Vehicle battery needs to be replaced on a 10 months old car????

hmmm I just replaced the battery in my 2006 330XI purchaced in 2005.
HOT climates are particularly tough on batteries in part due to dehydration.
Should not be an issue for OP

My 2001 530i ran on the original battery for 8 years.
That's higher than average but I expect at least 5 years from any car.
Any less indicates a design problem with the electrical system.

Update-Update-Update...got the car back this afternoon. The initial warning was misleading as it turns out to be, there was never a problem with the battery. I was told yesterday that it was an electrical problem but today, a software update took care the problem. hmmmm...No one can explain to me exactly how an electrical problem can be solved by a software upgrade. It's not a regular update or upgrade I was told, it's whenever something goes wrong, they will hook it up to a computer and it will tell them to perform the update. Honestly, I don't even think they know why besides following procedures. As complicated as these cars are today, it's difficult to identify where the issue is with a electrical meter like the old days.

Oh, it was all covered under warranty which was good. Yes, to a post above, to replace a battery on these cars is about $400-$500.

thanks guys

Originally Posted by radarguy

Just to freak you out a little more, the battery costs more than $400 to replace - not $100.

Holy shiiiiiit!!! Seriously??? Can't get a regular $80 battery from walmart? U gotta be kidding!

Originally Posted by 1HOT BMR

I agree with you but I'm ready to replace the battery once a year if necessary. I knew going in that buying this BMW would be a reliability risk and an expensive one at that. Were you really hoping to get Acura reliability on a first year production over engineered 5 series? BTW, I'm at 9K+ miles and 11 months so I'm a prime candidate for the dreaded "replace battery" message

Honestly, yeah I was expecting good reliability, based on my past BMW experience. I had an '99 E46, first MY and honestly the car was great overall. Few minor things here and there, one major repair (still, under $300 with a DIY) so I could not complain and am expecting a stellar performance from my F10 for the next 12-13 years. Hope I'm not too far off in my expectations. Again, they are based on another bimmer.

Originally Posted by yogi799

Holy shiiiiiit!!! Seriously??? Can't get a regular $80 battery from walmart? U gotta be kidding!

Hahahaa. They will give you a crapy car as a loaner for a day then you will be more than glad to pay them to get your baby back. Have a coin jar for battery, another one for tires, another one for the rims...lol...

have fun! Oh...I just took a picture of the battery from the back trunk..would you mess around with that...not now at least...I'll wait...

Oh dang... I suppose becase of the new and complex active charging system or whatever they call it, conventional battery cannot be used anymore. Keeping my fingers crossed, but a $400 (prob. $700 in Canada as usual...) even every 4 yrs will hurt. What have I gotten myself into with this ride?? LOL.

Originally Posted by yogi799

Holy shiiiiiit!!! Seriously??? Can't get a regular $80 battery from walmart? U gotta be kidding!

You've got it correct!!

I do mostly highway. have 34,000 on my 2011 550, and my "replace battery" warning message just came on. I just hope they don't give me the same runaround they did with tires (all 4 were replaced at 10k). After spending $70k on a car, they really should treat you better......

You just resurrected and old thread so hopefully this has not been too big of an issue.

They do typically try to pin it on you ..... sir, is this a daily driver? ...... did you leave the lights on?

Be firm and remind your dealer of the 4 yr 50,000 mile "no worries" full maintenance and they usually fold.

I had my battery warning message come on at 28,000 miles on a 2011 550ix. I drive 80%+ highway. Rarely short trips or even stop and go traffic for that matter. The day it triggered, it had been sitting at an airport for 3 days in the hot sun (98* days). I wonder if the battery got so hot that the computer thought it was an issue and now the message won't go away until the software resets or something. Almost to my scheduled maintenance anyway so I hope it makes it another couple of thousand miles without issue.

Originally Posted by Libbing

I had my battery warning message come on at 28,000 miles on a 2011 550ix. I drive 80%+ highway. Rarely short trips or even stop and go traffic for that matter. The day it triggered, it had been sitting at an airport for 3 days in the hot sun (98* days). I wonder if the battery got so hot that the computer thought it was an issue and now the message won't go away until the software resets or something. Almost to my scheduled maintenance anyway so I hope it makes it another couple of thousand miles without issue.

You are going to drive a couple of thousand miles with a low battery warning? You are a braver man than I am

why is this old thread here? SORRY new thread just showed up!

Well..... to bump this thread up. My F10 is 10 months old with 7100 miles on it. Over 4,000 miles are from two trips. The rest is around town usually short trips. My wife and I share 4 cars so it does not get driven daily. At times it will sit for a week or two at a time. Because of this, I hard wired a Deltran Battery Tender to the car. I even contacted Deltran and asked which Battery Tender I should use for a absorbed glass mat (AGM) battery that is in our cars. They told me to use their Battery Tender Plus Gel unit. While the car is not being driven I religiously keep the car hooked up.

Yesterday, my wife picked up a grandkid from school then went to the store. When she came out from the store the car wouldn't start and showed several warnings; steering malfunction, transmission warning and battery warning. I jumped the car, got it started and drove it to the dealership. The only warning that came up once it was started was the low battery warning.

I got a call today that the car was ready to be picked up. The verdict, a bad battery. It will be interesting to see if this becomes an ongoing problem with our cars.

The service department at Bob Smith BMW in Calabasas, CA, couldn't have treated me better. Three BMWs in the last six years they have never disappointed me. My SA, Julia Moffa, or Tig when she is not available, are the best.

"If you do not drive for a few days, but drive a good distance on the others, the battery will not have issues. It is just stop and go low mileage that seems to be a problem. "


if thats the case then some drivers will need to take unnecessary driving trips just to charge the battery,which would eliminate any fuel savings from the auto stop feature.
and has it ever been ackowledged that the fuel saving from the auto stop is whats causing the battery problem?

yes all car makers are having to increase mileage estimates,but at what cost.
are they also experiencing premature battery failure? or is this unique to bmw?

and what real benefit is there in solving one problem,fuel consumption,if by doing so you create another problem,driving simply to charge the battery to prevent failure?
we should never have to choose between ,fuel economy or battery life .
it could be and should be both. and it shouldnt be that difficult.

Follow up from my previous post. Got my car serviced in the normal annual maintenance schedule. Service guy said it was a known software problem and no issue with the battery. No problem since.

Guys guys guys,
Too much guessing, bad mouthing, wondering, etc

Most all F01/F02 7's on the road don't have "Auto-Stop" and are having battery issues too, mine included; there's a whole tread on it, just as here. But, yes, I believe it to do with "Regenerative Braking" and "EfficientDynamics" in general.

My 550i is one of three now sitting at my dealership, all of which have had battery problems this week. I am outside of Boston, and our overnight temperatures have been in the low single digits (Fahrenheit; approximately -15C) for the last several nights. Then again, my car is garaged, so it was only seeing mid-50s (around 13C) overnight.

I got the "drive the car to charge the battery" message last night, drove for 50 minutes, 40 of which were at highway speeds, and the car was in the garage all night. When I started it this morning, I got a message about the battery needing a charge. Curiously, after leaving the car parked outside for almost 10 hours in temperatures ranging from 10 degrees (-12C) to 24 (-4C)today, it started up with no problem. It is now at the dealer, and I'm driving a 328xi. The F30 is actually quite nice, but oh boy, will I be happy to get my F10 back!!

My car is going into the dealership for couple days to get it 'recharged'. Frigid morning and message on idrive read 'battery discharging while stopped'. Anyhow my SA said a lot of their cars have that issue when its really cold outside. Well at least I'll get a loaner for couple days.

Had the same problem recently. Then the recharge battery warning came on. I had a similar problem a few years ago on my 650i and the dealer sold me a BMW plug in battery charger for about $80. I eventually had to have them replace the battery under waranty for my 650i. But I still have the charger in my garage. I hooked up the battery charger to my 550i overnight and everything was fine. There are battery terminals under the hood in the engine compartment. I guess it's the very cold weather and my short in city driving that caused the problem. But with the charger I didn't have to leave the car at the dealer to have the battery charged. I may have to recharge the battery overnight in my garage every couple of weeks in the very cold weather. Probably the battery will also need to be replaced at some point, but that will be under warranty.

First battery replaced under previous owner's stewardship after car was 6 mo old. Dealer believes battery went dead at airport and was possibly jump started incorrectly. Got several error lights after 1 month, attributed to low battery voltage. Battery was charged, 2 days later same, and battery was replaced. Dealer cannot replace a battery under warranty until their tester says "replace battery"
Opened a case with BMWNA, vehicle was later brought back to dealer 2x for additional voltage testing, no errors found. Hopefully the end of my issue.
From the dealer, the battery is so expensive because it actually has to be registered/programmed to the vehicle somehow via software, otherwise it will cause voltage errors if the car doesn't know it has a new battery....sounds like BS, but cannot get a battery at any auto parts store for the F10.
The battery/voltage test will also tell the SA if operator error, such as improper shut off, short trips etc.

Originally Posted by richschneid

But I still have the charger in my garage. I hooked up the battery charger to my 550i overnight and everything was fine. .

I hope that works for you. I have a Battery Tender hard wired on my car and use it all the time, and my battery still failed.

Originally Posted by kssod

From the dealer, the battery is so expensive because it actually has to be registered/programmed to the vehicle somehow via software, otherwise it will cause voltage errors if the car doesn't know it has a new battery....sounds like BS, but cannot get a battery at any auto parts store for the F10.

It is true that the car has to have some coding done when adding a new battery. itschase (Chase) did it for me on my daughter's 3 Series. It took him 4 minutes. That includes the computer booting up. Very easy, very quick.

was able to find 1 battery online that fits, but price does not include install and computer coding price is $250:

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...0423&ppt=C0005

Originally Posted by kssod

was able to find 1 battery online that fits, but price does not include install and computer coding price is $250:

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...0423&ppt=C0005

Edit: I though the coding was $250.

All you need to do is 'register' the car with a new battery, if it is the same size. 3 minutes. Look into buying a cable and DIY.