New battery going into my X today

POC · Post by **POC** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 7:55 am

Well after knowing for a while that the battery in my 3.0sd is on the way out, the cold weather has finally pushed it over the edge! I only ever really do short trips in the car and that would be the cause of the problem.

Tell tail signs were the clock never keeping time, 'increased battery discharge' warnings and more recently a raft of different error messages on startup warning of transmission failure etc.... All related to a battery on its last legs.

Of course these days its not a case of busting out the old socket set and changing it yourself! It will need coding to the car, my local indy collected it this morning. Estimated around £250-300 to fit and code.

I shall report back later!

Paul

Denis O · Post by **Denis O** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 8:35 am

If a BOSCH Silver is around £100 from ECP, how on earth is £250 to £300 anything other than a total rip off, even with coding and fitting. Unless the e70 is a real pain to change. If it's anything like the e53 then it's a maximum 15 minute job.

From what I understand, coding is only necessary if the type of battery is being changed.

briankerrys47 · Post by **briankerrys47** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 8:42 am

[quote="POC"]
Well after knowing for a while that the battery in my 3.0sd is on the way out, the cold weather has finally pushed it over the edge! I only ever really do short trips in the car and that would be the cause of the problem.

Tell tail signs were the clock never keeping time, 'increased battery discharge' warnings and more recently a raft of different error messages on startup warning of transmission failure etc.... All related to a battery on its last legs.

Of course these days its not a case of busting out the old socket set and changing it yourself! It will need coding to the car, my local indy collected it this morning. Estimated around £250-300 to fit and code.

I shall report back later!

Paul
[/quote) Where is Richard when required :'( Paul did you have Batt checked first! If not probs will soon return :blink: :blink:

POC · Post by **POC** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 8:49 am

[quote="Denis O"]
If a BOSCH Silver is around £100 from ECP, how on earth is £250 to £300 anything other than a total rip off, even with coding and fitting. Unless the e70 is a real pain to change. If it's anything like the e53 then it's a maximum 15 minute job.

From what I understand, coding is only necessary if the type of battery is being changed.
[/quote]

There are a range of batteries, they'll look at whats already in the car and make a recommendation on where to go from there. I took a look on ECP a couple of weeks ago, batteries for my car ranged from £76 to £190. (Bosch have three listed £90, £140 and £190).

POC · Post by **POC** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 8:50 am

[quote="briankerrys47"]
Where is Richard when required :'( Paul did you have Batt checked first! If not probs will soon return :blink: :blink:
[/quote]

They'll test it first, from my previous experiences it'll be fubar.

kjb1 · Post by **kjb1** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 12:33 pm

[quote="POC"]
Well after knowing for a while that the battery in my 3.0sd is on the way out, the cold weather has finally pushed it over the edge! I only ever really do short trips in the car and that would be the cause of the problem.

Tell tail signs were the clock never keeping time, 'increased battery discharge' warnings and more recently a raft of different error messages on startup warning of transmission failure etc.... All related to a battery on its last legs.

Of course these days its not a case of busting out the old socket set and changing it yourself! It will need coding to the car, my local indy collected it this morning. Estimated around £250-300 to fit and code.

I shall report back later!

Paul
[/quote]

You would have saved massive money by ordering the battery from somewhere like

batterymegastore.co.uk ( cheapest i have found for batteries and next day delivery free!!! )

Then, fitting it yourself, 10 minute job, ( by cracking out the spanners etc ), battery is £84 delivered for e70 X5 from there for Varta 100ah battery.

Then, phoning main dealer and booking in for battery to be registered to car for £60.

Just saying for future.

Sent from my iPhone

POC · Post by **POC** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 1:13 pm

Car is done.

Fitted a bosch AGM battery and recoded to the car. £260 inc vat.

Prob could have saved a few quid but not really bothered, they collected the car, did the work and returned it. Meant I got the sat morning with my family [emoji106]. It's not always about money [emoji6]

briankerrys47 · Post by **briankerrys47** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 3:59 pm

[quote="POC"]
Car is done.

Fitted a bosch AGM battery and recoded to the car. £260 inc vat.

Prob could have saved a few quid but not really bothered, they collected the car, did the work and returned it. Meant I got the sat morning with my family [emoji106]. It's not always about money [emoji6]
[/quote]Spending time with family top man

kjb1 · Post by **kjb1** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 7:47 pm

Would rather save myself over £120 and treat the family

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

touring · Post by **touring** » Mon Dec 15, 2014 5:09 pm

Interesting, I was quoted £260+vat by an individual for my e70 back in June.
I used a national tyre firm in the end £109 fitted!

RenoHuskerDu · Post by **RenoHuskerDu** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 7:39 am

Any further info on that supposed requirement to code in a new battery? I had always assumed that as long as you maintain a constant power supply to the car (via jumpers and a second battery) then Bob's your uncle.

Mine tested only 12.4v yesterday when I arrived at the German BMW dealer after a long drive. Normally it should be up over 13.2v after a good drive. They are testing the charging system today to ascertain its condition. If the charge is up to standard, I may spring for a new battery soon as there is no other explanation for the lowish voltage.

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 11:53 am

The 'coding' allegedly tells the car it's a new battery as the system can also monitor battery charge acceptance and so work out what voltage/current is required as the battery ages. The coding resets this.

Richard

Patriot1368 · Post by **Patriot1368** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 3:06 pm

[quote="touring"]
Interesting, I was quoted £260+vat by an individual for my e70 back in June.
I used a national tyre firm in the end £109 fitted!
[/quote]

I'm assuming the National tyre Co didn't have the facilities to recode ? So just fitted the battery & everything went fine ?

Denis O · Post by **Denis O** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 4:29 pm

As I made the comment about possibly not having to re-code I thought I'd better find out where the info came from, so I did some searching and found the info.

Changing a battery on an E60/E61 BMW

There's more to this than you think.

The car knows the capacity of the battery it has fitted - it was programmed into the car in the factory.
The car knows the state of charge of the battery.
The car is programmed to a type of battery AGM or normal lead-acid.
It's important to replace the battery with exactly the same type and the same or very similar capacity (in Ah).

If you change from lead-acid to AGM the car will kill the AGM battery by charging it with too high a voltage.
If you change from AGM to lead-acid the car will not charge the battery as well as it could.
If you change capacity (e.g. 80Ah instead of a 90Ah battery) the car won't correctly determine the battery charge status.
If you don't "Register" the battery change with the car the car will start thinking it has a flat battery when in fact it has a new fully charged battery. You may get odd "High Battery Discharge" warnings or similar.

So what should you do

If you want to change the type or capacity of the battery you need the car "coded" with the new battery information.
Ideally just replace like with like then "coding" is not necessary.

"Register" the new battery replacement with specialist software e.g. INPA or DIS. Or pay BMW Dealer to do it (10mins on a laptop = 1/2 labour charge).

If "Registering" is too much of a hastle then:
a) Fully charge the new battery before fitting it
b) Fully charge the old battery, on the car, through the charging points under the bonnet (essential to charge via these points)
c) Then change the batteries

I think that's about it!

I don't know the source of this info but I certainly found it on t'internet when I had my 535D.

RenoHuskerDu · Post by **RenoHuskerDu** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 6:09 pm

Well if an E60 already needs all that, then I'm satisfied that our E70s do too.

Thanks for the posts. I'll let the nice Germans replace it next visit.

XSeries-forum

XSeries-forum