[micharlie]

I am not trying to avoid to pay for a battery replacement. I am just trying to see if it can be saved at least for another year or so.

It is an 6 year old battery. I highly doubt the previous owner replaced the factory installed battery.

We had to leave our car parked for 16 days last July. No one was available to start, not even at least once. When we came back, the car started with a tiny hick up but it started and run fine. I maybe sensed a little high/rough idle but other than that no issues.

Pepboys tested the battery from the trunk today. It said 45% remains on it and message says REPLACE. I asked him if I could charge it with CTEK (I need to purchase one) and register to see if it brings the battery back to life for a while. He said no. He said if the battery was still good, it would say recharge. It says replace meaning buy a new battery.

Is this true? Am I going to waste my time with charging, etc. or should I just buy a new battery.

I asked few local shops and I could not believe they were asking $400, even $500. This is the same price as a dealer, it does not make sense why they charge as high as authorized BMW service.

Anyway, what are your recommendations?

Thanks!

[AlmondJayRoM3]

Originally Posted by micharlie

I am not trying to avoid to pay for a battery replacement. I am just trying to see if it can be saved at least for another year or so.

My car was produced on Aug 17th, 2015. It is a 2016 328i N26 with AGM 900cca battery. So, it is an 6 year old battery. I highly doubt the previous owner replaced the factory installed battery.

We had to leave our car parked for 16 days last July. No one was available to start, not even at least once. When we came back, the car started with a tiny hick up but it started and run fine. I maybe sensed a little high/rough idle but other than that no issues.

Last week, I updated the map with zero issues (via USB). I drove the car during the update, not just sitting and waiting.

After the map update, the very next day my wife said the car had a message going to work. Chasis Stabilization with ABS light warning. "Drive moderately. Avoid hard braking". Then she said it went away after she restarted the car. I reset all the codes via OBD2 that night, then the next morning she did not have the message. Yesterday, the message came back and disappeared again after a restart.

SO, either the map update did something to the car which I highly doubt it, the update went without a glitch or it is just a coincidence and the battery is not good anymore.

Pepboys tested the battery from the trunk today. It said 45% remains on it and message says REPLACE. I asked him if I could charge it with CTEK (I need to purchase one) and register to see if it brings the battery back to life for a while. He said no. He said if the battery was still good, it would say recharge. It says replace meaning buy a new battery.

Is this true? Am I going to waste my time with charging, etc. or should I just buy a new battery.

I asked few local shops and I could not believe they were asking $400, even $500. This is the same price as a dealer, it does not make sense why they charge as high as authorized BMW service.

Anyway, what are your recommendations?

Thanks!

Buy a new battery. If you think those prices are too high, buy the battery yourself and figure out how to register it to your car.

[Billfitz]

Get one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K2XL6VX...xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

Check the voltage when you park it for the night after a long drive, it should be at least 13.4v. Check it the next morning, it should be at least 12.2v. If it's not the battery needs replacing. You might get some more life out of it using a maintainer every night. As for the ABS warning light, that's unrelated to the battery. It's probably an intermittent sensor connection. Try WD40 on the sensor sockets, it could be corrosion.

[bavarianride]

Originally Posted by micharlie

I asked few local shops and I could not believe they were asking $400, even $500. This is the same price as a dealer, it does not make sense why they charge as high as authorized BMW service.

Anyway, what are your recommendations?

Thanks!

My factory AGM 90AH battery was still strong when the car was sold at 8.5 years and 80k miles. Yours is not that old, so I will try to charge it up first.

I did occasionally charge with CTEK(MUS 4.3) to top off the battery, or drive 10-20 miles just to charge it up.

Just make sure not to use RECON on AGM.

[bavarianride]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

Check the voltage when you park it for the night after a long drive, it should be at least 13.4v. Check it the next morning, it should be at least 12.2v. If it's not the battery needs replacing. You might get some more life out of it using a maintainer every night. As for the ABS warning light, that's unrelated to the battery. It's probably an intermittent sensor connection. Try WD40 on the sensor sockets, it could be corrosion.

Just get into diag mode to run out battery voltage(no need for another gadget).

[micharlie]

Here is the video of the secret menu test. Just recorded.

https://streamable.com/t2c66e

If watching from your phone, it is better to turn the phone otherwise it is hard to see the numbers or I need glasses

Before the video it was 12.1/12.2V at idle; when doing the video it was 12.0V.

[micharlie]

Thank you.

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by micharlie

Here is the video of the secret menu test. Just recorded.

That looks more or less normal for a six year old battery. The voltage drops below 12v when started, due to the drain on the battery by the starter. The initial 12v reading could be higher, but that might be due to not being fully charged when you last parked it. You need to see what it's at after a half hour of highway driving. If it's not 13v the battery is no longer capable of being fully charged. The car mileage doesn't matter, it's the number of start cycles that does. Lots of short trips are hard on everything.

[ooshnoo]

Why on earth would you pay to have a shop install it? Do it yourself.

[njdangelo]

Originally Posted by ooshnoo

Why on earth would you pay to have a shop install it? Do it yourself.

Maybe he doesn't have the tools to code. There's more to it then just buying a battery and installing it unfortunately. Those days are long gone

[ooshnoo]

Originally Posted by njdangelo

Maybe he doesn't have the tools to code. There's more to it then just buying a battery and installing it unfortunately. Those days are long gone

No excuse IMO. If they can afford a bmw, they can afford a wrench and code reader.

[njdangelo]

Originally Posted by ooshnoo

No excuse IMO. If they can afford a bmw, they can afford a code reader.

…:by that logic, if you can afford a bmw you can afford to have someone put the battery in for you.

[ooshnoo]

Originally Posted by njdangelo

…:by that logic, if you can afford a bmw you can afford to have someone put the battery in for you.

True, but OP said he's trying to avoid paying for a new one and the shops prices.

[micharlie]

Originally Posted by ooshnoo

True, but OP said he's trying to avoid paying for a new one and the shops prices.

I am not trying to avoid to pay for a battery replacement. I am just trying to see if it can be saved at least for another year or so.

Also, I can do it even though it needs some coding, etc.

I am just trying to get most out of the battery. I think the 16 days parking did make things worse. Not to mention wife’s work is 15 miles roundtrip in local traffic. But still it may be used for another year. I don’t like wasting if I can avoid it.

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by micharlie

I asked few local shops and I could not believe they were asking $400, even $500. This is the same price as a dealer, it does not make sense why they charge as high as authorized BMW service.

https://www.pepboys.com/car-batterie...%202.0L%20DOHC

[AlmondJayRoM3]

Originally Posted by micharlie

I am not trying to avoid to pay for a battery replacement. I am just trying to see if it can be saved at least for another year or so.

Also, I can do it even though it needs some coding, etc.

I am just trying to get most out of the battery. I think the 16 days parking did make things worse. Not to mention wife’s work is 15 miles roundtrip in local traffic. But still it may be used for another year. I don’t like wasting if I can avoid it.

You have empirical evidence based on the load test at pep boys and your reoccurring error codes that your battery is out or on its way out. Batteries are consumables 6 years isn’t bad. Some people might get more and some less depending on usage, environment, abuse, etc.

In this situation I would have already replaced the battery. Reason being is you know the battery is on its last legs. Is the added stress worth you trying to push 1 extra year of life out of it.

Since you already have it in your mind that you will try anything to extend the life of the battery, go for it and buy the charger. That way even if it doesn’t work out, you have a charger.

[Billfitz]

A battery charger isn't an extravagance. If you own a car you should own a battery charger. Batteries get drained for lots of reasons, and the cost of a charger is less than the cost of a single service call for a jump start.

The OP only had ABS codes, which are not battery related. Suggestions that a battery needs replacing are by far the #1 misdiagnosis seen here. If I had a dollar for every time someone took the advice given here that they needed a new battery that turned out to be incorrect I'd have enough to buy myself a new battery, at dealer pricing.

[Wires]

Originally Posted by micharlie

I am not trying to avoid to pay for a battery replacement. I am just trying to see if it can be saved at least for another year or so.

Also, I can do it even though it needs some coding, etc.

I am just trying to get most out of the battery. I think the 16 days parking did make things worse. Not to mention wife’s work is 15 miles roundtrip in local traffic. But still it may be used for another year. I don’t like wasting if I can avoid it.

Even though you have low mileage, the use above stresses it more since it never fully recharges, and "rots" more.

Quick answer, get a charger for a AGM battery (like a CTEK), since that's just good to have, and charge it up. If you still have re-occuring issues, then you just need to swap it.

If I park my car for 10-12 days, the battery starts doing what you are experiencing, and unless you spend a couple hours driving at a speed to keep the revs up, it just never recharges properly in the city. I had to hook it to the charger overnight to address my issue.

[WDE82]

I'd probably just take the thing out for a long drive of 1-2 hrs on the highway and see if that fully charges the battery. Maybe drive around in EcoPro mode so it does that recharge thing when you let off the gas?

If it still gives issues after that, I'd just get a new battery. 6 years isn't bad.

Owning a charger is nice, but it's just going to sit there for years doing nothing. Keep your batteries in good shape, and you won't ever need a charger. And if you have two cars a charger is even more pointless. I do recommend having a battery tender (smart trickle charger) around though. I was keeping my E82 on one in the winter since I was going a couple weeks in between drives on it last year.

If you need to charge a car battery to start the car, it's going to die soon anyway. They don't like being discharged deep.

[micharlie]

I ordered the Ctek charger today. I should have one anyway. I can use it if we are away that long again. With one of those smart plugs. I can remotely charge it. I am guessing it’s not too dangerous when left unattended

Let’s see what happens with the battery once I charge it. Hope I can save it; if not, a new one will be installed.

[WDE82]

Originally Posted by micharlie

I ordered the Ctek charger today. I should have one anyway. I can use it if we are away that long again. With one of those smart plugs. I can remotely charge it. I am guessing it’s not too dangerous when left unattended

Let’s see what happens with the battery once I charge it. Hope I can save it; if not, a new one will be installed.

You just leave it plugged in to manage itself. No need to turn it on and off with a plug. That's kind of defeating the purpose of these smart trickle chargers.

[micharlie]

Originally Posted by WDE82

You just leave it plugged in to manage itself. No need to turn it on and off with a plug. That's kind of defeating the purpose of these smart trickle chargers.

Ohh, OK. Even better. Thanks!