Battery Issues and Dealer Woes
Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2017 6:44 pm
When will I ever learn?
Background: 2009 XDrive 35d purchased AUC in June 2015, still under warranty. In retrospect, there were always hints of a dying battery with random clock and date resets and radio always on mute when starting, but it got problematic enough to take to local dealer (not the supplier) in October 2016. Given the 'driving style (mainly short runs)' excuse and a bill for wasting their time. It got progressively worse over the winter and this summer, with even long drives barely giving the car 20 minutes with the door open before a dead battery. Checked battery (Bosch Silver <5 years old) and alternator (14.4v when running), although load test not undertaken.
Totally fed up, so checked again, and realised Carly was indicating the registered battery type was 90ah AGM, but the Bosch is lead-acid...
Back to dealer for checking - "you've got the wrong battery fitted, and it is now kaput - that'll be £286 to replace plus our diagnostic fee". Hmm - so the car was supplied AUC with the wrong battery/coding, and they didn't check this in October last year? Apparently not. This is the same dealer that got my sunroof fault so wrong (see other posts) and I should have known.
Anyway, purchased (much) cheaper 110ah lead acid battery, recoded and registered the battery to the car. The coding obviously worked as the running voltage is 13.8 - 14.0, rather than the previous 14.4. I had to buy a new vent tube as whoever had fitted the previous lead acid battery hadn't bothered...
I can only assume that the miscoding (dealer replacing battery prior to AUC and not bothering to re-register?) was pushing too many volts through the battery eventually wearing it out.
Hopefully all fixed (and another lesson learned), although the final proof will be if our 'driving style' flattens it quickly.
BTW - bought on of those hand-held jump starters as a backup over the summer and worked perfectly both times it was needed. Highly recommended.
Background: 2009 XDrive 35d purchased AUC in June 2015, still under warranty. In retrospect, there were always hints of a dying battery with random clock and date resets and radio always on mute when starting, but it got problematic enough to take to local dealer (not the supplier) in October 2016. Given the 'driving style (mainly short runs)' excuse and a bill for wasting their time. It got progressively worse over the winter and this summer, with even long drives barely giving the car 20 minutes with the door open before a dead battery. Checked battery (Bosch Silver <5 years old) and alternator (14.4v when running), although load test not undertaken.
Totally fed up, so checked again, and realised Carly was indicating the registered battery type was 90ah AGM, but the Bosch is lead-acid...
Back to dealer for checking - "you've got the wrong battery fitted, and it is now kaput - that'll be £286 to replace plus our diagnostic fee". Hmm - so the car was supplied AUC with the wrong battery/coding, and they didn't check this in October last year? Apparently not. This is the same dealer that got my sunroof fault so wrong (see other posts) and I should have known.
Anyway, purchased (much) cheaper 110ah lead acid battery, recoded and registered the battery to the car. The coding obviously worked as the running voltage is 13.8 - 14.0, rather than the previous 14.4. I had to buy a new vent tube as whoever had fitted the previous lead acid battery hadn't bothered...
I can only assume that the miscoding (dealer replacing battery prior to AUC and not bothering to re-register?) was pushing too many volts through the battery eventually wearing it out.
Hopefully all fixed (and another lesson learned), although the final proof will be if our 'driving style' flattens it quickly.
BTW - bought on of those hand-held jump starters as a backup over the summer and worked perfectly both times it was needed. Highly recommended.