Weak or No Start...battery test shows battery is fine

I have been having issues for the past couple days with my car not starting. At times it would start, but it would be a very hesitant and weak start. At other times it won't start at all. When I hook the jump box up to it, it starts up after a minute or two. I took the battery to have it tested and it came back the battery is fine. What could be causing this??? From what I understand, it can't be the alternator. I know there was a recall on some kind of cable to the battery. I have an appointment to have this fixed this weekend, I'm wondering if it has anything to do with it...

That sounds 100% like a battery on the way out. Do you know how old the battery is?

Was it load tested? If yes I would get a second opinion.

If you hook up a charger for a few minutes, it partially charges the battery giving it enough juice to start the car. Most jumper cables are not thick enough to jump a car right after hooking up, they need to stay connected for a few minutes to charge up the dead battery.

If the battery is good the only other things I can think of are:
1) something is putting a constant drain on the battery even when the car is off for more than 45 minutes. This would drain down the battery to the point where the car will not start.
2) your battery cable is not properly connected (loose or corrosion) so it passes some electricity but not enough to start the car. The connection problem can be at the battery or the other end of the cable.

Originally Posted by shan904

I have been having issues for the past couple days with my car not starting. At times it would start, but it would be a very hesitant and weak start. At other times it won't start at all. When I hook the jump box up to it, it starts up after a minute or two. I took the battery to have it tested and it came back the battery is fine. What could be causing this??? From what I understand, it can't be the alternator. I know there was a recall on some kind of cable to the battery. I have an appointment to have this fixed this weekend, I'm wondering if it has anything to do with it...

There is a battery cable recall. I just had mine done before I bought my car from the seller during a BMW PPI.

I called the dealership to confirm the battery wasn't still under warranty. They said it expired the 36th week of 2010 which makes the battery about 2.5 years old. He said the life of a battery here in FL is about 3 years. I'm thinking the battery is dying as well and I don't think the people at Advanced Auto Parts knew what they were doing when they tested the battery. All she did was hooked a machine up to the battery while the car was off and said ok it's fine. I can't get it in to the mechanic till tuesday of next week because he is all booked up. Again, I go this Saturday to get that recall on the battery cable taken care of so fingers crossed that fixes it, but I don't see where there's any corrosion or loose connections to the battery or anything. I'm also not sure about there being any kind of constant drain on the battery. I did read on here that if you leave your car unlocked overnight, this can drain the battery. And since I park my car in the garage I never lock it. I don't know how true that is though.

Originally Posted by shan904

I did read on here that if you leave your car unlocked overnight, this can drain the battery. And since I park my car in the garage I never lock it. I don't know how true that is though.

You can leave it unlocked, but take the key out of the car. If the key stays in the car may not go completely off as it will read the key.

I think the battery test was not accurate so I would ignore that and have a proper mechanic test it. It does sound like that's the issue.

I took my car in Saturday to the dealership to have the recall done on the battery cap/cable issue. They tested my battery and said I had a bad cell and needed to replace the battery. Makes sense with what's going on although I still don't understand why twice when I tested the battery it read it was good as did the alternator. Anywho...he quoted me a price of 450 to install the battery and program it to the car. I told him no thank you, I have an appointment with a local Indy mech to get it checked out Tuesday morning (battery replacement and install $250-300)....he then seriously tried to tell me there was no way this Indy mech could properly program the battery to my car because he doesn't have the correct machinery/software or whatever to do so. He said they have 4 $85,000 machines in there shop ( said the name of the machine was otis or itis) to do the necessary programming and he guarantees an Indy mech doesn't have these or whatever is necessary. Sounds like a load of bs to me...right??? I also asked him about my brake light being on. When I installed my brake pads I put akebono ceramics on it and the sensor didn't seem to fit very snug. When I reset the service interval I got an error that the service was -9000 past due for the front and -15000 for the rear or vice versa. He said this is because the sensors don't fit aftermarket brakes...also sounds like bs and they can't be bypassed (contrary to what I've read on the net) for safety reasons. He said you can only go with the OEM brake pads or you will have to deal with the brake light, there's no way around it. Also said the aftermarket brakes will end up burning up my rotors. Sorry for the extremely long post, just need some feedback here on these issues. Thanks!

The register part is complete BS, there are many individuals who register themselves by buying the cable and going through the lengthy learning curve on coding the car.

Many people have put other pads on their cars, that is a load of crap also. Good job not caving in and sticking with your decision to go to the indie.

That service advisor is spewing more crap than a horse's rear end. He either has no clue how BMWs work or he is lying through his teeth.

Every decent independent BMW mechanic has some form of diagnostic software that can register a battery (Autologic etc...). Most gearhead BMW owners run a bootleg copy of the exact same software that the dealer uses. So yes, your indie can register the battery. Several people on this forum have mentioned that the dealer either forgot to register a battery during install or programed the wrong battery type during the install (AGM vs lead cell).

The brake pad related quotes are some of the worst BS I have ever heard from a service advisor. Burn up you rotors? Akebono and practically all other aftermarket street pads are much easier on rotors than OEM pads. They also normally stop with a little less bite/torque than OEM but they have low dust as a plus. Pure racing pads will in some cases eat up rotors if used on the street (race pads work only when very hot).

I tie off my pad sensors to my coilover strut on my M3 because I change pads every time I go to the track, which is often so I don't need the sensor to tell me when my pads are low, I see it first hand. You do not need to install the sensor on the pad to prevent warning lights, you just need to plug it into the control box. The light comes on when the sensor is worn down.

Not sure why your sensors do not fit. If you post a pic that would help - I've never installed Akebono myself but I hear they are very high quality. My StopTech pads have a much higher build quality standard then OEM pads and the senors fit fine into them.

Have experienced when putting after market pads in that out of the set of 4 pads only one has the correct slot for the sensor to fit into and if you don't put it on the side with the sensor then you will have an issue of it fitting! I will own up that I made this mistake once and now check that the correct pad with slot goes in the right location!! I assumed when I did it that it was just a bad fit and altered the sensor to fit, dumb! I even had a set once actually from BMW that did not have a pad with the correct sized slot for the sensor within the set, just took them back to the parts department who went OOPS!!!!

[QUOTE=Yorgi;7314004]That service advisor is spewing more crap than a horse's rear end. He either has no clue how BMWs work or he is lying through his teeth.

QUOTE] This has got to be the first time I've seen Yorgi getting hot under the collar. I have to admit, while reading shan904 post, I was rolling my eyes and wondering if this dealer SA can really go to sleep at nights. Pure garbage. So, shan904, now you know which dealer NOT to bring your car to.

+2 on the load of crap - it is these dealers that tarnish the whole BMW brand.

You should report the SA/dealer to BMW of NA, and firebomb them on the survey that they always send out.

ps - I've always wanted to use that machine gun emoticon...

Originally Posted by gregb

+2 on the load of crap - it is these dealers that tarnish the whole BMW brand.

You should report the SA/dealer to BMW of NA, and firebomb them on the survey that they always send out.

ps - I've always wanted to use that machine gun emoticon...

Lol.

Originally Posted by shan904

I have been having issues for the past couple days with my car not starting. At times it would start, but it would be a very hesitant and weak start. At other times it won't start at all. When I hook the jump box up to it, it starts up after a minute or two. I took the battery to have it tested and it came back the battery is fine. What could be causing this??? From what I understand, it can't be the alternator. I know there was a recall on some kind of cable to the battery. I have an appointment to have this fixed this weekend, I'm wondering if it has anything to do with it...

Hi! Sorry to hear about your battery issues.. Exact same thing happened to me! I end up taking it to the dealership and they quoted me 550$ plus tax to put in a new battery and to reprogram it. As well as a $120 fee to check out the car..

I said no and purchased a battery from interstate. Cost was $280, I switched out the old battery and put in the new one and havn't had any issues with it so far.. I called a local indepedent BMW shop and they said I didnt need to reprogram it, so far everything is working well

Most aftermarket battery warranties are for 6 years, & most auto parts store's, don't know they need to be registered!. BMW battery gets 2 years on a warranty. If a BMW battery fails inside of 2 years, they demand more of your hard earned money. It surely can't be their fault that the battery failed prematurely.

It is best to register the battery, just to be on the safe side?

[QUOTE=pablo645;7315261]

Originally Posted by Yorgi

That service advisor is spewing more crap than a horse's rear end. He either has no clue how BMWs work or he is lying through his teeth.

QUOTE] This has got to be the first time I've seen Yorgi getting hot under the collar. I have to admit, while reading shan904 post, I was rolling my eyes and wondering if this dealer SA can really go to sleep at nights. Pure garbage. So, shan904, now you know which dealer NOT to bring your car to.

Looks like I'll never be taking my car into the dealer...Tom Bush is the only BMW dealership in Jacksonville, FL. The closest one other than them is in Daytona. I've heard good things about them, but I don't want to make that drive everytime I need service. That's ok though, I think I may have found a really good indy : )

The dealer sees a young female waliking in and they automatically assume that I have no idea what time it is. Thank goodness for you guys on the board! You should have seen the look on the SA's face when I told him I didn't want to purchase the battery there, I mean they had to jump start my car just to get me out of there! It was comical!