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Battery #3 in 5 1/2 years

492 views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  tampamark 
#1 ·
It has been discussed before, these cars are a bear on the electrical system! I am at 66k miles and as I fully expected to happen at any moment, the alternator finally gave out. I am not sure if it took out the battery also or the battery just was heading downhill on it's own, but regardless they both were toast. No usual electrical gremlins, just a couple of Charging Malfunction warnings on the Idrive screen. They popped up and disappeared for a couple of days. I went out of town snowskiing with some fella's and the Wife called me with the news, it was dead. So tow it to the dealer and sure enough that was it.

Fortunately for me my extended warranty covered both. So I was only out my deductible. But I can't brag too much, I spent $2800 on that warranty. I am getting closer to breakeven as I had a new tranny pan and control arms done previously. But I will take it, still covered for the remainder of the year.

So here is the breakdown:

9/2009, bought car with 27k miles, as part of CPO they replaced non-OEM battery with OEM and registered

12/2011 (just out of two year warranty), car had 47k miles, battery died, replaced on my dime with OEM battery by dealer, registered

2/2015, car with 66k miles, battery gone, alternator also

I know that my Wife using this as a daily driver and having a very low mileage commute puts us in the "unfavorable driving profile" which eats batteries. So I put it on a charger every Sunday to top it off. So I guess that is why it lasted the 3 1/4 years instead of the the 2 1/4 years it made it the first go round.

Anyway, not a gripe, all in all everything was good. At least I know my electrical is fine for a while :thumbup:
 
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