing how advanced these machine are. Oh and my battery was just a little over 4 yrs old AGM.

I've seen a 4 year old battery fail on a VW Jetta and like ours vehicles, it uses an electric water pump, and the car once jumped would overheat. So I wouldn't dare play with the battery, your scanner shows that its good so you should be good to go.

In the mean time, I recommend getting a hold of an ENET cable and downloading a free copy of the dealership diagnosis software and programming softwares.
Or have the dealer test it.

[F30ed]

Originally Posted by marc x

something like "Battery life near end, consider replacing."

2 weeks ago when I scanned mine, error code was saying
"S0398 Power management, battery condition: battery faulty or worn out"

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by F30ed

Got this reading from the battery health meter, looks sort of not so good, but not completely bad. Battery is 6 y.o. , but the car start absolutely fine, except when it was -365F for a few days (it felt that way it least). Car is CPO but that does not cover the battery. I am in doubt. What options are out there, guys?

Our cars with advanced energy management can run ~75% SoC, in normal use. If your driving profile doesn't benefit much from over-run regeneration, SoC may not increase much above the 75% in winter conditions, particularly when energy demands are high.

[marc x]

Fault description Diagnosis monitors battery ageing.

The fault is detected when the vehicle battery is considerably aged and has therefore lost capacity or another battery defect has occurred.

Possible cause of fault:

Vehicle battery defective.

Condition for fault identification Voltage condition:

none

Temperature condition:

none

Time condition:

none

Other conditions:

none



Condition for fault memory entry The fault is entered when there is a battery defect.

Action in service Replace battery.

Fault effect and breakdown warning Possible noticeable symptoms:

CC message, breakdown in extreme cases

stranded vehicle information:

The vehicle battery is defective. Vehicle can be jump-started.

Driver information
Service instruction The fault code can only be deleted after battery replacement has been registered.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fault description Diagnosis monitors the battery condition.

The fault is detected when the battery is severely aged and so has lost capacity, of when another fault (battery cell faulty, water loss too high) has occurred.

Condition for fault identification None



Condition for fault memory entry The fault is entered immediately.

Action in service Carry out following testing procedures:

Battery condition

In the battery condition testing procedure, the measured values for the battery condition are evaluated and, if necessary, the instruction to replace the battery is displayed.

Energy diagnosis

In the energy diagnosis testing procedure, possible causes for a discharged or aged battery are determined.

Fault effect and breakdown warning In extreme cases, the vehicle may not start.

Battery is very old or faulty. The vehicle can be jump-started.

Driver information Check Control message (304): Check power supply.

Service instruction The fault can be deleted only after the battery has been replaced and the battery replacement has been registered with an appropriate service function.

Vehicle before model year 03/2011: a software error in the intelligent battery sensor may lead to an unjustified entry of the fault. Follow the instructions of the following testing procedure: Battery condition.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fault description Diagnosis monitors the battery condition.

The fault code is detected in the following cases:

when the vehicle battery has become very old and therefore lost its capacity

or if another fault has occurred (battery cell faulty, excessive water loss, completely discharged for a long period of time, etc.).

Condition for fault identification None




Condition for fault memory entry The fault is entered during the brief test.

Action in service Carry out following testing procedures: Energy diagnosis.

Fault effect and breakdown warning


Driver information


Service instruction Currently, this fault entry cannot be deleted with quick clearing. The fault will no longer be entered during repeat vehicle testing after the battery has been replaced and the battery replacement has been registered with the corresponding service function.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The power module calculates and stores the

- Charge condition

- and the time


of the battery with the relevant charge.

The charge ranges of the battery are displayed in the following increments:

- 0-10%

- 10-20%

- 20-30%

- 30-40%

- 40-50%

- 50-60%

- 60-70%

- 70-80%

- 80-90%

- 90-100%


The time the battery spends in each charge range is displayed in hours.

During normal driving, the battery should spend the longest period in the charge range above 60%.

A higher proportion of dwelling time in low charge ranges around 10% - 40% can have the following causes:

- Poor driving cycle with greater discharge than charge

- Frequent operation of auxiliary consumer units: telephone, independent heating, etc.

- Frequent operation of sidelights, parking lights, hazard warning lights. In the case of legally prescribed consumer units, the power module does not shut down the vehicle electrical system. Complete discharge of the battery is possible.

- Increased standby current (fault code memory entry present)

- Defective alternator


Note for service department:
Battery replacement

After replacement of the battery, the service function

”Register battery replacement”

must be used to inform the power module of the battery replacement.

[F30ed]

Thanks guys, appreciate the input. It thought that I will not win anything by stretching the battery till next winter so why not to change it now. Yesterday bought direct replacement from AutoZone for $189, will install and register today just to forget about this for next 6 years....

[F30ed]

Not to guess next time if battery is good or not, decided to get a more scientific test - seeing how far down the voltage drops at the start. Below is the startup picture at the battery clamps. The voltage drops from 12.23 (no load) to 9.71V at the moment of highest current. Then it does 3 waves of compression strokes at 7Hz (420RPM) and finally starts at 0.68s. This is from my 328i with 3 years old battery. Does anyone know at what level DME starts reporting undervoltage errors?

[raducris]

F30ed, what tool did you use to pull that diagram for battery voltage drop at startup? Is it Ista?