Battery, Alternator or ZGM

Hi All

Been having some issues on my late 2004 E65 (745i) recently. Bought a BT scan tool and ran short tests last night. Lots of faults (log attached). I bought the car (CPO) 3 years ago. Only has 58K miles on it.

After I've been driving for about 5-10 mins the dynamic drive inactive light comes on

A few times the whole iDrive display have dashed and music cuts out briefly and then keeps doing this every fe wmins. If i stop, turn off and turn on it works fine. The fan is also blowing funny (esp, shortly after start on hot day with AC on). It will go high, low, high, low.

Seen suggestions that it may be battery, alternator or gateway module. Any ideas how I can narrow it down. Don't mind paying for what's broken but would rather not replace perfectly good parts.

Would consider taking it to dealer, but my last trip to Perillo in chicago (don't EVER go there) was a complete disaster $22K (hit and run front end collision) in repairs

- didn't even fill washer bottle;
- screeching fan: sounded worse then my wife's 9 year old mitsubishi;
- no power steering fluid after a mile;
- scratched body work;
- AC system empty when I turned on a few months later (they purged and supposedly refilled)-- refilled myself 2 months ago, been fine;
- went to pick up twice and then told it wasn't ready when I got there (not even back from body shop).

Also read a trhead baout a guy who had bad ZGM. Dealer replace half the car and still couldn't fix. Took it to another dealer and they fixed immediately. That's OK (aside from the incovenience) when BMW's picking up the tab, but not when I'm footing the bill.

Regards

Mark

Have these symptoms been present since your accident? Or was there a gap between getting your car back from the collision shop and when the funny things started happening?

To eliminate your battery as the culprit I would take it to an auto parts store and they have a tester they can use on it. There's usually no charge to do so.

Originally Posted by JimmyW

Have these symptoms been present since your accident? Or was there a gap between getting your car back from the collision shop and when the funny things started happening?

To eliminate your battery as the culprit I would take it to an auto parts store and they have a tester they can use on it. There's usually no charge to do so.

Thanks for reply Jimmy. There was a gap. Collisions was a minor front-end but must have damaged the tranny cooler, as it burst between the accident and waiting for repair date. cost ins $11K for body work, tranny cooler and related stuff. Put it all back together and found tranny wasn't shifting, so new tranny too, about $12K more.

Will pop down to AutoZone at weekend

Changed battery. Still got issue

Now got to decide whether it's alternator or gateway module. Any suggestions from anyone?

Originally Posted by markandersonus

Changed battery. Still got issue

Now got to decide whether it's alternator or gateway module. Any suggestions from anyone?

was the new battery programed to the car and replaced with one that was identical to the factory battery? If not, then that could still be the cause of the issues.

As far as the dynamic drive, I think it might be low on power-steering fluid (the CHS stuff) and throwing the error. Check the fluid level and refill if necessary. If it's fine then the issue is probably a sensor like the steering angle sensor.

Originally Posted by csmeance

was the new battery programed to the car and replaced with one that was identical to the factory battery? If not, then that could still be the cause of the issues.

As far as the dynamic drive, I think it might be low on power-steering fluid (the CHS stuff) and throwing the error. Check the fluid level and refill if necessary. If it's fine then the issue is probably a sensor like the steering angle sensor.

I registered battery with BT tool. Got AGM from AutoZone. Fluids are good

BT tool will not register the battery correctly, use INPA.

With all the lights going off I am going to bet your alternator is crapping out.

My 2 cents worth nothing....

Originally Posted by sirstopher

BT tool will not register the battery correctly, use INPA.

It says the command was sent successfully. Anybody else know about this?

Originally Posted by markandersonus

It says the command was sent successfully. Anybody else know about this?

I will tell you that my independant mechanic tried several times to register my battery with that tool, I purchased the battery from them, and my Max A/C would not turn on as I was getting low air pressure from the A/C system. They had the car three times. I was also experencing several different issues with something going on with the MOST loop, my CD changer would reset itself all the time.

So after several attempts of going to my mechanic I just bought a cable and installed the INPA software with some help here on the forum. The second, and I mean the second I registered my battery with INPA the Max A/C worked, and I have not seen the re-charge battery light on the I-Drive. I think this is a telltale, so turn your car but dont start it, have your radio on and if the re-charge sysem light doent come on in a couple of min, then your OK, if it does come on then I think you didnt register the batttery correctly.

So in short, The shop was using the incorrect tool to reset the battery. I know first hand that the only tool I would recommend is INPA, why? becasue it works.

All this being said I still feel that it is your alternator.

Keep us posted.

The log shows alot of CAN and bus errors for the alternator being bad. I would test the voltage at the cigarette outlet with the car running and see what it is reading. It should show 14.0V+ when the car is sitting idle, but this will vary with a bad gateway module as the ZGM communicates with the power module and alternator on different busses to adjust the power output from the alternator

Originally Posted by markandersonus

Hi All

Been having some issues on my late 2004 E65 (745i) recently. Bought a BT scan tool and ran short tests last night. Lots of faults (log attached). I bought the car (CPO) 3 years ago. Only has 58K miles on it.

After I've been driving for about 5-10 mins the dynamic drive inactive light comes on

A few times the whole iDrive display have dashed and music cuts out briefly and then keeps doing this every fe wmins. If i stop, turn off and turn on it works fine. The fan is also blowing funny (esp, shortly after start on hot day with AC on). It will go high, low, high, low.

Seen suggestions that it may be battery, alternator or gateway module. Any ideas how I can narrow it down. Don't mind paying for what's broken but would rather not replace perfectly good parts.

Would consider taking it to dealer, but my last trip to Perillo in chicago (don't EVER go there) was a complete disaster $22K (hit and run front end collision) in repairs

- didn't even fill washer bottle;
- screeching fan: sounded worse then my wife's 9 year old mitsubishi;
- no power steering fluid after a mile;
- scratched body work;
- AC system empty when I turned on a few months later (they purged and supposedly refilled)-- refilled myself 2 months ago, been fine;
- went to pick up twice and then told it wasn't ready when I got there (not even back from body shop).

Also read a trhead baout a guy who had bad ZGM. Dealer replace half the car and still couldn't fix. Took it to another dealer and they fixed immediately. That's OK (aside from the incovenience) when BMW's picking up the tab, but not when I'm footing the bill.

Regards

Mark

How many volts are you showing when you go into the hidden menu? If he is 13-14 volts his alternator should be fine....right?

Right again - three minutes and my recharge battery light came on! Now it's time to learn the battery registration with INPA!

Happend to me two month ago,just check op. Voltage in the hidden menu,if it's 11nish and going up and down your Alt. is shot.

Sent from my EVO using Bimmer App