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New Battery - Registration???

4K views 25 replies 14 participants last post by  laser 
#1 ·
I'm about to change the battery on my 06 325, need to get it registered. I'm out of the country, so, I can't call my mech and ask him how much it's going to cost to do that.
But how much does it usually cost to register the battery??
What's the best way?
Is it worth taking it to the dealership?

Thanks for your help.

-Ronnie.
 
#2 ·
I'm about to change the battery on my 06 325, need to get it registered. I'm out of the country, so, I can't call my mech and ask him how much it's going to cost to do that.
But how much does it usually cost to register the battery??
What's the best way?
Is it worth taking it to the dealership?.
  • Cost is what local conditions dictate. We wait to hear if you mean Texas price or parts unknown price. Widely varies anyway.
  • Try THIS
  • NO
 
#6 ·
Yes...very tempted...£300 ish over here. :yikes:

Bought Bosch 90 AH battery...you know, the sort you find under the seat in a combine harvester. :) One in car (75 AH) is 6 years old and another winter like our last may just kill it.

Got 20% off from GSF quoting BA2013 discount code. £106...beats Halfords for a 75 AH poor make battery. Main dealer quoted £190 for a 75 AH, fitted.

I'll change it after I know what the verdict is on the ABS warning...see other thread on here. Don't want to risk losing the codes.

What exactly would happen if I swapped out the battery with or without a charger connected? Given voltage first thing this morning was 11.8 on old one. New battery reads 12.5v.

:dunno:
 
#9 · (Edited)
Swapped 70 AH for 95 AH same type sealed lead acid...went in like a dream with aid of youtube demo without charger attached..

Had a word with local BMW specialist indy...he said go ahead...so long as ignition is off it will pick up itself...no need to re register. Had to input time and reprog radio stations...drives as normal.

:)

 
#10 · (Edited)
About the BT tool. Its generally $280 or so for the 3 vin tool, but they also have a single vin unit that sells for $179. Lot cheaper than going to BMW to register the battery plus you get a great tool if you are a DIY person.. You can get the single vin unit from Burger Motorsports. (BMS)

There can be issues even putting in the same battery as a replacement. As you battery has gone south the car has been learning to charge at a higher rate to compensate for that. So its possible to overcharge a fresh battery
 
#18 · (Edited)
This is on sale on uk Ebay..."BMW Diagnostic USB Cable Code Reader Interface + Full Adapter Set INPA DIS SSS"...will this and my Asus laptop with usb 3 allow me to register my new battery???

ebay dot co dot uk/itm/BMW-Diagnostic-USB-Cable-Code-Reader-Interface-Full-Adapter-Set-INPA-DIS-SSS-/151127944560

:dunno:
 
#19 · (Edited)
For an 06 you only need a kcan cable which is much cheaper.

For an 06 you only need a kcan cable which is much cheaper.
I bought a package like that for around 50 bucks and it does work.
However some of those packages are not easy to set up and you may
have to download some up to date daten files . It was hard to get DIS57
to work and I never could get SSS to work which was OK . I could do everything
I wanted to do programming wise from Inpa and Winkfp . DIS57 is kind
of nice as it gives you diagnostics on your car although most have moved
on to the new program ista . You should spend some time on the coding boards
to learn to use this stuff.
There was a requirement for window xp 32 bit on one of the programs I think they have
a newer one now that has a work around.

Find out more here
http://www.e90post.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=368

bmwcoders.com

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-USB-OBD..._Automotive_Tools&hash=item3f23ba7963&vxp=mtr

I like this one better because of the way they list the software levels and the promise of one click installation
and its suppose to work with any MS operating system 32 or 64 bit. Note if you install all this it takes a lot of space
they say 35gigs I think it will be more like 50 gigs so be sure you don't overfill your drive.
 
#24 ·
If I recall correctly from my younger days, that a battery being overcharged may literally explode. So if a previous poster is correct about the car learning to charge more to compensate for your dying battery, than the new battery may be getting overcharged.

Thus, your argument of only lasting 5 yrs may be shorter. Terminally shorter!

Don't quote me on this. Batteries & car technology may have changed. Research it.
 
#21 ·
Reset CPU after Battery Change

Okay, I took my wife's 2002 325 Ci in for a smog cert and it failed. The smog guy, who I have been going to for about 20 years and I generally trust asked if I had changed the battery. Once I told min I had he said I would have to reset the computer by doing the following:

1. Make sure the gas is between 1/4 and 3/4.
2. Turn the heat/ac completely off, no fan, nothing.
3. After the car is dead cold from sitting all night, start it and let it warm up.
4. Take the car out and drive about 10 miles at exactly 63 mph without cruise control and the climate system still off.
5. Then drive in the city for a bit at 25 to 35 mph.
6. Bring the car back to him so he can see if the cpu has been reset.

As I said, I trust this guy. I have taken vehicles to him for years and he always would describe any problems he saw and let me fix them before he would fail the car.

However, I don't see ANYTHING similar to this ANYWHERE on the web!

I have a good ODBII scanner and unless I'm missing something it says everything is fine.

I would really appreciate input from anyone with experience on this topic.

Thanks,

Ray
 
#23 ·
Okay, I took my wife's 2002 325 Ci in for a smog cert and it failed. The smog guy, who I have been going to for about 20 years and I generally trust asked if I had changed the battery. Once I told min I had he said I would have to reset the computer by doing the following:

1. Make sure the gas is between 1/4 and 3/4.
2. Turn the heat/ac completely off, no fan, nothing.
3. After the car is dead cold from sitting all night, start it and let it warm up.
4. Take the car out and drive about 10 miles at exactly 63 mph without cruise control and the climate system still off.
5. Then drive in the city for a bit at 25 to 35 mph.
6. Bring the car back to him so he can see if the cpu has been reset.

As I said, I trust this guy. I have taken vehicles to him for years and he always would describe any problems he saw and let me fix them before he would fail the car.

However, I don't see ANYTHING similar to this ANYWHERE on the web!

I have a good ODBII scanner and unless I'm missing something it says everything is fine.

I would really appreciate input from anyone with experience on this topic.

Thanks,

Ray
An excellent, if unique, procedure.
 
#22 ·
I don't think that this is specific to BMW. If any newer car has fault codes due to emissions problems driving time after a repair is required for the codes to be cleared before another measurement can be taken.

What should be easier due to on board computing is actually a bigger hassle. Thank the government.
 
#25 ·
Overcharging is not a problem as voltage regulator would prevent that and even at a higher rate of charge wet cells can take a lot of abuse, in my experience.

I opted to skip registration when installing a new battery as the only parameter change would have been the date of the battery renewal. Capacity and type remained the same and I purposely chose a replacement battery so that this would be true.

My friendly BMW service manager said that the only risk for me would be when reading future trouble codes for problems in the car as a message warning of 'old battery' would come up first.

I can live with that. Besides, how does the car know that a battery is not functional just because it may be over 10 years old? The logic isn't there or the programming is too simplistic. Perhaps future firmware upgrades will solve this issue and free us from the registration requirement. It's a software weakness, in my opinion.
 
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