[Icarium81]

I'm pretty sure my car just hates being washed. it's been a couple months since I waxed it, so it was about an hour and 20 minutes of washing, drying, waxing, rain x and doing the interior windows. The car was NOT on in any capacity beyond me opening the trunk maybe a dozen times, and the doors 5 or 6 times. Get in to leave, "battery was discharged well stopped"
How shit are these batteries if you can't basically leave an interior light on for maybe 10 minutes???

This is probably the 4th time we've gotten this notification and it pisses me off.

Side note, this is the first car I've owned that I've ever really waxed, but ive always kept my cars quite clean, if not quite to this level of detailing, but the paint seems to be utterly shit too. So many chips and pocks all over the hood, bumpers, and even quite a few on the plastic rocker panels(those ones I'm more understanding on at least). I've literally never had a car that had so many chips in the paint, and all of them except 2 or 3, have happened over the last 14 months.

[Nathen4242]

Getting to the (Winter Months) i would not say it's normally but with all the electronics in the cars this normally happens. would this be the first time you would have to replace the battery? we normally put a huge battery order in each October getting ready for the long cold winter. I would like into getting a BMW approved Battery tender if you keep running into this issue. we sell them a-lot this time of year. i would get it checked out at you dealership either in Halifax or Moncton. given that your car is a 2018 330i it should still have the 4 year warranty wouldn't hurt to check it out that for sure

[Billfitz]

Doing what you did would not kill the battery. It might have caused a warning with a battery that was already low on charge. The usual reason for that is driving short distances.

[eugene89us]

I agree with Billfitz, this does not seem normal at all. We often allow our toddler to sit in the driver seat in the garage with car turned off and ignition on to honk the horn and to turn the steering wheel around. In that space of time, he turns on the headlights, honks the horn 20 times, plays with turn signals, with iDrive playing music. Ands all of this while we take the groceries inside with the trunk light on for a good 10 to 15 minutes. I would imagine headlights would draw most current. However, never had this warning. Use Bimmerlink app to check the state of charge of the battery. After not being driven for a day, it dips into 80%, but usually stays in the mid 90's%. Maybe your battery is on the way out?

[njdangelo]

Originally Posted by Icarium81

I'm pretty sure my car just hates being washed. it's been a couple months since I waxed it, so it was about an hour and 20 minutes of washing, drying, waxing, rain x and doing the interior windows. The car was NOT on in any capacity beyond me opening the trunk maybe a dozen times, and the doors 5 or 6 times. Get in to leave, "battery was discharged well stopped"
How shit are these batteries if you can't basically leave an interior light on for maybe 10 minutes???

This is probably the 4th time we've gotten this notification and it pisses me off.

Side note, this is the first car I've owned that I've ever really waxed, but ive always kept my cars quite clean, if not quite to this level of detailing, but the paint seems to be utterly shit too. So many chips and pocks all over the hood, bumpers, and even quite a few on the plastic rocker panels(those ones I'm more understanding on at least). I've literally never had a car that had so many chips in the paint, and all of them except 2 or 3, have happened over the last 14 months.

Probably should have listened to the car the first three times it told you your battery was low.

In regards to the rock chips, i too have noticed how thin the clear coat is on these cars. I am METICULOUS with my car and I swear the car scratches itself while i'm sleeping just to piss me off. I've never had a car scratch so easily. it really is frustrating. As much as I love the power and response of BMW engines I think this might be my last one. I had an e46 and that car was amazing. I feel like ever since then BMW has kind of lost their identity and shifted more to "what do we need to do to increase profit and decrease cost" as opposed to "what do we need to do to increase profit and decrease cost WHILE CONTINUING TO BUILD THE BEST SPORT SEDANS IN THE WORLD". Even with all the bells and whistles the handling and feel of the f30 is just nothing in comparison with an e46. Obviously the M cars are still monsters but the rest of their line up has become numb and cheap. The interior is mostly crap plastic, we have already touched on the exterior issues, and they have ruined their top of the line models by allowing M-sport packages on even their cheapest models. I could keep going but this is clearly a convo another day, sorry for jacking your thread and venting

[chiefneil]

Agree with other posters that it’s not the washing procedure that caused the warning. If this has happened 4 times in the past couple years, then you likely have some sort of charging issue. Either there’s a fault somewhere or you haven’t been driving the car long enough. It’s also possible you just have a bad battery, but that’s more rare.

[Icarium81]

Originally Posted by njdangelo

Probably should have listened to the car the first three times it told you your battery was low.

We had it to the dealership after the 2nd time we got the notification, and the 3rd time. They claim they checked the battery and that it 'was normal' to discharge that much, which is just bullshit.


It was just a short trip from work to the car wash, less than 10 min, but every other trip in the car is literally 30 min minimum.

it's out of warranty. We're over 90k km on the car.

[BimR]

Does not seem normal. On one of the other posts, someone mentioned that wax residue on the handle was setting off comfort access and causing the car to think CA was constantly in use draining the battery. Maybe this doesn't even make sense in your case! As for rock chips, I'm so done with that crap 😠

[Wires]

Originally Posted by Icarium81

We had it to the dealership after the 2nd time we got the notification, and the 3rd time. They claim they checked the battery and that it 'was normal' to discharge that much, which is just bullshit.


It was just a short trip from work to the car wash, less than 10 min, but every other trip in the car is literally 30 min minimum.

it's out of warranty. We're over 90k km on the car.

But are you actually driving it enough to EVER charge the battery? Short trips, and low RPMs just won't cut it and you will reach this warning.

As a FYI, when I bought my 2016, the dealer installed an integrated battery tender which was non-negotiable. If only ran into the warning when I left it in the garage for 10 days in the butt-crack of winter when on a work trip.

Now in the land of COVID, I tend to plug it in every so often if the car sits idle for a week or so. BMW typically only charges the battery to 75% when driving, which seems like BS to me, and tends to cause this issue.

[Icarium81]

Originally Posted by Wires

But are you actually driving it enough to EVER charge the battery? Short trips, and low RPMs just won't cut it and you will reach this warning.

As a FYI, when I bought my 2016, the dealer installed an integrated battery tender which was non-negotiable. If only ran into the warning when I left it in the garage for 10 days in the butt-crack of winter when on a work trip.

Now in the land of COVID, I tend to plug it in every so often if the car sits idle for a week or so. BMW typically only charges the battery to 75% when driving, which seems like BS to me, and tends to cause this issue.

As stated, literally every other trip in the car is a 30 minute minimum drive, that's what it takes to get into the city from where we live, all highway, then through the city to whatever destination. Often used for longer drives too. I can't speak to how my wife drives it, but she's gotten 2 speeding tickets, and had told me of a few people who thought they were going to pass her... we'll leave that for interpretation lol.
Me, i love to push my ride, so usually on my trips to and from anywhere, 120 to 140 is pretty standard. If that's not enough to charge the battery than maybe we do need a tender.

[Icarium81]

Originally Posted by BimR

Does not seem normal. On one of the other posts, someone mentioned that wax residue on the handle was setting off comfort access and causing the car to think CA was constantly in use draining the battery. Maybe this doesn't even make sense in your case! As for rock chips, I'm so done with that crap 😠

How does the comfort access work? What's it's intended purpose and usage?
I generally do wax my door handles when doing the car so maybe this is the culprit. Keys were in my pocket the whole time.

[BimR]

Originally Posted by Icarium81

How does the comfort access work? What's it's intended purpose and usage?
I generally do wax my door handles when doing the car so maybe this is the culprit. Keys were in my pocket the whole time.

I will try to find that thread but dont listen to me if this doesn't make sense!

From what I remember from that thread, the wax got under under the door handle and came across to the car as "touch". So if you are nearby, even with keys in the pocket, the CA kept trying to work. Supposedly that drained the battery.

Again, long shot guess which might be totally off base.

[Salty B.]

Originally Posted by eugene89us

Use Bimmerlink app to check the state of charge of the battery. After not being driven for a day, it dips into 80%, but usually stays in the mid 90's%. Maybe your battery is on the way out?

BLink reports my (original) battery is 52% after sitting overnight but before starting the engine. No noticeable starter lag... am I risking a dead battery any time soon?